EDITOR'S NOTE: The Augusta Chronicle invited students to write letters to President-elect Obama detailing what they would like him to do as president. The newspaper received more than 400 entries. Selected letters are being printed in The Chronicle and posted online at augustachronicle.com/president.
Grand-prize winners in the elementary, middle and high school divisions will be published the week of Mr. Obama's inauguration. After his installation as the 44th president of the United States, the letters will be mailed to the White House.
Dear Mr. Obama:
I understand that you are planning on taking our troops out of Iraq by the year 2011. I do not think this as a wise decision because I think that the terrorists are still in Iraq. I believe right now we have roughly 155,000 men in Iraq. I think that you should leave maybe 30,000 men in Iraq to maintain order. Then I think that you should transfer maybe 70,000 men into Afghanistan, because I think that Osama Bin Laden is there. And the leftover 55,000 men should be transferred home. And then you should transfer the 70,000 men out of Iraq and go home, and let the 55,000 men who were home go into Afghanistan and keep the cycle going.
I also do not think that you should raise taxes to give to people who don't even work. My mom is a very hardworking person and earns a good salary for her work, and if you raise taxes then she will receive less than she normally would, and you would give it to people who are too lazy to get out and work. America is the land of opportunity, and there is no excuse why someone cannot get out and work. There have been a whole lot of people who have gotten out of poverty because they had confidence in themselves.
I hope you do great things for this country.
Sincerely,
Tyler Sollie
Eighth-grader, Stallings Island Middle School
The Augusta Chronicle ©2010. All Rights Reserved.
That's scary advice coming from an eight-grader. Most of these letters make it obvious that these kids are reflections their parents whether ultra conservative or ultra lib.. This leter idea probably sounded all warm and fuzzy when concieved but it's starting to look like the daily LTE's.
If an eitght-grader have confidence in the next prez then what's the problem with the grown ups?
Tyler, if your mom makes $249,999.99 or less (and I am pretty sure that falls in the less bracket), she WILL NOT see her taxes go up a penny. As for our brave servicepeople, sorry, they have to come home from Iraq NOW, not in 2011. We can't wait and fight a permanent war in Iraq for even one more month, let alone two more years.
You can tell this message from this child was helped along by his parents. There's some impressive ideas and such but apparently this 8th grade kid isn't being sent overseas to an extended tour and probably doesn't have any family that's over there now.
ADD: after re-reading the OP's post, it definitely shows that mommy or daddy were leaning over his/her/it's shoulder.