Dear Mr. President

What I wrote to President Bush:

Dear Mr. President,                                            May 23, 2007

   I use the term “dear” advisedly. I mean it in the sense of “costly, expensive.”  You are the costliest president we have ever had, not only in the sense of lives heedlessly cast away – Iraqi and American lives – but also in the sense of the reputation we as  nation have lost.  We owe it to you that we are now not only feared but also despised.  We are known no longer as the nation that liberates, that aids, that honors.  Instead we are known as the nation that kills, that maims, that tortures.   This is what you have cost us.  This is why you are “dear.”

 Sincerely, VNV

Now for President Obama:  Dear Mr. President,  You are dear in an entirely different sense.   You are cherished.   Please continue in the way in which you have started.  You have started to give us back that which President Bush cost us, and for that reason, you are dear to my heart.

Sincerely, VNV