I've defended the president in comments on DKos diaries and elsewhere. No more. I retract every argument that I've made because his latest deal with the Republicans has shown me that he no longer deserves my support.
On the flip, you'll find my letter to him today.
Dear Mr. President:
I cannot begin to express the outrage I feel at your capitulation to the extortion demands of the Republican leadership. Your remark at the meeting with the congressional leadership last week in which you expressed regret at not reaching out more to the Republicans boggles the mind. You have been a conciliator beyond reason. Each time you have made overtures to the opposition, they have made demands to which you conceded only to find that they voted "no" to the legislation that their demands had diluted. They bargained in bad faith time and time again, and you have not learned anything from this.
Now, after the House Democrats have done the right thing by voting to continue the current tax rates for incomes up to $250K, the Republicans in the Senate have shown that they will not budge from their intransigence. What do you do? You engage in negotiations with these extortionists. We can predict what the outcome will be: they will continue to extort. That's how blackmail works. The only appropriate response to their demands is "no"; let the Bush tax cuts expire in toto. They were never sound policy anyway, as is evident by the current economic conditions.
In the short run, extending all of those tax cuts spells doom for any hope of getting control of the national debt problem. You will probably say that the extension for tax cuts on upper incomes is temporary. That is naive or disingenuous; the opposition will have learned that extortion works and will use it again and again.
In the long run, the Republican agenda--the one that broke the economy in the late 19th century, in the 1930s, and now in the first decade of this century--is poised to bring us to total ruin, and when the US economy fails, the global depression that will follow will be on you. Not on George Bush, not on the Republicans in Congress, but on you. Some congressional Democrats have shown the kind of political integrity that is required. But unless the leader of that party can show the same kind of fortitude and clarity of purpose, their good intentions will not avert the demise of the entire party, and more importantly the demise of the country.
When I made contributions to your campaign, I thought I was making an investment in a sound future. I was obviously wrong. The course you are on is not the change we can believe in; it is the kind of change that the most radical of Republicans have strived for since the New Deal; it is the kind of ruinous change that Democrats have stood four-square against because to be a Democrat has always meant upholding principles of social justice against the greedy, self-centered, rapaciousness of the opposition. How that opposition could manage to achieve their goals while Democrats hold the majority in both chambers and a Democrat is in the White House is nothing short of amazing.
I have been a lifelong Democratic voter, and I've always shaken my head at others who in expressing their disappointment with the party's disarray have argued for a third party. I'm rapidly approaching their position. I have put my elected representatives--Dick Durbin in the Senate, and Danny Davis in the House--on notice. I will no longer support them simply because their voting record represents my values. Instead, they must show leadership to steer the Democratic party and the country in the progressive direction that is necessary to the security and prosperity of our nation. The success of their efforts will also depend on you. In the meantime, I will not donate to the campaign of any Democrat until the party as a whole shows the discipline and the commitment to the appropriate course on economic, social, and foreign policies, nor will I vote for any Democrat if the party as a whole fails to do the right thing. One candidate of integrity is of no value as long as the larger organization fails to fulfill its duty.
Based on your current trajectory, I believe that you are on your way to becoming a one-term president. This saddens me. I vividly remember celebrating in Grant Park with tens of thousands of others who thought that you would live up to the promises of your campaign, that your leadership would be principled, constitutionally grounded, and fair. However, by giving in to the foolish demands of the opposition, by not only turning a blind eye to the crimes committed in the past administration but also deterring other governments from pursuing justice, you have let down your supporters, our country, and the rest of the world.
With profound regret,