Dear President Obama,
I wanted to mail this letter to you directly, but I decided not to. I was afraid that it would get lost in the sea of mail on your secretary's desk, and you'd never see it. So while I realize that you may sill never see it, unless of course you are a Huffington Post reader and you happen upon my blog. Nevertheless, I am writing this letter to you, Mr. President, because I want to thank you.
I was 15 when I first read about you during the 2008 Democratic primaries, and I was immediately drawn to your charisma, good looks and speaking style. I was told, however, not to base my political opinions solely off of skills every good politician possesses and so I decided to root for Hillary because she's a woman and that was a good enough reason for my 15-year-old feminist self. But when you became the Democratic nominee, something inside me changed.
You based your campaign on hope and "Yes We Can" change and not only were you encouraging people like me, you were me! You were young and a racial mutt from middle-class beginnings and as a teenage middle-class, half-Cuban girl from small-town Oregon, you were saying exactly what I needed to hear. And it was mostly those (literally) skin-deep reasons that I joined the Salem Democrats for your campaign where I became a political telemarketer and registered young voters at my school. After being told off by more than one Republican over the phone, I realized that I needed to support you for more than your Harvard and United States Senate-trained skills. So I started to listen to what you were saying. And I was so moved by your cause that, for the first time, I began to believe in the power of the youth. And when you won, I knew it was not only a victory for you, but for me and others like me.
Mr. President, you are my Kennedy, my Reagan. It was you who made me interested in the political discourse, and what our government is doing. It was you who made me register to vote the first chance I could, even though it was not an election year. It was you who made me believe that the youth is important.
Four years later, I'm still excited. I know times are tougher than we want; the economy isn't great, unemployment is still above eight percent, you didn't do everything you said you would, and it's looking like Gov. Romney may give you a bit of a chase back to the White House. But honestly, I don't care, and doesn't everyone say you presidents don't get much done until their second term? When I listen to you speak, I still get that "Yes We Can" spirit inside of me, and I still believe in you. Without you, I probably would not be this excited to vote this November, and you're the first famous person I've ever written to.
So I wish you good luck, Mr. President! I hope that your campaign ends victoriously and you can continue on your presidency of change. You'll always have one supporter.
Most Sincerely,
Aleida Fernandez
Whitman College