Dear President Obama : We Need You Now

By Thom Palmer and Daniel Gever

November 22, 2016

Dear President Obama, 

This letter is on behalf of many millions of Americans who have had your back for the last eight years. As you will be leaving office with an historically high approval rating, we know that you have had our backs as well.

We, the American people, thank you for the class with which you handled the racism and the planned unprecedented obstruction for the stated purpose of trying to make you and out nation fail, resulting in hardship upon our fellow citizens. Your strength and resolve standing strong against that obstruction should have been enough after your first term to command respect from the Republican Party, but sadly, it was not. The respect that you earned from us through your class, your intellect, and your steely resolve, never came from far too many of our citizens misled by the the barrage of falsifications created by the right wing and the alt right media.

You protected us having resisted involving our country in additional reckless wars for oil, while moving climate change corrections to the forefront of American ingenuity and determination, which if continued would put us in the financial and moral lead in the fight against climate change.  You have rejected the Keystone pipeline and have put the brakes on the continued leasing of our public lands in Alaska, in our National Parks, and off our shores for continued fossil fuel development. Through your efforts, some 20 million Americans now have decent, affordable healthcare, and all Americans with medical insurance have enjoyed enhanced basic coverages, the end of lifetime caps on benefits, the end of pre-existing conditions being used to deny coverage, as well as extended coverage for our children through age 26.

We now face the prospect of your successor being someone who is not capable of leading our country with the competence, integrity, class, honesty, and integrity required by the office that you have so eloquently occupied these last eight years. Your office is set to be loaded with advisors and a cabinet of science deniers, warmongers, white supremacists, xenophobes, and homophobes.  While you have been the firewall against the continued Republican assault against our people and our Constitution, we will soon lose you, our last line of defense, as the Republicans will now control all three branches of government having held you and the Constitution hostage since the death of Justice Scalia. Without you as our firewall we have now come to fear the immediate future.

The Republicans are poised to reverse everything that Democrats have struggled to achieve over decades of time along with everything that you have accomplished over the last eight years. Speaker Ryan has vowed to build those pipelines, to repeal the ACA, to eliminate regulations which keep our air and water safe, and to engage in an unconstitutional assault against the rights of immigrants, same sex couples, and anyone who is not White, Christian, and male. This incoming administration, along with the Republican Congress, is not likely to keep us safe, equal, or prosperous.

We will need some way to fend off the impending assault by the incoming administration on the nation and world. Our nation is in full crisis mode and it seems likely that things will get worse as this new government makes all of our lives exponentially more difficult over the next few years. President Obama, you Sir can take some steps that might provide us with some long-lasting protections against the incoming hate and incompetence that will most certainly characterize the administration that will take the place of yours. So we, the kind, the reasonable, the fair, and the forward thinking American people, ask you to take the following steps and sacrifices for us as you finish out your term as the finest President during most of our lives.

GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY FOR A RECESS APPOINTMENT, SWEAR MERRICK GARLAND IN AS AN ASSOCIATE JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT 

Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution states; 

“The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session.”

SENATE REPUBLICANS HAVE CONSENTED through their refusal to act on your nominee and by falsely claiming that there was legal and historical precedents for their refusal when there is not. The Constitution clearly and specifically grants the president the power to make recess appointments.

There is precedent for you to move forward with this nomination. President Eisenhower made a recess appointment swearing in Justice William J. Brennan on October 1, 1956. YOU CAN, AND SHOULD PROTECT US and have Merrick Garland sworn in, and you should do it before December 20th, the day after the Electoral College vote. This will help keep the playing field level, especially during the first year of the new administration. This will be a critical time when the SCOTUS might be the only protection that We the People may have from the numerous expected violations of our laws that the next administration can be expected to routinely make.

Yes, this action will be controversial with legal battles, protests, and criticism certainly to follow, but, so what? We think you would be saving democracy by doing so, and would also be protecting the Constitution of the United States by making the statement that obstructing a Supreme Court nominee is unacceptable. This should have never happened, and it should never happen again. Taking the opportunity to use your recess powers of appointment to HAVE JUDGE GARLAND SWORN IN is something that the Republicans, who use every procedural and parliamentary rule at their disposal to achieve their political ends, would do if given the opportunity. While you are at it, if given the opportunity for recess appointments, fill everyone of the current 97 Federal Judiciary vacancies as well. 

YOU HAVE BEEN SILENT ABOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF POTENTIAL CAMPAIGN ESPIONAGE AND ELECTION TAMPERING INVOLVING THE REPUBLICANS.

We realize that you want to be an example to the world on what a peaceful transfer of power looks like. However, it does appear possible that the Republican nominee's campaign, including the Republican presidential and vice presidential nominees themselves, worked with Russian operatives, in concert with Wikileaks. to influence our 2016 general election. If true, this could prove to be a much more serious matter than were the actions by President Nixon which led to his resignation on August 9, 1974. We assume there are ongoing investigations into these possible connections. Given these circumstances, along with the troubling actions by the FBI Director, James Comey, who appears to have improperly effected the outcome of this election, as well as the appearance of covert election tampering through the New York division of the FBI which possibly included Rudolf Giuliani, a potential cabinet appointee in the next administration, if indictments are forthcoming they need to be made public NOW, not after December 19th. These potential investigations, along with the reports of voter suppression and uncounted votes in Florida, North Carolina, Michigan, and Wisconsin, have cast a pall over the election results that smells pretty bad.

WE BELIEVE THAT A BACK-DOOR COUP WAS SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED ON 11/8/16 and if this was the case, legal action must be taken before the Electoral College votes on December 19, 2016

The ensuing quake will apply media pressure to the GOP as well as their Electors now considering voting for the Republican candidate thus opening the door for enough Electors to abandon their support for the Republican candidate.

To make this clear, we are UNDER NO ILLUSION that Secretary Clinton would ever be the victor of the Electoral College vote on December 19th or that if given the opportunity, the House of Representatives would choose anyone other than the apparent Republican winner of this election. Yet, the message needs to be sent throughout history that espionage and election tampering in the United States WILL NOT be tolerated and that those who engage in such transgressions will be punished to the fullest extent allowed by law.

DO NOT REMAIN SILENT ABOUT THE OPEN AND OBVIOUS PLANS BY THE APPARENT PRESIDENT ELECT TO USE THE OFFICE OF THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE FOR THE PERSONAL GAIN OF HIMSELF, HIS WIFE, HIS CHILDREN, ALONG WITH OTHER FAMILY AND FRIENDS

For the first time in the modern era, we endured a candidate for President of the United States refuse to make tax returns public well in advance of election day. Naturally we are concerned what it is that this candidate could be hiding. Given the news reports about his financial interests abroad, along with those of his fired campaign manager, Paul Manafort, and his use of the campaign for personal gain, which seems to be continuing, as well as his refusal to follow the tradition by all previous presidents to turn his assets over to a blind trust if not to completely divest himself of all his business interests, we demand that this troubling pattern be addressed. Allowing your wife, your children, and your son in law to run your business while they sit in on meetings with foreign dignitaries and are provided the highest level of security clearances, is not something that any of us will stand for.

If blocking the  inauguration of the apparent Republican winner is not possible, at least through these actions you can make removal from office through impeachment or by other constitutional means, much more likely. 

"Come On Man!" You've had our backs up until now, don't let us down now.

Sincerely,

The America You Know and Love And That Loves You Back

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ABOUT THE WRITERS

Thom Palmer is a Journalist residing in Southern California. Thom's focus has been promoting the Progressive agenda, and in calling out the childish gamesmanship that has increasingly infected our political landscape over the last couple of decades. You can read and follow Thom's writings at http://thompalmerpolitics.blogspot.com/

Daniel Gever is a retired lawyer, political scientist, and public school teacher. Daniel has been actively involved in Democratic, Liberal, and Progressive Politics writing for several platforms since 2013. Daniel resides in Denver, Colorado.

Also Read: Letter to Media