America is a sandcastle

An Open Letter to President-Elect Barack Obama: Mr. President, At this momentous point in our country’s history, it is safe to assume the following metaphor: America is a sandcastle. It is an intriguing creation of hard work and careful planning. It is also terribly fragile and I’m afraid you’re coming into office at the foot of the high tide. You aren’t the first president to enter into such conditions and if time has taught us anything you most certainly won’t be the last. There’s no real chance of stopping the damage done to our country by empty wars, backward social policy and economic freefall, just like there’s no stopping the waves of the ocean. It’s not your job to protect the sandcastle, Mr. Obama. It’s your job to provide the scaffolding for something far sturdier.
It seems you’ve made it a habit to address your nation via digital media, giving us hints as to how you intend to clean up the mess left by the Bush administration. If you have any sense, you’ll keep this up. You should know by now that the greatest asset at your disposal is the immense popular support engendered by your public demeanor. During the race, you spoke to your electorate as if we’re a generally intelligent, capable crowd and we appreciated that enough to actively contribute, both monetarily and with direct action campaigning. As long as you keep treating us like responsible adults, we’ll keep working for you. And when I say “working” I mean it literally. So far, you’ve talked about saving and creating jobs by implementing a nation-wide public works project to update America’s infrastructure, as well as seriously approaching alternative energy. We like you enough that if you give us an honest day’s labor we might just be willing to re-embrace that long-lost American sense of concrete patriotism. You’ve got kids, you’ve written books about it, you know what’s possible and what’s at stake. We elected you on the Democratic ticket but for everybody’s sake, Mr. Obama, please don’t act like a Democrat. Don’t talk about plans you don’t have the guts to enact, don’t make concessions at the cost of social justice and don’t decry the crimes of the bad guys while forgetting to be one of the good guys. With utmost sincerity, An Audaciously Hopeful Citizen