Missed Connection: Democrat Base Seeks 2008 Candidate Obama

It’s been a while since I’ve posted here, and I don’t intend to address that in this particular post. Perhaps later.

But last week, MTSU Sidelines Opinions Editor Brandon “Occupy Wall Street” Thomas ran an editorial seeking the “perfect Republican” Presidential candidate in the style of a Craig’s List post. Basically, he took the more extreme elements of the Right and rolled them into a mythical candidate.

Cute. I was inspired to write a Craig’s List-style response from the perspective of the liberal Democrat base… seeking 2008 candidate Obama. I hear it’s in today’s edition, but here is the original, unedited version.

Enjoy.

We were so in love, you and me.

You promised “hope” and “change” – a rejection of “politics as usual” in Washington. You promised a post-racial Presidency. You promised the economy would turn around and that unemployment would never go above eight percent. You vowed to end the Bush Tax Cuts for the Rich. You even promised an end to foreign wars. (David Brooks feels cheated, too.)

And we believed you. We believed you were the candidate who could save us from him… from the legacy of Dubya. I shudder even to write his name.

Now, three years later, we’re wondering where you went. Where did 2008 Candidate Obama go?

Instead of rejecting the old ways of Washington, you wholeheartedly embraced them. You hosted lobbyists and special interests at the White House. And when you didn’t want us to know you were seeing them, you met them only blocks away.

Your promise of a post-racial Presidency has been anything but. The Congressional Black Caucus is consistently at odds with your out-of-touch message as minority unemployment hovers in the mid-teens.

We supported your bailout of Big Business just like you asked, and unemployment shot above eight percent. It’s been above nine percent for 26 months of your so-far 32-month Presidency. And now your plan to create jobs asks for even more money to bail out business.

You couldn’t even manage to end the Bush Tax Cuts for the Rich! For Pete’s sake, Barack, the Top 1% only pay 40% of the taxes in this country! Can’t it be more? Why haven’t you pushed them to pay their fair share?

And instead of ending foreign wars, you doubled them. You committed troops in Libya, sent military “advisers” to central Africa, and ramped up a covert war in Yemen.

You are pulling troops out of Iraq, though. But it’s on a timetable set by your predecessor – Dubya. *shudder*

You were so dreamy, Barack. Your kind eyes. Your winning smile. Your promises of “hope” and “change.” The way you drew thousands of naïve college students to your events with the promise of helping cope with our student loans.

And now I learn your college loan plan will only save me $5 a month?

We miss you, 2008 Candidate Obama. We miss what you stood for, and we don’t particularly care for the shell of a man you’ve left in the White House.

So, if you see this before November 2012, give us something to believe in again.