Day 31
Dear Mr. President,
I recently read an article on the Six Sign of Career Derailment, By Barbara Reinhold, and it occurred to me that her list of six could also apply to your Presidency. Since you have declared you will seek a second term, I thought it might be a good idea if I shared some of her thoughts and how they will derail your re-election if you are not careful.
The first point is not so much a problem for you as it is a perception of your power, and that is disagreeing with higher management. While there technically is no one higher than you, the GOP certainly think they can control you, as it appears that you think they can too. So my strong recommendation would be to start acting like “The President” and just maybe they will show a little more respect for the office.
I’m going to lump the second and third together because they go hand in hand. Problems with team building and developing working relationships have been an ongoing and consistent problem for you. Your attempts to appoint people to key positions, have been thwarted at every turn by the House controlled GOP, and your inability to herd the Demo”cats” in the direction you want them to go. As far as working relationships go, as I have stated in a number of my letters… you cannot negotiate with Republicans. It hasn’t worked thus far, and it is not going to happen during your Presidency… so quit trying.
Next would be lack of follow-through and moving from the technical to the strategic level. Now these are big ones… I know it’s one thing to make promises on the campaign trail, and quite another to follow through with those promises. However, to consistently back down, cave in, compromise or utterly ignore those promises is another matter. You simply must make good on some of those promises, like closing Gitmo, and bringing the troops home. You’ve proven you’re tough on terrorism, you got Osama bin Laden… declare victory and bring the troops home.
And last would be to assume that something other than your own hard work will take you where you want to go. Don’t think for a minute that because you have the status of being the incumbent, that it will automatically get you re-elected, because it won’t. Just because you know how hard you work, and you know how desperately you want to put this country back on track, doesn’t mean everyone believes it too.
I can assure you that unless you begin to fix of these six signs, your Presidency will surely be derailed. Many in the GOP have openly stated that they hope you fail. They don’t even try to hide their distain for you personally. These are despicable, evil, and cowardly individuals that are truly “Un-American” in deeds and spirit. Please prove them wrong, don’t let them derail your Presidency.
Most Respectfully,
Marcia Reimers
The Gadfly Granny
(The following comment was sent by a reader of Washboard Express that wishes to remain anonymous. I have agreed to post her comment...thank you for reading my Letters to the President....Gadfly Granny)
ReplyDeleteReader Comment:
I have to agree with the writer of LTTP Day 31’s Letter, Mr. President. Some would say you need to (non-controversially) bide your time waiting out this last year until re-election in 2012. Then once you've locked in the next four years you can be as hard hitting a President as you wish to be. Otherwise controversial action taken in this year 2011 could polarize undecided voters against you.
I disagree with that idea. As a thought expressed in a previous LTTP suggested, if a person is going to do anything “important” it should be done with passion and depth from beginning to end! I believe you have roughly 12 more months to PROVE why you need to be re-elected. Not by worrying that you might not be re-elected, or concerned about the Republican Party, meaning Corporate America already has a voice. It’s called money and plenty of it. It’s the ability to back any candidate they wish but they will do so regardless of your decisions in this last year. Right now, in this last year, before the next election, the American people, and the under-represented population ONLY has your voice at the moment! That's why there was such hope in electing you as our "democratic" President and as a candidate who promised "change"!
Of course part of your campaign promise was to remind everyone that "change" would take time. It's not an overnight phenomenon. That promise meant that we place our "faith" in you for that reason. But giving you our “trust” means watching the momentum of "change" taking place. It might not all be accomplished short-term. But we need to ask ourselves, ARE we better off than 3 years ago? What are the strongest indicators that "change" is the rule ….rather than the occasional??
As the writer of LTTP Day 31 suggests, you won't have a second chance to get elected for a second term! You are currently in the best possible position of any potential candidate out there. And that is to demonstrate every week - if necessary - how the economy and the American way of life is measurably improving and how "change" IS taking hold!
After all if we're not seeing and hearing about the momentum going in favor of the American Population now - what assurances do we have that it will ever happen in the future? How much trust can we be expected to give?
Please Mr. President - speak up, stand up, and give us the visual and verbal cues we need to hear from you today. Many people in the American Population will NOT be making up their mind only 24 hours before Election Day!! Popularity is contagious!
Now, and without ever letting us forget, is the time to maintain the conviction that we need to re-elect YOU!