Pres. needs a new pair of shoes.  Not literally, of course. 

In a campaign speech in 2007, President Obama (at that point Senator Obama) said, "If America workers are being denied their right to organize when I'm in the White House, I will put on a comfortable pair of shoes and I will walk that picket line with you as President of the United States."

Mr. President, an attempt is being made to deny American workers their right to organize... and we've not seen our President on "the picket line" (or the protest lines as the case may be).

I don't actually expect to see the President of the United States join in a protest - the tactical logistics of protecting him would be a living nightmare.  I am asking him to be more vocal about protecting the very folks who helped get him elected - joining the voices of those on the protest line.

A campaign has been started on Twitter, to remind President Obama of his own words and to remind him of all the feet that will walk the rally lines this Saturday.  We are sending him our comfortable shoes. The President needs to slip off those dressy business shoes and walk around in our shoes for a bit.  Shoes from police officers, firefighters, teachers, public employees - Union members.  

So send the President your comfortable shoes.  Remind him of his words and of the people to whom he spoke them. Ask him to stand up for us, because we stood up for him.  Ask him to stand in our shoes.

Send your shoes to:
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Tell your friends about it. Share this article and ones like it on Facebook.  Tweet about it using #shoes4Pres or #Obamaswalkingshoes. Send the President a message wrapped in a pair of comfortable shoes.

Also, put on YOUR comfortable shoes and get out to a Rally to Save the American Dream this Saturday (2/26/11). Don't forget you Rally signs as well.  This is the one I'm taking.  You can find more on The Christian Left's FB page.

And...just for fun, a song about comfortable shoes."You can be king. You can be President. It don't mean a thing if your toes are bent."

Don't get me wrong, I am a BIG Obama supporter.  I've even been called an Obama apologist.  I just happen to think that people who shout and yell that they are disappointed in Obama just haven't been paying attention before the election or they came late to the game.  Not to mention, the realities of Washington (completely messed up and dysfunctional when it comes to serving the will of the people) are such that bold actions are no longer as possible as they once were.  The most effective civil servants in Washington, in recent times, have been the ones who take a centrist approach (I'm not saying it's a good thing, just a reality).

While the swelling rhetoric of Obama certainly played a big role in his election, it would be shortsighted to miss that it was clear, decisive, strategic thinking that put him in a position to be a candidate at all. Being disappointed in him for his record thus far is like being disappointed in Jon Stewart for having a rally to support civility and then being too civil (hmmmm, maybe that's a bad example).

So, yes, I'm a big Obama supporter (possibly to a fault).  And, yes, I think that  clear, decisive, strategic thinking is ultimately what it takes to 'win' out on Capital Hill, but I happen to think that some things are worth fighting for.  I happen to think that there are some principles that should not be compromised.  Unfortunately,  the budget President Obama is presenting to congress crosses a line for me and I'm bummed. O-bummer.  

The budget being presented (to quote a recent Huffington Post article), “attacks programs that assist the working poor, help the needy heat their homes, expand access to graduate-level education and undermine that type of community-based organizations that gave the president his start in Chicago.” I completely get that he is trying to overcome the largest deficit in our history.  As a minister, I just happen to have a problem with him trying to do it on the backs of the lower and middle class. Go figure.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., once said, “A man can't ride your back unless it's bent.”  Approximately, 75% of the people in the US fall into the categories of lower and middle class. These are the people whose backs must bare the burden of this proposed budget.  But this shouldn't be a game of numbers, which is what placing the deficit recovery burden on the lower and middle classes does.  This should be a game of dollars.  Considering that the upper class in the United States, the top 25%, own approximately 75% percent of the wealth, the solution needs to fall more squarely on their shoulders... but it doesn't, because they own Washington and don't have to bend their backs. 

We, the working (and want to be working) class, must take a message from our brothers and sisters in Egypt.  When will we stop bowing down with bent backs for the wealthy to ride as we labor?  When will we cast aside the yoke of the lower and middle classes that the wealthy and well-to-do are only all to glad to use to steer us towards their will?

In the book of Matthew, Jesus says, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Those on the right love to quote scripture when in gives them an upper hand, but it is time to claim the gospel reality back.  I do not want a church state, but I do want Christians to claim the gospel reality that lightens the burdens of the weary, gives hope to the hopeless and a hand up to those who have fallen down.

Mr. President, we the people, respectfully reject your budget. I personally refuse to believe (being the good Christian that you are) that you really think the solution to the deficit burden should be placed on the backs of those already weary with work, weary with finding work, weary with unmanageable hospital bills, weary with worries of sending kids to college and paying for our own retirement - worries so great that our backs are already bent from the strain of reality in such a way that it is hard, almost unbearable, to continue to bow our backs up every time the powerful try to break them and along with them our will.  

We need you Mr. President.  We need you to be our voice.  With the state of our great nation this is no longer a negotiable point.  This is a line that must not be crossed.  A budget that takes further advantage of those who suffer the most is not acceptable.

We need you Mr. President, but here's the thing: as much as you have done for us (and I do see what you have done), we are Americans - we will bow our backs up again if we must, but we elected you so it would be easier, not harder. Please do not forget that.  Please do not forget us.  I promise you, either way, we will not forget.

That's right.  We are all addicted to Koch.  That's Koch Industries – the infamous Koch (pronounced 'coke') Brothers.

For those who may not be familiar with these fine (I use the term loosely) brothers, let me give you a little background.  Let's see... they are filthy rich... no, stinking, filthy rich.  And they got that way because YOU (and the rest of we minions) buy their stuff.  You might be asking yourself at this point, “Self? What do they do with their butt loads of money?” If you don't mind, I'll take this one.

They buy political influence. That's right.  They buy political influence with your money because you needed to drink water from a disposable Dixie cup.  OK, that may be a bit overstated, but that really is about it in a nutshell.  

They push a Libertarian agenda (very low taxes, very little social services, very little corporate regulations, nearly no environmental regulations, to name a few) via the Republican party and now also through their marionettes  known as the Tea Party.  And I'm sure it is only coincidence that the policies they push would also benefit their mega-conglomeration known as Koch Industries. 

As reported by the New Yorker, “the Kochs vastly outdid ExxonMobil in giving money to organizations fighting legislation related to climate change, underwriting a huge network of foundations, think tanks, and political front groups. Indeed, the brothers have funded opposition campaigns against so many Obama Administration policies—from health-care reform to the economic-stimulus program—that, in political circles, their ideological network is known as the Kochtopus.”

It's time to put a stop to the Kochtopus.  Let's start by going cold turkey with our Koch addiction. Join Boycott and Defeat Koch Industries on Facebook.  According to their list, here's some of the brands to boycott:

Koch Industry Gasoline: 
Chevron 
Union
Union 76
Conoco 

Koch Industry/Georgia-Pacific Products:
Angel Soft toilet paper
Brawny paper towels
Dixie plates, bowls, napkins and cups
Mardi Gras napkins and towels
Quilted Northern toilet paper
Soft 'n Gentle toilet paper
Sparkle napkins
Vanity fair napkins
Zee napkins  

POLARGUARD® fiber and 
LYCRA® fiber

Georgia Pacific Building products 

That's just the tip of the Koch iceberg.  Check out a more complete listing from their own page worldofkoch.com. (UPDATE: As of the end of February 2011, worldofkoch.com has been taken down with no explanation. A complete list of their products can be attained on the information page of the "Boycott and Defeat Koch Industries" FB page mentioned earlier in this article).

We may not be able to de-fund them, but we can at least make an impact in the one thing that matters to them, their money.  As a Christian minister, I don't want to see their agenda continue to gain ground.  It steps on the least of these, favors The Powers That Be over individuals and sets up a social and political structure that values some people much more than others.  Please help send them a message.