As you may recall, back in July of 2008 I sent a letter to a bunch of politicians, including a then Senator Barack Obama, about the situation in Zimbabwe. After receiving no response from any of them, I sent a new letter to President Barack Obama in January 2009, I also included the original letter. For those of you who missed some of this, visit here and here if you want to get caught up. Also, in January 2009 I sent a letter to Hillary Clinton in the State Department about Zimbabwe. I didn’t publish the letter on the website because I didn’t want to bore you all to tears with my Zimbabwe letter drama.
However, I did promise that I would share with you any responses I receive. Well, at the beginning of April I received what you might call a “reply”. I was sent a post card from F. Michael Kelleher, Director of Presidential Correspondence. It reads as follows:
Dear Friend:
Thank you for taking the time to share your views.
Americans across the country are eager for information about the state of the economy, national security, and a host of other issues. President Obama is committed to making his Administration the most open and transparent in history, and the Internet will play a major role in delivering on that promise.
We hope you will join us at WhiteHouse.gov to learn more about President Obama’s views on a range of topics, as well as his efforts to provide a window for all Americans into their government. Your voice is shaping our country’s future, and we encourage you to join us online, share your thoughts, and build a community of connected citizens that will help address the pressing issues of our time.
So while some Americans are getting personal responses (Really! Here’s the link!), I got perhaps the lamest form letter imaginable. I bet this kind of thing never happens to Perez Hilton! Of course, I doubt Perez Hilton knows anything about the political and economic situation in Zimbabwe. Perhaps that’s not the best example.
I didn’t expect a personal response, but I had hoped for something a little better than my post card. I took the time to put pen to paper because that’s how strongly I feel about this issue. I just thought that in a time where most people express their outrages in 140 characters or less on Twitter, that a well thought out letter would merit a little more respect.
What’s next for me? I don’t know. More importantly, what now for the people in Zimbabwe? If only there was some way to contact an elected official to express my concerns, oh wait……
Sorry you didn’t receive anything that even pretended to be a personalized response. I admire you for your persistence. Keep doing what you do.
THANK YOU THANK YOU.NOW ADD RAWANDA,CONGO ETAL. WHITE POLITICIANS DONT CARE ABOUT POOR AFRICANS WITH NO OIL OR MONEY.YOU CANT EVEN MENTION THE AIDS PROBLEM WITHOUT THIER EYES GLAZING OVER.
Well, you can always just write to me 🙁