Dear Barack-

Congratulations!  I know this is historic with you being the first black man elected president and all, but that’s not why I voted for you, and you didn’t run a campaign that expected me that of me, either.  I voted for you because I think your intellect and level-headedness are qualities greatly needed in Washington right now, and not just from you, but from the people you will appoint to cabinet positions and the like.  I’m very excited to see what you have in store for us.  

Now there have been some points that I’ve been keeping to myself, just waiting until you got elected (and there’s part of me that thinks I should keep these to myself until you get sworn in, but I’m putting them out there anyway).  You are, frankly, inheriting a shit sandwich that is going to need some serious care just to keep us where we are, and I’m not just talking about the economy.  So here are a few things I hope you’ll address:

Safeguard the fundementals of the US-    The constitution was written with the assumption the President would uphold the document, both in letter and spirit.  However, the Bush administration time and time again showed contempt for it’s spirit, ignoring the document whenever it got in the way.  Bush abused the power of signing statements to manipulate legislation, the administration invaded our privacy, and engaged in a covert operation of fear to take us to war on shaky grounds.  President-Elect Obama:  Please create legislation that specifically limits the power of the executive branch to what the founders of the nation intended.  Please make sure that should another person like Bush get into office, the sheer will and disregard for the fundamentals of the US are not enough to hijack the country and ruin it.

Be honest with us-  Call a spade a spade.  You are inheriting a terrible economy.  We are all going to have to make some sacrifices to our lifestyles (this is not a bad thing).  Do not sugar coat things, and do not do things to try and prop up the economy for just a few months.  I voted for you because I believed you to be a man that can get to the core issues of a situation.  Sometimes the solution means some pain.  Don’t shy away from it.

Reestablish an Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty- It happened early in his presidency, and before September 11th, so many people forgot that Bush pulled us out of the treaty we had with Russia.  I believe he did this so he could focus on building a missle defense system that was by and large bullshit.  In the last couple of years, we’ve seen Russia assert a military presence by resuming regular bomber flights over the Pacific.   We need to ease these growing tensions that could lead to another cold war.

Don’t pull us to the left, just back to center- You’ve got a democratic congress, which will give you the ability to pass a lot of legislation.  Don’t just talk about “reaching across the aisle”- please weigh the opinions of everyone when making decisions.  Restore balance instead of letting the democrats run everything.  That would be just as bad as the last eight years.

I could probably keep going all day, but I think these are the important ones.  I hope you’ve got some of these ideas in your head.  I really wish you luck in the coming 4 years… they are going to be very, very hard.  There is a youngness to your face that I saw last night, and I don’t think i’ll see this time next year.  You’ve got an uphill battle to fight, my friend, and though I have a lot of faith in you, I worry about the tough choices you will have to make.  If you want to talk about it, give me a call

All the best,

Hiland Hall