Dear Mrs. Obama

Congratulations are in order. After two years, and what must have seemed much longer to you, your husband has been elected as the forty-fourth President of the United States. It is an accomplishment to be proud of and an accomplishment that must be celebrated as an historical landmark for the United States of America. Only time will tell whether or not America has chosen wisely. Regardless of how history will eventually look back on his presidency, we know his place in history is secured.

I hope that this journey has been enlightening for you as well. I must confess that I have not read transcripts of your speeches and interviews in detail, and I have formed most of my opinions of you from the sound bites provided by the media. But I do not have a decidedly negative or positive impression of you at all. I would, however, like to take a few moments to reflect on the impressions I have formed.

First, I do not doubt that you are a highly intelligent and accomplished woman. You are to be commended for what you have been able to accomplish. I understand that you were not born with a silver spoon in your mouth, and in fact, had a very challenging childhood. Your accomplishments are to be celebrated all the more because of this. And the fact that you were able to accomplish so much in such a "mean country" says a lot about you as well. Or does it say a lot about your misunderstanding of our nation?

Nowhere else in the world could you and your husband have achieved so much, particularly from such humble beginnings. This "mean country" has provided the opportunity for two African-Americans, one the son of a first generation immigrant, to rise to power in your fields of choice. Through hard work and individual enterprise both of you have been able to aspire and succeed with dreams that in any other country in the world would be absolutely unattainable.

But you are not alone in achieving such success in such a "mean country". Countless immigrants have come from countries around the world and by grit and determination risen to become business owners, corporate leaders, even millionaires. Only in the United States of America. Vietnamese immigrants, in spite of the ill feelings of the Vietnam war have succeeded. Chinese immigrants have found success even while we worry over all of the manufacturing jobs that have moved overseas. Indians have come to America armed only with a foreign education and become leaders in technical fields from engineering to medicine. And all of these immigrants achieved this in a country that did not speak their primary language.

So what is so mean about this country, where immigrants and citizens born at the bottom of our society alike can succeed in even their wildest dreams? I submit that there is really nothing mean about this country. Yes, there are mean people. But this country is far from mean! We celebrate the diversity of our country and the fact that anybody can succeed.

But just as you have succeeded, so have others succeeded - by hard work, determination, enterprise, and yes, a little luck. I believe your comments about our country were formed out of ignorance. I believe your comments were spoken out of naïveté. I believe you are a product of your environment. The Chicago area where you grew up, and certainly the church you have attended for the last twenty years, have promoted a feeling of resentment towards the white establishment - the "mean country" that prevents minorities of all kinds from attaining success. But even as you sat in the pews listening the the rantings of a Black Liberation Theologist, you were disproving his very assertions. Your own personal success disproves his theories. The theology that he professed is what is preventing African-Americans from succeeding. If African-Americans buy into his rhetoric they will continue to seek restoration of something that was not lost. We cannot rewrite the history books and erase the dark period of slavery from our past. But you were not a slave and I was not a slave owner. Neither can we erase the bigotry that existed on a large scale in the past. For many decades now bigotry has been a much more personal choice, and both sides are guilty of it. For example, I was truly insulted by the mean and racist words of some African-American ministers who called me a racist because I voted for John McCain, as if race was the only issue of note in this election. But we must leave our differences in the past. If African-Americans buy into the rhetoric of Reverend Wright, they will continue to expect a hand out. They will continue to scrape by with their entitlement mentality. It is not this "mean country" that is keeping them from succeeding. It is the idea that this "mean country" is keeping them from success. You did not buy into it and fought for your success. But even in your success you espouse the beliefs that you refuted - that this is a "mean country".

Now that your husband will have the opportunity to facilitate change, what kind of change will he make? Will he inspire others to dream. work hard, get a good education, and persevere, as you both did? Or will he propagate the sentiment that this is a "mean country" and that they need a handout - that they are entitled to something. This will only breed failure. Instead of empowering people of all backgrounds to put their nose to the grindstone and believe in themselves, this strategy will only make them dependent on a government that cannot, and was never intended to, take care of them. It will doom them to a life of mediocrity when the whole world lies at their feet if only they believe they can achieve. And the entire nation will suffer for their failure. For we only succeed together.

Mrs. Obama, as you become more worldly, and get to know the America outside of the confines of Chicago and the Trinity United Church of Christ, I am convinced you will find a country that is much warmer and friendlier than you have dared to dream actually exists. I am certain that over time, if you have an open mind and an open heart, you will recognize the goodness of this country. And I pray that you and your husband inspire Americans to succeed as you have. Both of you have great stories of what can be accomplished - but only in America! Celebrate your stories and lead others to dream that they too can accomplish great things!