Endorsements Nov 2011

Monterey County Water Board

Carmel/C.V. - Scott Dick
Monterey/P.G. - Regina Doyle

Hartnell College Trustees

Area 1 - Demetrio Pruneda
Area 2 - Bill Freeman

Polls

RSS Monterey Herald News

 

An Open Letter to the Monterey County Democratic Party

As a Democrat since I could vote, I ask the Monterey County Democratic Party to announce that it will not endorse President Obama’s reelection bid at this time.  While there have been positive aspects to the current administration, most notably his two Supreme Court appointments, the past three years have been at best a grand missed opportunity to move this country away from the neo-con policies that are pushing our nation close to fiscal and moral bankruptcy.

At its worst, by, among other things, escalating the war against the Afghan people and pushing more ruinous “free” trade agreements through Congress, the President has made things significantly worse.  In the current debt ceiling debate, President Obama has moved farther to the right than even his predecessor dared.  Indeed, he is excoriating those fighting to ensure that seniors enjoy a decent standard of living and the health care many need to survive.  Social Security and Medicare are Democratic programs which we should defend with great pride not scale back in order to maintain recklessly low tax rates for the super rich.

The President’s specific failure to defend the jewels in the Democratic crown and his general willingness to inflict more pain on poor and working Americans and none on corporate titans prove that he lacks our shared Democratic values. As such, Obama’s continued presence as our party’s standard bearer can only harm the Democratic cause. Accordingly, the Monterey County Democratic Party should renounce its support for President Obama, endorse another candidate in the 2012 primaries, and refuse to aid the reelection campaign in any way.

This entry was posted in Hal's Commentary. Bookmark the permalink.

8 Responses to An Open Letter to the Monterey County Democratic Party

  1. peter says:

    I actually agree…I can name a few that I would prefer for sure…Feingold would be great ..there are about 5 others who would actually fight for the standards believed in. Just hope they don’t die in any more plane crashes.

  2. Kathleen says:

    With the President’s abandonment of principled support for Social Security and his offer to raise the age for eligibility to enroll in Medicare my line in the sand is obliterated and my personal ox has been gored. While I had certainly hoped I was wrong I always said Barack Obama was too conservative for me. My late father-in-law ( a black, Lincoln Republican) always told me that the first Black and/or the first woman to be president would be people I couldn’t support. I used to be so sad that he passed away 16 years before Pres. Obama was elected and inaugurated– now I’m not.

  3. Shade says:

    Obama is guilty of beginning his Presidency acting like a deferential Junior Senator instead of acting like a President. If Obama had come out of his election & led like Bush Jr, we would not be in this mess. The public will support & follow a true leader, right or wrong.

    If Republicans continue to refuse to come to an acceptable agreement on the budget, Obama should invoke the 14th Amendment. This should suffice to stave off complete world economic collapse for a few days. Once Congress sees how bad even this shakes up world markets (the only thing they REALLY care about), they would not dare to continue their intransigence even if the courts hold Obama’s action unconstitutional.

    History will dub Obama as “The Great Capitulator” or an “Uncle Tom” if his pattern of accepting disadvantageous compromises continues. It is time for him to step up the job he accepted and lead. Let’s hope Obama & his wife grow a pair before August 2, 2011. Truthfully though, I expect something less.

  4. Fia says:

    Hi Hal,

    Love this letter and completely agree that this would be the correct move BUT only if we get a candidate that believes in true progressive politics and is interested in bringing the rest of the country into the fold. I am no longer interested in supporting milquetoast Dems, I am looking for leadership that is not only interested in protecting what we have but expanding the vision and creating something new and even better than this country has ever seen. It is time for us to demand leadership that is forward looking and that is interested in making the entire country a more perfect union. Right now I feel that our citizens live in constant pain and lack mode and I for one cannot and will not live that way,we have too many brilliant, innovative minds
    and a vast collection of resources in this country to continue to support and settle for less in our leadership.

  5. Fia says:

    Right about now I’m really missing Anthony Weiner and Alan Grayson. We need leadership that will bring the FIRE!

  6. Dave says:

    I am dumbfounded that the public can’t seem to see through the game of the 2 party system. It’s obvious to me that the same big money boys control both parties.
    The democrats are long on rap, but short on act. On every issue they have let the American people down. It was bill Clinton that brought us nafta, signed the legislation to allow the bankers go hog wild by the repeal of Glass/Stingall. President Obama is no better, he supports a medicine/insurance complex that only makes the rich richer and the sick sicker. Nothing has changed. And why would it, considering the “industry” wrote the legislation. His enforcers have done nothing to bring justice to the banking scandals, no
    investigation, not even the slightest interest in a audit of the federal reserve And the greatest scandal of all time is completely ignored. President Obama has not even
    utter the words building #7.
    My feelings for rank and file poor and middle class democrats and republicans is sumed up in one word,pity. I pity the ignorant fools.

  7. Frank in San Diego says:

    I, for one plan on voting for Obama in ’12, the only difference this time around is that I am not contributing a single cent to his campaign. So far, I have gotten two letters asking for contributions from his headquarters. I will, however, contribute to the Alan Grayson and Bernie Sanders re-election campaigns, when the time comes. Those two have the guts and the balls to do what is right. No way I want a crazy, greedy, lacking-compassion repuke back in the White House.

  8. Todd says:

    In a nationally televised interview just a few months ago, Howard Dean said, “I think we can pretty much discount the notion that President Obama represents anything other than politics as usual.”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: