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Fight Back, Mr. President (Fifth Piece)

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Dear Mr. President,


Your enemies have been coming at you with attacks most foul and unscrupulous, and you have maintained your gentlemanly calm.


You defend your program against their lies. But you do not go on the attack against your enemies for their lying.


The result is, you are playing defense, and they remain on the
offensive. You attempt to parry their blows, but you land none of
your own.


This is not good enough for protecting your power. And it is not being
true to the Force that brought you to the presidency. That's because,
in the present state of America, you as president have been summoned to
lead us in battle, and that battle is, ultimately, the struggle between
Good and Evil.


That this is what you are called to do is clear both from how you
gained the presidency, and from the forces that have now taken the
field against you.


You never would have been elected, as a young four-year Senator and a
man of color, were it not for the darkness cast over the land by your
predecessor. Had Americans not been so dismayed by those forces
of Darkness, they would never have been ready to be so inspired and
mobilized on behalf of the moral and spiritual forces that you rode to
victory.


Unfortunately, the departure of your predecessor (and his gang) from
the White House has not freed this country of those forces of
darkness. Many have noted it: there is something
unprecedented about the appalling and amoral conduct of your political
opposition. We've seen such perfidious politics before in
America, but previously it's always been consigned to the fringe.

Never before has one of our two major parties been so fixated on
seeking political advantage regardless of the cost to the nation.
Never before had one of our two major parties filled the center stage
of a major policy "debate" simply with outright fear-mongering lies.


America remains in a moral crisis, that battle of Good against Evil
continues to rage. Your enemies are waging war on you, and your
leadership role requires you to join the battle. Your Rope-A-Dope
approach "absorbing their blows while remaining "above the battle --
has not succeeded, for your power is draining away.


It's nice for a leader to be liked, but he also should be feared at
least to this extent: those who act as his enemies, those who
fight dirty and who act in bad faith, will pay a price.


It is time to fight.


Maybe you've been inhibited by the idea that a black man fighting will
frighten too many white Americans. There are ways to fight that
will not trigger those deep-seated racial fears.


Maybe you're attached to the notion of being the Nice Guy, the
bridge-builder, the man who brings people together. There's no
one way of being that's suitable to all occasions.


Your repertoire needs to include the hawk as well as the dove. When
someone makes war on you, to refuse to respond does not look "nice," it
looks like weakness.


The Americans who elected you need for you to be their champion in this
battle. It's clearly not a battle you have chosen; the
American people have seen that you've reached out. But your
enemies spurned the open hand, and the battle is forced upon you. You
cannot walk away from it. Indeed, you should welcome it, because
your enemies have handed you the opportunity to complete the
transformation of the American political landscape that your election
began.

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Andy Schmookler, an award-winning author, political commentator, radio talk-show host, and teacher, was the Democratic nominee for Congress from Virginia's 6th District. His new book -- written to have an impact on the central political battle of our time -- is (more...)
 
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