Wednesday, January 21, 2009

President Obama

I have a friend, who wrote a post to you - and she said you aren't her choice but she wishes you well, congratulations and luck. This is how, I am glad to say, many of those members of the military family who didn't elect you will react. They will honour you as the Commander in Chief, they will pray for your success in dealing with our community

You ARE my choice for President - and I am hoping for so many things. I don't think you can change everything right away, and I think you may have to moderate some of your objectives, due to changing facts and times. But I'm still hoping.

There are those who have decided you are not a "true American" whatever they mean by that. They are angry and underneath all that anger, I think some are scared. Some are scared because you are not the same colour, some are scared because you have a name that sounds strange to them, some think that military service is a pre-requisite to serving your country honourably, some don't agree with your decisions and ideas. Some of them may change their minds, but unfortunately many of them have closed their minds and will not budge.

I hope that you will listen to the men and women you have selected to advise you, and that you will understand that the military sometimes has a different view of the world! We aren't numbers, we aren't a monolith, we aren't all alike. We are individuals, who work together, the uniformed members follow orders, and the families are also affected by those orders. The First Lady has shown her interest in the families and we hope that she continues that interest.

Good luck, Mr. President.

LAW

2 comments:

Janis said...

Thanks for this post. I was recently on military.com. Michelle Obama wrote an open letter to military families pledging to listen and work with them. It seemed to me to be a kind, introductory letter. The comments that followed were shocking. Most were filled with racial predjudice. After 9 pages of posts, one guy posted a thoughtful response defending Michelle. The following responders has looked at his profile and concluded that he was defending Obama because they are the same color. This was followed by such racial language that the discussion thread had to be shut down.

I know that these voices are the minority, but they are just as loud as they are ugly. My thanks to your friend who disagrees with respect, and my thanks to you showing the diversity of viewpoints of military families.

liberal army wife said...

I know.. it was revolting. I posted on there, around page 5 or 6, but was inundated by the wave of those for whom I am assuming their uniform of choice is a sheet and hood. I linked to her letter on USA Today - and I still do not understand why these folks are so scared and why anyone would turn down a person who wants to learn and has compassion for our families. Being angry about an election is one thing... but that was ridiculous.

LAW