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Vail Valley Voices: Afraid, disgusted, but not angry at president

Dick Gustafson
Vail, CO, Colorado

Recently, I had a conversation with a Democrat friend of mine whose opinion I greatly respect. He is a reader of my former editorials, and he said this: “You sound so angry in your editorials. Are you that angry?”

My first reaction was, “Yes, I am. I don’t like anyone selling our country down the drain as our current president is doing.”

After thinking about his question and my answer for a few days, I chose to revise my reply.



Anger is an emotion over which I have complete control. I can only get angry if I choose to do so, and I choose not to do so. Even President Obama can’t make me angry if I choose not to be angry.

There are different emotions that come to mind. Total disgust and fear are two.

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Recently, I read a letter to the president in 2009 by Lou Pritchett, a retired executive of Procter and Gamble Co. I am not angry at President Obama. I fear his lack of knowledge and understanding of the American way of life, and I am disgusted with his policies that are so un-American.

My editorials reflect my disgust and Pritchett’s famous letter expresses my fears:

Dear President Obama:

You are the 13th president under whom I have lived, and unlike any of the others, you truly scare me.

1. You scare me because after months (years) of exposure, I know nothing about you.

2. You scare me because I do not know how you paid for your expensive Ivy League education and your upscale lifestyle and housing with no visible signs of support.

3. You scare me because you did not spend the formative years of youth growing up in America, and culturally, you are not an American.

4. You scare me because you have never run a company or met a payroll.

5. You scare me because you have never had military experience, thus don’t understand it at its core.

6. You scare me because you lack humility and class, always blaming others.

7. You scare me because for over half your life, you have aligned yourself with radical extremists who hate America and you refuse to publicly denounce these radicals who wish to see America fail.

8. You scare me because you are a cheerleader for the “blame America” crowd and deliver this message abroad.

9. You scare me because you want to change America to a European-style country where the government sector dominates instead of the private sector.

10. You scare me because you want to replace our health care system with a government-controlled one.

11. You scare me because you prefer windmills to responsibly capitalizing on our own vast oil, coal and shale reserves.

12. You scare me because you want to kill the American capitalist goose that lays the golden egg, which provides the highest standard of living in the world.

13. You scare me because you have begun to use “extortion” tactics against certain banks and corporations.

14. You scare me because your own political party shrinks from challenging you on your wild and irresponsible spending proposals.

15. You scare me because you will not openly listen to or even consider opposing points of view from intelligent people.

16. You scare me because you falsely believe that you are both omnipotent and omniscient.

17. You scare me because the media give you a free pass on everything you do.

18. You scare me because you demonize and want to silence the Limbaughs, Hannitys, O’Relllys and Becks who offer opposing, conservative points of view.

19. You scare me because you prefer controlling over governing.

20. Finally, you scare me because if you serve a second term, I will probably not feel safe in writing a similar letter in eight years.

– Lou Pritchett.

Dick Gustafson, of Vail, is a former Eagle County commissioner.


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