Dear Barack

Shut yer piehole and listen. It's me, Aunt Crankypants. You can call me Your Sagacious Adorableness. or Poopsie.

Look, you were never my first choice, but I wasn't begrudging. You seemed a pretty good candidate, it's just that I thought there were better. (And there are millions of voters who agree with me.) But okay, you're the heir apparent. Not a bad choice, I found a lot of things to like about you.

Until the last 10 days.

Exactly who are you? Is this a Barack puppet show?

You built yourself as the un-candidate, a new kind of leader who’s committed to changing “politics as usual.” And naive, desperate voters believed you. Yet right before our eyes, you seem to be turning into a just another cheap vote whore.

You are becoming exactly the kind of politician we hate... and we feel duped. I heard about the inane $1,000 "stimulus" check and knew I had to speak up. Since when did adding more debt to our grandchildren become a good idea? Yes, the economy appears to be in freefall, or close to it. The stimulus check idea is not a solution; it's a really bad idea. But I guess you think you can fool some more desperate voters.

Baracky, know what you find in the middle of the road? A yellow stripe and a dead skunk.

I'm quoting from a comment on an AlterNet column here:

...today's "center" is still far right. Mainstream Dems are GOP lite. The right wing is fascist. Therefore, todays "center" is midway between moderate Republican and fascist.

This is why we need someone who is NOT afraid to be partisan, someone who will keep repeating and repeating and repeating progressive ideals until they become common thought, i.e., normalized. We need someone who has the guts to stand firm on progressive principles and reframe things so that these positions seem like plain old common sense. Constant repetition and reframing is how the GOP took the country gradually gradually rightward rightward rightward over 30 years.

Barack, a whole lot of supporters, even tepid ones like myself, are wondering if we really can vote for you. I'll be watching to see if you grow a backbone in the next few weeks, or if you put your campaign and your credibility in the hands of professional shillmeisters. If I can't vote for you, and goddess knows I can't vote for McCain, I would, for the first time in my life, abstain in a presidential election.

And I would seriously consider reviving my campaign to become Queen of America. Don't make me do it.

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Go get some lefty love. Alternet. Huffington Post.