An Unpublished Letter to the Hartford Courant from 11/5/08, the day AFTER the election

To the Editor:

With the election of Barack Obama, the citizens of Connecticut and the entire United States have expressed a clear desire for change – a change not only from the policies of the current administration but a break from the past. Here’s hoping real change begins now.

I therefore ask the new larger Democratic majority in the Senate (an increased majority that by all accounts owes its larger numbers to the coattails of the President-elect) to clean up its own backyard by 1) curtailing severely the powers of the Senior Senator from Connecticut as result of his boffo performance as “watchdog” prior to the recent economic crisis, and 2) unseating our Junior Senator of any and all power positions he currently holds for his ridiculously self-serving actions. (How sadly predictable it was to read recently in the Courant that he might warm to an Obama presidency!)

I also ask the Connecticut State Democratic Party to hasten the grooming of two promising candidates to oppose Senators Dodd and Lieberman when each is up for re-election. Upon their replacement in the Senate, any short-term loss of “influence” will be more than compensated by a renewed faith in Connecticut’s senatorial delegation.

As much as we Democrats may wish to do so, the pitiful state of our country’s economy, foreign policy, and international prestige cannot all be laid at the feet of the previous administration. Let’s take an honest look at ourselves first to help affect the true difference that President-elect Obama embodies.

Let real change begin now.