Dear President Obama

Dear President Obama,

First and foremost, I truly believe in your desire to leave the United States and the world at large a better place than what you inherited. I proudly supported your election and will continue to support you even when I may personally disagree with some of your positions. Unlike Rushbo, I hope you succeed.

On the topic of earmarks or pork barrel spending for pet projects, I am smart enough to understand that inherent in all politics is the quid pro quo methodology of getting things done. At this juncture, this is problematic because one of your major platform initiatives was to change the way Washington got things done. You were adamant that you would address and eliminate bloated legislation due to the insertion of pet projects commonly referred to as pork.

As you are witnessing, the ideal of eliminating pork barrel spending is an Herculean task. Please stick to your guns. The current bill contains roughly 8,000 earmarks. The argument is that these earmarks represent only 1% of the total budget figure. A countering argument is that these earmarks are still earmarks and there is no place for them at this time in this bill.

I appreciate both positions. I am keenly aware that every negotiation requires a compromise between parties to get things done. Further, for the record, the American public sees what is going on. But as you know, the public has a very short-term memory.

For the record, it must be stated that the GOP Senators have 40% of the earmark requests. Here’s a shortlist of the top requests:

Shelby (R-AL) $114,484,250
Bond (R-MO) $85,691,491
Cochran (R-MS) $75,908,475
Murkowski (R-AK) $74,000,750
Inhofe (R-OK) $53,133,500
McConnell (R-KY) $51, 186,000

Please exclude the earmarks from the package as you promised so your supporters don’t have to listen for the next four years to talk about how you said you would do one thing and chose to do something else. This will be the only thing your detractors and opponents can cling to no matter how successful your politics may be.

I am certain that all of these GOP members are savvy politicians. From their perspectives they can insert their earmark requests and if approved, their constituency will celebrate the increased funding and their elected official’s commitment to the people. Conversely, if the earmarks are vetoed they can always say they tried but their requests were disallowed.

Admittedly, I have not looked at the entire list of earmarks. Many of the ones I have heard about are laughable. While I am certain that you do not govern based upon what the polls suggest, please remember you have an exceptionally high approval rating. The majority of the public here and abroad believe in you and support you.

I trust you will make the most appropriate decision. I continue to support your efforts and wish you success in your endeavors.

Sincerely,

David Walker

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