Dear Mr. President

Dear Mr. President,

My name is Jon Hetherington and I write to you as a huge supporter.  It is my great joy to say that I worked locally to elect you and it is my high honor that the first presidential election I was eligible to vote for resulted in you taking office.  Two memories that will stay with me forever are the night that I was able to meet and have my picture taken with Mrs. Obama; the other being the night that I attended one of your rallies and every bone in my body was inspired to do all that I could to work for your election because of my belief in you and your vision.

Mr. President, I still believe.  I believe your vision is moving our country toward a better and brighter future.  It is because of this belief that I must tell you honestly: I’m afraid you’ve forgotten your vision and lost the passion that fired us up.

Please sir, don’t misunderstand me.  You have done incredible and necessary work in the face of obstruction by your political opposition; you passed a healthcare plan that directly affects me as someone with a disability, and I thank you for that.  You signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Act, as a gay man, I thank you and rejoice at its passage.  Arguably, the most significant work you have done is working to prevent the certain onset of a second Great Depression.  Never forget what you’ve accomplished sir, I believe that our country is better for it.

Yet in the face of all of this, your supporters and base are lost and in need of your leadership.  We need you to fight for us.  We need more than your words, we need action!

I have a very hard time understanding why your opposition is getting to shape the course of action for, and the debate in the country.  In a time when you have affirmed your commitment to facing the growing conflict in Afghanistan, why are highly qualified service members who want to continue serving still being discharged under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”?  I understand you want to repeal the law legislatively, but why not issue an executive order in the interim?  Isn’t “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” a threat to national security?  How does the discriminatory law uphold our American ideal of “one nation…with liberty and justice for all”?  Rather than liberty, it asks people to lie about who they are and trade integrity in the name of duty.  We need you.

Many of us feel as those we have been forgotten about.  You have at times called yourself a “fierce advocate” for people in the LGBT community, but we consistently see action that doesn’t match words.  I have felt disenfranchised and hurt, and I know I’m not alone.  You have my vote in 2012 sir, but I cannot speak for all progressives and liberals.  You have alienated us because we don’t see you fighting for us.  When I see right-wing commentators relying on the underlying and often explicit homophobia to garner support for their definitions of marriage or against same-sex adoption, I want to jump through the TV and scream!!  Mr. President, it’s not that I expect you to fight every battle for the LGBT community, you shouldn’t, I just want to see you speaking and feel in my heart as I once did that you truly do mean that you are that “fierce” advocate.

I fear what will happen in 2012.  I hate to say it, but it is my honest feeling.  I would hate to see the country be moved in a direction that is more exclusive, but this is what I see happening through the example of the midterm elections.  The problem was more than the opposition gaining control of the House, it is that your base and supporters by and large stayed home.

The time has come sir.  No more words, no more waiting for the obstruction to stop, you must be the leader we elected you to be.  Mr. President, it’s true, “yes we can”, but how can we without you?

Respectfully,

Jon Hetherington