An Open letter to Paterson and Hillary
By Chris Stevenson
Dear Governor and Madam Senator:
Recently, Mrs. Clinton you asked an apparent fan of Barack Obama; the IL Senator, if he knew what Obama’s accomplishments were. The man said nothing. I’m quite sure Mrs. Clinton, you know what Obama’s accomplishments really are and if you won any victory at all regarding that, it’s the most important comparison between the two of you and the major media deliberately chooses not to broadcast this.
But since it’s becoming more evident that you are going to be returning back to the state you were hardly working in soon, there are some things regarding your Senate position that you, for some reason, never got around to. Believe it or not Hil (may I call you Hil?) I actually started out endorsing you. Though I liked Obama, I felt he was too inexperienced. Since then I found out a startling truth about you Hil. Mrs. Clinton, you are inexperienced. In fact, you are not even experienced as a US Senator. What have you done? And what have you done for blacks?
Truth be told, in the state of Illinois, Obama was known as an "engaged lawmaker." During a tenure of some 12 years in the Senate, most of it as State Senator, Barack Obama co-sponsored at least 780 bills, 280 of them having been signed into law. By comparison Hil, your legislative record has you looking pretty dormant. You’ve "served" for eight years and for some reason, you only managed to pass into law a whopping grand total of 20 pieces of legislation. What’s up Hil, did your pen run out of ink?
Much of Obama’s bills deal with human rights issues that initially met with heated opposition from both republicans and the police union. Theres S.2566, for example, which reformed the IL death penalty before a much-needed moratorium on it was called. This bill required that interrogations be video-recorded in capitol cases. This passed the IL Senate 58-0 and was signed into law by the very Governor who opposed it; Rod Blagojevich.
Mrs. Clinton, a brief summary of your brass-knuckle efforts are an extended-period bill of unemployment assistance for 9/11 victims, another bill pays for city projects in response to 9/11, another bill assists landmine victims in other countries, a bill that assists family caregivers in accessing affordable respite care and another bill designates part of the national forest system in Puerto Rico as protected in the wilderness preservation system. Hillary, with the exception of the 9/11 victims bills, these are fluff. You actually traveled all the way from D.C. to move here just to deliver benign measures and scream that you want to be president. Obama’s tenure in office blows yours out the frame.
Yes, I see big media pundits like my fellow Buffalonian Tim Russert shamelessly harass Obama into virtually repudiating Minister Louis Farrakhan even further than he already had. Other news outlets literally took it upon themselves to target that speech by the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright as a subtle payback and distracting measure to your friend Geraldine Ferraro’s being forced to resign from your campaign when you so casually dismissed the outrage over her racist comments as a non-issue.
Evidently you feel yourself as living under a different set of rules if you enjoyed Obama denouncing Farrakhan’s words and support and you still want him to cut all of his ties to Reverend Wright, but you still have yet to reject Ferraro. You also owe the Bosnians a huge apology for what you write off as "It was a mistake" and your spokesperson calls a "misspoke." What you did when you landed in Bosnia on 3/26/96 was slander a whole country. You actually arrived in Bosnia four months after their war ended. This just eight days before your husband’s Commerce Secretary Ron Brown’s plane crashed in nearby Croatia (who could have known?).
You said it was because you felt it was easy to do and people would believe you, a lie akin to a white suburbanite claiming she drove through a black neighborhood and witnessed a drive-by shooting when video footage shows no such incident. This was an all-around insult to the Bosnians, their acting president and in particular that little girl who really wanted to meet you. The big networks aren’t giving this the same coverage as Dr. Wright because they tell the same type of white lies on a regular basis and they see a part of themselves in you.
Hillary, since you too consider yourself a candidate for change, my only advice to you is for you to get on your husband’s Soul Plane and bring your lying, legislatively lazy and trifling self back to New York (where such attributes are more appreciated) and start making changes. I even have a Bill for you and your State Senator colleagues to work on. I realize you can’t wait for me to tell you about it. But I have something to say to that other guy who’ll be your new black boss over the next four years; Governor Paterson.
Dear Governor and Madam Senator:
Recently, Mrs. Clinton you asked an apparent fan of Barack Obama; the IL Senator, if he knew what Obama’s accomplishments were. The man said nothing. I’m quite sure Mrs. Clinton, you know what Obama’s accomplishments really are and if you won any victory at all regarding that, it’s the most important comparison between the two of you and the major media deliberately chooses not to broadcast this.
But since it’s becoming more evident that you are going to be returning back to the state you were hardly working in soon, there are some things regarding your Senate position that you, for some reason, never got around to. Believe it or not Hil (may I call you Hil?) I actually started out endorsing you. Though I liked Obama, I felt he was too inexperienced. Since then I found out a startling truth about you Hil. Mrs. Clinton, you are inexperienced. In fact, you are not even experienced as a US Senator. What have you done? And what have you done for blacks?
Truth be told, in the state of Illinois, Obama was known as an "engaged lawmaker." During a tenure of some 12 years in the Senate, most of it as State Senator, Barack Obama co-sponsored at least 780 bills, 280 of them having been signed into law. By comparison Hil, your legislative record has you looking pretty dormant. You’ve "served" for eight years and for some reason, you only managed to pass into law a whopping grand total of 20 pieces of legislation. What’s up Hil, did your pen run out of ink?
Much of Obama’s bills deal with human rights issues that initially met with heated opposition from both republicans and the police union. Theres S.2566, for example, which reformed the IL death penalty before a much-needed moratorium on it was called. This bill required that interrogations be video-recorded in capitol cases. This passed the IL Senate 58-0 and was signed into law by the very Governor who opposed it; Rod Blagojevich.
Mrs. Clinton, a brief summary of your brass-knuckle efforts are an extended-period bill of unemployment assistance for 9/11 victims, another bill pays for city projects in response to 9/11, another bill assists landmine victims in other countries, a bill that assists family caregivers in accessing affordable respite care and another bill designates part of the national forest system in Puerto Rico as protected in the wilderness preservation system. Hillary, with the exception of the 9/11 victims bills, these are fluff. You actually traveled all the way from D.C. to move here just to deliver benign measures and scream that you want to be president. Obama’s tenure in office blows yours out the frame.
Yes, I see big media pundits like my fellow Buffalonian Tim Russert shamelessly harass Obama into virtually repudiating Minister Louis Farrakhan even further than he already had. Other news outlets literally took it upon themselves to target that speech by the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright as a subtle payback and distracting measure to your friend Geraldine Ferraro’s being forced to resign from your campaign when you so casually dismissed the outrage over her racist comments as a non-issue.
Evidently you feel yourself as living under a different set of rules if you enjoyed Obama denouncing Farrakhan’s words and support and you still want him to cut all of his ties to Reverend Wright, but you still have yet to reject Ferraro. You also owe the Bosnians a huge apology for what you write off as "It was a mistake" and your spokesperson calls a "misspoke." What you did when you landed in Bosnia on 3/26/96 was slander a whole country. You actually arrived in Bosnia four months after their war ended. This just eight days before your husband’s Commerce Secretary Ron Brown’s plane crashed in nearby Croatia (who could have known?).
You said it was because you felt it was easy to do and people would believe you, a lie akin to a white suburbanite claiming she drove through a black neighborhood and witnessed a drive-by shooting when video footage shows no such incident. This was an all-around insult to the Bosnians, their acting president and in particular that little girl who really wanted to meet you. The big networks aren’t giving this the same coverage as Dr. Wright because they tell the same type of white lies on a regular basis and they see a part of themselves in you.
Hillary, since you too consider yourself a candidate for change, my only advice to you is for you to get on your husband’s Soul Plane and bring your lying, legislatively lazy and trifling self back to New York (where such attributes are more appreciated) and start making changes. I even have a Bill for you and your State Senator colleagues to work on. I realize you can’t wait for me to tell you about it. But I have something to say to that other guy who’ll be your new black boss over the next four years; Governor Paterson.