Dear John and Hillary

I hate to break this to you but Obama was right. I *am* bitter. I am a baby boomer who has worked hard her whole life in an attempt to find the American dream but it keeps moving on me.

I thought teaching was a noble profession that would earn me a comfortable living but in the past few decades teachers have become punching bags for all the fobiles of education as well as being underpaid and over worked. We teach to the test, not to the child.

I thought buying a home and becoming a contributing member of the community would occur with age but I find myself so harried and hurried to keep afloat financially that I have neither the time nor energy to contribute to my community.

I *am* bitter, John and Hillary, that I've struggled for so many years and still worry about the price of gas or heating busting my budget and throwing me in to credit hades.

I'm bitter that health care is still not there for the most vulnerable, our elderly and our children. I'm bitter that politicans are still splitting hairs over providing this modicum of comfort while immersing themselves in something as banal as baseball.

I'm bitter that even after, what? three years? We STILL haven't put New Orleans back together, leaving the ravages of Katrina - mostly the separation of communities - on the back burner until we figure a way to give business first dibs on the property.

I'm bitter AND angry that the political divide has grown so wide that instead of an "us" that works together for compromise, there is a "we" vs "them" mentality that feels like one party has to win it all and anyone that opposes you is evil.

I'm bitter, I'm angry and I'm tired of snark. I'm sick to death of the machinations that take the words of an earnest man and twist them for political purposes. And SHAME on BOTH of you, because you yourself have been victims yet now proceed to inflict that same damage on someone else. And for what? A political victory? At what cost will you win? I'm most bitter that those in power are more concerned with rhetoric than helping our citizenry find solutions.

I AM bitter.
I AM angry and while I may not cling to a gun or embrace religion for that reason, the emotions are very real and very much in the fore front of the mind of this middle class american middle aged woman.

Don't talk down to us.
Don't think we don't see what's being done.
Address the issues. If you can't win on them, WE DON'T NEED YOU.


Signed
Ms Bitter