An Open Letter to President Obama
From a progressive high school activist
By Charles I. Brown
The Progressive Teen Staff Writer
Dear Mr. President,
When you first ran for president in 2008, I was in the fourth grade.
One night, my homework assignment was to watch the debate between you and Senator McCain. There I was, little nine-year-old me, sitting in front of the TV at home, eyes fixated on the screen, absorbing everything you said. I remember deciding then that you were the clear choice, so I marched over to my parents and announced that I was going to proudly cast my vote for Senator Barack Obama from Illinois. My dad had to break the news to me that I wasn’t old enough to vote yet. Thankfully, he told me that if I wanted, he’d donate $25 to your campaign. My excitement grew as we filled out the online donation form together, and I felt like I was truly a part of your historic campaign.
Fast forward four years to 2012. In my eighth grade U.S. History class, my teacher taught us about the Electoral College, and how you would need 270 electoral votes to win re-election. He showed us a website, 270towin.com, where we could customize Electoral College maps. I went home that afternoon, visited the website, and played around on it for hours to test every possible way in which you could win. I told my parents that I really wanted you to win in a landslide, like Reagan did in 1984, to prove to the world that you were here to stay.
Mr. President, your campaign in 2008 sparked in me a love for politics and civic engagement that will remain a part of who I am for the rest of my life. A bright-eyed junior Senator from Illinois taught nine-year-old me that my future — our future — is something to believe in. You taught me that when we, as Americans, come together and work together despite our differences, we can create lasting change — that our democracy works best when everybody is engaged and has a seat at the table. You taught me that even when facing insurmountable odds, with integrity, perseverance, and hard work, anything is possible. Most importantly, you taught me to believe — to believe in myself, and believe that yes, we can, and yes, I can.
Mr. President, without your inspiration, I simply wouldn’t be the same person. I would not have been so motivated to get civically engaged, and work my hardest to get people out to vote and to elect candidates that I truly believe in. You instilled in me a deep sense of civic duty, one that I will always carry with me. You helped me realize that my future is not a political career, but rather, a lifelong commitment to creating meaningful change that moves our country forward.
So in these final days between now and January 20th, I’m thinking back to when I was nine, when it seemed to me like you were going to change the world, and I so desperately wanted to come along for the ride. I’m thinking back to when I was thirteen, staying up all night watching the news as election results came in, silently begging that the American people realized that we needed to re-elect you in order to continue the progress we had made in the previous four years. I’m thinking back to watching the State of the Union address and the White House Correspondents’ Dinner together with my dad every single year from when I was ten during your first State of the Union, to when I was sixteen — during your last.
Mr. President, you were the beginning — the catalyst — of who and what I became. Without you, I wouldn’t be relentlessly hopeful for the future. I wouldn’t be working my hardest to ensure that the United States remains a country of opportunity, inclusion, and hope. As much as I’d like to go back to your 2008 campaign and relive the hope and optimism of your consequential election, we need to look forward, because there’s so much important work to do to preserve and continue your legacy. Everything you taught me about politics, justice, the threat that apathy poses to our democracy, straddling the line between idealism and pragmatism, all of that continues to influence and inspire me every day.
Mr. President, I’ll always be fired up and ready to go. Thanks to you.
Always Team Obama,
