Letter: Obama should be thanking '1 percenters,' not condemning them

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February 20, 2012

Letter: Obama should be thanking '1 percenters,' not condemning them

The Salem News Mon Feb 20, 2012, 04:30 AM EST

To the editor:

Does anyone understand why President Barack Obama feels so comfortable pitting one group of Americans against another? You know, the 99-percent-vs.-1-percent baloney.

What would motivate a leader, no less our president, to want to instill such animosity towards a minority of citizens who have essentially paved the financial foundation for our country? What's up with that? And what's up with Obama's insistence that this is somehow one of our "American values"? Since when?

Apparently, 2008 was just a figment of our imaginations. Remember the stadiums packed with crowds "hoping" and "changing" and the powerful promises (all broken, of course)?

"I won't be the president of the red states, or the blue states, but the president of the United States," Obama declared. United? Excuse me while I laugh my you-know-what off!

On a serious note, there is something quite disturbing going on here. Our president has chosen to be engaged in a low-level form of bullying. Hear me out. Obama wants other people's money (the top 1 percent) for the mismanagement of our government, and is willing to bad-mouth a group of people into being forced to pay this money.

The president doesn't appreciate the financial contributions of the wealthy. According to him, "they're not paying their fair share." So yes, he is creating an unnecessary division between groups of Americans.

Now this is quite strange when you consider that the wealthy of our nation (those evil 1-percenters) have been the financial backbone, supporting close to 40 percent of our overall taxes. But hey, that's not good enough for our president.

So what's his solution? Have an all-out attack on one group of Americans while playing on another group's emotions — the 99 percenters.

Obama and his administration really think they can get us to believe that somehow we've been robbed, cheated, swindled, abused, used, you name it, by the top 1 percent. And of course, that is going to get us mad!

How dare they "not pay their fair share!" The atrocity of it all! We must unite against such an injustice by throwing our iron fists in the air and demanding our right to someone else's money!

Some "American value," Mr. President.

Solving our country's economic woes is no doubt a monumental task requiring ingenuity, creativity, and lots and lots of wisdom. Dividing our country into haves and have-nots, pitting them against one another by false pretense, is neither smart, acceptable or appropriate. Nor is it fair to any American. But hey, it's designed that way so we can focus on beating each other up through group-bashing and labeling instead of looking at where the root problem lies — at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Clever? Juvenile is more like it. Uniting our country in the face of insurmountable difficulties is certainly no walk in the park, but c'mon, Mr. President, playing head games with the American people? You're supposed to be above that kind of nonsense as a leader. How do you expect us to build bridges of hope and unity when you're engaged in creating an unnecessary war from within?

A better approach for us all would come from an attitude of gratitude rather than an attitude of ill will; an attitude of thankfulness rather than an attitude of resentment. Instead of tearing each other down, how about let's start building each other up? That's how bridges of real hope and real change are built.

Thanks to those 1 percenters who have kept our country afloat.

Brenda McFeeters

Beverly