President Obama's Letter to Students

Follow up to the 'school address' conversation.

Last winter shortly after President Obama took office, my daughter's school took part in one of those projects where students wrote letters to the President which were then forwarded to the White House. I happily had my child take part, making sure she wrote a respectful, congratulatory letter, wishing him well.

A few months later, all participating students received a copy of the following letter signed by the President:

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June 1, 2009

Dear Students:

Thank you for your recent notes, and for sharing your thoughts with me. Your kind words echo the messages of millions of Americans who have welcomed me and my family to the White House with an outpouring of goodwill.

On January 20th, Americans spoke with one voice, choosing hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord. Our Nation faces serious challenges, but we will overcome them if our imagination is joined to common purpose.

Now is our time to work together, reaffirm our enduring spirit, and choose our better history. With your help, we will renew our Nations promise to carry forth the great gift of freedom to future generations, as our forebears have delivered it to us.

Sincerely...

*******************

My daughter's copy of this letter has remained posted on our wall since the day she brought it home, my having explained to her that although I hadn't voted for him it was nevertheless a special and positive thing to receive such correspondence from the President.

I am not 'frightened' of anything this President has to say, either to myself or my child.

However, just like any protester of war, torture, immigration reform or ever increasing taxes...I am free to express to him in any non-violent way that I choose, that I disagree with what he is doing and the way he is attempting to do it.

Apple

I know, that evil man.

When did the right become such vaginas anyway?

When I was 8, I wrote a letter to Richard Nixon, and actually got a personal response. The letter is somehere at my parents' house.

I had a letter to me signed by JFK and I lost it.

DT,

How neat. Not that you lost it, but that you had it. :pWhat was the letter regarding and what date? I imagine it might be valuable today, both politically and personally no/


TIS

You sure about that Apple? I thought that the right to speak out, oppose and protest was only applicable when a Republican is President.







Tell em TIS, I have them BOTH beat, right?

I got a kiss from the former First Lady when meeting her a few days after September 11th 2001.


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Ha ha ha ha!!!! That's right. And you haven't washed your face since. That's like if I got a kiss from W!!! Everyone here would be laughing their ass off while I'd be pewking. How funny.


TIS

DT's memory of JFK letter reminds me of the vague vague memory I have of being downtown with my mom and seeing Eisenhower. I am not sure of the year, but I was maybe 4 or 5. I saw signs and people wearing the "I like Ike" buttons. I simply remember the excitement of the crowd and the activity but that's it.

Although I have no letter, one of my happiest political moments came when I saw JFK go by our school and wave to the crowd in 1960 (I was about12). Years later in 68 I shook Bobby Kennedy's hand at the airport. I remember there was a crowd and I inched my way to the front of the fence he walked along and got to shake his hand. In both cases however, nothing I have saved except the memory.


TIS

That would have been before he was the president. Come to think of it, if you were 4 or 5, that was before Eisenhower was a general. He was probably a private in the Army then.

Let's see SC, how does that saying go? Oh yea, nobody likes a smart ass!

Just on a whim, and because I can, I googled the 1968 RFK Michigan visit. Not from the airport, but some of the rallies downtown. I was hoping to find a long lost shot of me that I never knew about, but alas, it was not meant to be.

TIS


http://www.flickr.com/photos/henry2u/

Don't listen to him TIS.

He was probably around when the King was still ruling the colonies!

The letter was written in the spring of 1961. I wrote to him about the Peace Corps, and I got a two paragraph response. All I remember about it was that
he ended the letter like this:

...I am,
Very truly yours

John F. Kennedy.

For years I ended all my correspondence that way (except for the name). I shook hands with Jimmy Carter once, and all I remember was how short he was.
Also was in a hotel lobby when Ronald Reagan walked in (1976 GOP Convention),and I still remember what a tremendous presence he had. He literally sucked all the air out of the room. I saw Clinton speak in public, and he, like Reagan had the same magic. Last year during the primaries, my wife was working out and Obama (with secret service) came into the room and worked out on a machine right across from her. He had his I-Pod, and she made eye contact but did not want to bother him. She said he looked incredibly intense.