Friday, June 12, 2009

A Letter to President Obama

Occasionally, I like to share with readers of my blog an article, letter, or story written by someone else.    Today is one of those days.    A friend sent me a copy of a letter written to President Obama by Louis A. Pritchett, who is a former Vice President of Procter & Gamble Co.   Mr. Pritchett worked for Proctor & Gamble for 36 years before retiring in 1989.   He is a motivational speaker and the author of a business book published in 1995 entitled Stop Paddling & Start Rocking the Boat:  Business Lessons from the School of Hard Knocks.   The book jacket describes the book as being “about learning from your mistakes and savoring your triumphs, mastering your weaknesses and fortifying your strengths.  It’s about initiating and sustaining a ‘love affair’ with your customers and your own employees.”   

Here is the text of Mr. Pritchett’s open letter to President Obama: 

Dear President Obama: 

You are the thirteenth President under whom I have lived and unlike any of the others, you truly scare me. 

You scare me because after months of exposure, I know nothing about you. 

You scare me because I do not know how you paid for your expensive Ivy League education and your upscale lifestyle and housing with no visible signs of support. 

You scare me because you did not spend the formative years of youth growing up in America and culturally you are not an American. 

You scare me because you have never run a company or met a payroll. 

You scare me because you have never had military experience, thus don't understand it at its core. 

You scare me because you lack humility and 'class', always blaming others. 

You scare me because for over half your life you have aligned yourself with radical extremists who hate America and you refuse to publicly denounce these radicals who wish to see America fail. 

You scare me because you are a cheerleader for the 'blame America' crowd and deliver this message abroad. 

You scare me because you want to change America to a European style country where the government sector dominates instead of the private sector. 

You scare me because you want to replace our health care system with a government controlled one. 

You scare me because you prefer 'wind mills' to responsibly capitalizing on our own vast oil, coal and shale reserves. 

You scare me because you want to kill the American capitalist goose that lays the golden egg which provides the highest standard of living in the world. 

You scare me because you have begun to use 'extortion' tactics against certain banks and corporations. 

You scare me because your own political party shrinks from challenging you on your wild and irresponsible spending proposals. 

You scare me because you will not openly listen to or even consider opposing points of view from intelligent people. 

You scare me because you falsely believe that you are both omnipotent and omniscient. 

You scare me because the media gives you a free pass on everything you do. 

You scare me because you demonize and want to silence the Limbaughs, Hannitys, O'Relllys and Becks who offer opposing, conservative points of view. 

You scare me because you prefer controlling over governing.
 

Finally, you scare me because if you serve a second term I will probably not feel safe in writing a similar letter in 8 years. 

Lou Pritchett 

Mr. Pritchett confirmed to Snopes.com that he is the author of the above letter.  He said he sent the letter to The New York Times, which not surprisingly neither acknowledged nor published it. 

I hope Mr. Pritchett has a good lawyer and accountant who are standing by to represent him in connection with his upcoming audit by the Internal Revenue Service.