Why aren't you listening to us, President Obama? Can you not hear our voices crying out every day and every night, begging, pleading for relief? You were so full of promise when first we met. You spoke like a statesman, your ideas were fair and just, your vision seemed clear and your determination seemed fixed and fast. You spoke of change , of yes we can and of being fired up and ready to go. Our hearts jumped at the prospect of, once again, having a nation we could stand proudly behind for our children and for the world. What was it that changed you? When you made your way up to the Great White House on the shining hill did you suddenly discover that the task we charged you with was more than you were prepared to take on? And did you also realize that you had underestimated the terrible dark power and wealth of the corporations we sent you there to do battle with on our behalf?

Why aren't you listening to us? Is that Great White House too far away from the fields, the streets, the towns and cities and slums from whence we sent you forth? Have you lost sight of us and have your ears grown calloused to our cries? Did you forget the stories we told you of our plights and the one you told us of your own mother's struggles as she made her way through her last days, struggling desperately with the beastly insurance companies who sought to deny her the basic needs of any human being in her final days? Has the blare of lies and the siren song of money obscured the task for which we sent you there?

Why aren't you listening to us? Don't you know we have your back? Don't you see us lined up behind you? Can't you feel the love, strength and support we are sending you? Don't you remember the dreams we shared and the hopes we had in common? We forged a fine, strong sword for you to carry into battle - the will of the people. We gave you a clear direction in which to proceed. Now we stand waiting, watching and praying for you to wield that sword and bring forth the changes you so enthusiastically promised.

Why aren't you listening to us? Why do you continue to waste time on bipartisanship, attempting to strike deals with ultra-conservative crackpots whose only agenda is to take your presidency down and along with it all our hopes and dreams of having a country that cares about it's people.

Why aren't you listening to us? Why are you meeting behind closed doors with those who seek to manipulate us for their own gain? They seek to make deals with you that will make it appear to those less aware among us that you are offering us the health care reforms that we so desperately need while, in fact, that plan will be a profit-making machine for the insurance companies beyond their wildest dreams? Have you given up on fulfilling that one most important promise you made to us, health care for all? I'm not saying that you haven't done anything that you promised, for there are some good changes that you've brought about: the end of torture, the closing of Guantanamo, you've begun to return our soldiers from Iraq and more. But why have you chosen people to serve in your cabinet and as your advisors who are so entrenched in the status quo and who, in some cases, have been the very architects of the destruction of our economy? Why have you failed to give progressives a voice in your administration? Why, when you seek advice, do you go only to conservatives and corporatists, those who have worked to undermine our Constitution and our democratic way of life? Why do you not seek advice from the progressives who worked so hard to put you into office? Why have our voices been ignored and even silenced?

And why do you perpetuate some of the worst of the Bush policies: extraordinary rendition, illegal wiretapping of American citizens, secrecy in the government, and refusing to relinquish so many of the unitary Presidential powers that Bush and his dark band of cronies illegally put into place?

Why aren't you listening to us? Why do you choose to turn a blind eye to the crimes committed by those in the Bush administration who so haughtily trampled on our Constitution, set aside our rights, ignored our laws and abused our citizens?

Why have these criminals, these festering sores, been allowed to remain free and even given a level of credibility while the infection that they created still spreads it's corruption? You say you want to move forward and not look backwards but how does that make us a nation of laws as you so often characterize us? Explain to me how letting the rich and powerful live free from accountability for their dastardly actions when they break the laws of this land - how can this make us feel that we live in a lawful and just society? How can we ever know that the law truly does apply equally to all; the rich, the poor, the powerful and even the powerless when these criminals go about their lives with no fear of consequences for their horrible deeds?

Why aren't you listening to us? Why do you let giant corporations wield their dark powers to their great benefit and to our great deficit? You have an awesome weapon in your arsenal, one forged by men of great wisdom, long ago and defended by generations of patriots. That weapon is the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. It is, sir, the law of the land and with it's sharp blade you could, with the stroke of the pen, cut out so much of the corruption that has eaten away the fabric of our great democracy. Is it not your duty, Mr. President, to see that all of our laws, even this one, are fairly, evenly and vigorously enforced? Is it that you fear to use such a weapon? Fear not, Mr. President, for if you choose to use it you will find us right beside you, at your back, cheering you on, giving you the strength you need to do what is right, that which we so desperately need you to do at this time. We will surely stand up and cheer when we see this weapon come down upon those who are so bent on our destruction.

Why aren't you listening to us? Did we not speak out loudly and clearly in last year's election and you seem not to have heard what we were truly saying? There are precious few among you who reside inside the Beltway, and who occupy the seats of power we have put you into, who really have the courage and integrity to stand up for us against these corporate royalists whose only care is for the size of their own purse? Is our great democracy done? Has this Great Experiment as President Thomas Jefferson called it, seen it's end, to be relegated in the future to the back pages of some old and dusty history book as nothing more than a curiosity?

We beg of you, Mr. President, PLEASE LISTEN TO US. Listen to US, NOT to those who are only interested in maintaining the corruption and greed that keeps them super-wealthy and super-powerful and in keeping us under their control. That is a path that can only lead to our ultimate destruction. It was one of our founding fathers who, in his wisdom, once said Dissent is the highest form of patriotism. He wasn't talking about the type of hate-filled, violence-inciting, loud, aggressive minority who have been filling the town hall meetings and by those who are carrying guns to your Presidential events. Remember, Mr. President, those who shout the loudest have the least to say. He was talking about the thoughtful, well-informed and responsible citizens who stand firmly grounded in the profoundly high-minded principles this country was founded upon. Please join us, Mr. President, in setting this country to right, in reinvigorating the vision of our founding fathers and in bringing this democracy in it's highest form into the twenty-first century. Please listen to us before it is too late for if you fail to fulfill your promises we won't get another chance. The ultra-radical right-wing conservatives, supported by the giant corporate power structure shall seize upon your weakness and once and for all take over this country. We will become serfs in the feudal society that they have always envisioned us to be. Their pockets will swell with gold and we will be begging them for their table scraps, dirty, hungry, cold, sick and tired. This is not the America that any of us ever dreamed of. Gird your loins, Mr. President, draw the weapons of State that you have been given, take a deep breath and take this country back. Extraordinary times require extraordinary men to take extraordinary action. Now is the time, here is the place and you are that extraordinary man.

He who hesitates is lost.