Mr. President,
I have long been a supporter of you, your presidential campaign, and your administration. I have long felt that you were not going to be the radical that many painted you to be, and were going to be doing things that both the left and the right would not like.
You've earned my praise with Sotomayer, the economic stimulus, the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, SCHIP, and improving our status in the world. You have also earned my criticism for the continued lack of transparency (even though I can understand why), Don't Ask Don't Tell, the continued circumventing of the Fourth Amendment, and your mismanagment of the bank bailouts. Still, despite all that, I have been willing to give you and your administration the benefit of the doubt that you are still going to be the change we can believe in.
Then came health care reform, and now I don't know what to believe.
You said before that health care was a right not a privilege, and that reform was going to be a pivotal part of your administration. As President, you have mentioned that the public option, as it has been called, would provide the best reform possible for a severely broken system. Yet, I cannot help but notice that you have backed off mentioning the public option in recent weeks, made a back-room deal with Big Pharma, and now you have anonymous officials in your administration saying basically that you want to sign any health care reform bill with or without a public option. Even your advisor David Axelrod has unwittingly downgraded the Public Option to simply a "spirit".
Your worries should not be towards the Democratic Blue Dogs in the Senate and House, but with us, the people. If you think caving in on real health care reform will not be that big of an issue in the grand scheme of things, I've got news for you - that would have been true were it not for all the aforementioned criticisms that only fueled our worry. Signing a bill with a public option will earn our praise. Vetoing a bill that does not contain a public option will earn our praise. But signing a bill without a public option would not only be a slap in the face of the memory and legacy of Senator Edward Kennedy (who by the way repeatedly stated that reform without a public option was not real reform at all), it would be the final straw for many of us and any hope we had for "Change We Can Believe In".
Health care reform has become, by your own hand, one of the most important policies for your administration. For those of us who have been turned off by your actions and/or inactions over the last few months, this will be the deciding factor as to whether we can continue to muster the energy to support you. By your own actions will we believe you to be either just another American politician that capitulates on his/her major campaign promises, or a champion of the campaign themes you rode on into the White House and of the people who have been and will continue to be your most ardent, energetic, and relentless supporters.
We voted for you, campaigned for you, raised money for you. We had your back and fought against those that wanted to politically destroy you. We did these things because we were so sick and tired of what became of our nation and its laws, as well as how we treated each other, and you offered us the opportunity to change things. We've ceased the moment through our sharing and sending of information, as well as through our donations and our votes. This is YOUR moment! Signing real health care reform with the public option into law would be enough to sustain our faith that you still are the man we voted for.