Anne Lamott's Open Letter to the President

What the President Promised Us
by Charlie Leck

Here’s how Anne Lamott in the Los Angeles Times began her open letter to the President of the United States:

“I am afraid there has been a misunderstanding since that election in 2008, during which 66,882,230 Americans cast their votes for you. Perhaps one of your trusted advisors has given you bum information. Maybe they told you that we voted for you -- walked, marched, prayed, fund-raised and knocked on doors for you -- because we hoped you would try to reunite the country. Of the total votes cast that long-ago November day, I'm guessing that about 1,575 people wanted you to try to reconcile the toxic bipartisanship that culminated in those Sarah Palin rallies.

“The other 66,880,655 of us wanted universal healthcare.”
[read the rest of the letter]

This is pretty much the way I put the matter in my open letter to the President last week and in several other blogs I’ve written in the last two weeks (see Dems Line Up Against President on Health Care). Of course, Lamott, in the Los Angeles Times, will have a bit more clout.

The pressure is clearly on the President. If he keeps courting the Republicans, who might support a bill without a public option, he is going to lose his Democratic Party base. This isn’t just some two-bit issue we’re talking about here. This was pretty much the heart and soul of his election campaign.