bloggie blog

Dear Mr. President,

I haven’t paid certain taxes. So … are you hiring? I sure could use a job. I’m smart, insightful and full of hope. Thanks for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Kevin Ashworth
Los Angeles, Calif.

Obama was sworn in Tuesday, but something special happened as a follow-up late Wednesday. This just came to my attention: “There’s no formal name for what President Obama and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. did last night.” Wha?! And on top of that, Obama said, “We’re going to do it very slowly.” Double wha?!?!

Is that the change we voted for? Take heart, all ye Prop 8 lamenters. Take heart.

This is the first full day of our new president, and it’s an exciting new era, but I’d like to look back and observe that George W. Bush issued fewer pardons than any other 2-term modern president. I congratulate him and thank him very earnestly in this regard. Clinton left office in a flurry of pardons — 140 on his last day, almost as many as all of Bush’s — and that flurry included the pardoning of Marc Rich, an immoral act if there ever was one.

With GWB, some were hoping for pardons for Ted Stevens (barf) and Roger Clemens (poor baby). Others were hoping for massive pardons of everyone involved in torture (such shame). Where these hopers are disappointed, I am elated. Never a fan of the extent to which presidents can pardon, I am quite glad indeed. Thanks, Bush 43! I disagreed with most everything you did, but on this account, I thank you!

Whoa! Check out this warning from The Founders’ Great Mistake in The Atlantic (Jan/Feb 2009): “Unless these problems are fixed, it will only be a matter of time before another hot-rodder gets hold of the keys and damages the country further.”

Garrett Epps writes an article that has a cogent, liberal summary of weaknesses in the Constitution vis-à-vis the presidency. I recommend the article to you. At the end, he makes a couple of recommendations for change along the lines of what you’ve learned — and a couple recommendations completely out of left field!

From nowhere, he suggests a Cabinet – Vice President – Midterm Election shuffle. Wha?! Maybe this is a good idea, maybe not. But your other good ideas are connected in some way to the previous paragraphs in your article, Mr Epps. Did The Atlantic trim your writing, or did your political ideas trump your writing skills?

Same with your suggestion to vote for President and Attorney General. Not a worthless idea, no sirree. But you threw another curveball there, buddy! Please provide additional history and background on this one, too.