It Begins With YOU, not us.

Mr. President, this is going to hurt me a lot more than it is going to hurt you.


President Obama's re-election campaign has been officially announced. Oddly enough, the ending leaves us with the message, "It begins with us." I understand that choosing our elected officials begin with us; but re-election rests solely on the candidate and what they were able to accomplish. Mr. President, you have accomplished many things while in office. The only thing is, no one knows what. You've spent the majority of your presidency defending the decisions you've made as a leader.

First Decision- the BAIL-OUT. Okay, I agree that the bail-out was needed; the information provided afterwards is what's lacking. Everyone received the information that Corporate America received checks from the government (our tax dollars) with a lot of zeros on them. There was a government takeover of the some dealers in auto industry, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Back to the bail-out; what gets comingled in the bail-out is unemployment. Yes the economy was on the verge of meltdown, and the bail-out was needed because our banking system was indeed TOO BIG TO FAIL! Now, what most citizens don't know is that only $411 Billion (cough) of the $700 Billion in bail out money was distributed, and more importantly, 70% of it has already been repaid. This is where it gets tricky though...unemployment hit an all-time high; foreclosures went through the roof; and we had "cash for clunkers."

Unemployment, while still too high, gives the impression that the economy isn't recovering. The bail-out wasn't a job-creating bill, it was an "OH SHIT, SOMETHING HAS TO BE DONE AND FAST" kind of bill. Both the left and right knew this. The Right used it to posture themselves for the 2010 election, citing that the government has spent trillions of dollars and that deficit is at a record high. Once the bail-out was approved, the message to those of us that funded it disappeared. Unemployment. For some reason, that keeps coming up. See how it just gets mixed in there.

Job creation is what I want to hear about. Not how important it is that you get re-elected, and that "It begins with us." You promised to begin bringing troops home from Iraq, and you held up your end of the deal on that. You promised to fix the economy, still a work in progress; just work on your communication. Like Ed in North Carolina, I don't agree with everything you've done, but I do trust you (most of the time). So tell us that you are going to create jobs- then make it happen.

Speaking of working on your communication, what's the state of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? Thought we forgot about it didn't you. I refuse to do another Google search to get 3000 links to different information tainted by bloggers, FOX, and also liberals that spin the information provided to achieve ulterior motives.

What I don't want to see are "Happy Hours" at the White to discuss "race issues" with Prof. Henry Gates and Sgt. James Crowley...you are the President! This should have been played out in a court of law, regardless of who was right or wrong.

Also, what I don't want to see is another episode similar to Shirley Sherrod. Mr. President, you possess a Harvard education, deductive reasoning, critical thinking and proper decision-making skills. You jumped the gun without receiving all the information. If anyone should have been invited to the White House for a drink, it should have been Ms. Sherrod; with defamation of character and slander charges brought about on Andrew Breitbart. But I digress.

What is to be done about unemployment, or is that something that also, "begins with us," as well.

Mr. President, I have decided to support your re-election campaign, just know, IT STARTS WITH YOU, NOT US.

Tell us what you accomplished; tell us what you plan to accomplish; cause above all other things, you have one thing going for you that not many elected officials do, I still trust you.