An Open Letter To Mike Malloy

Mike,

Bob Dylan wrote:

Once upon a time you dressed so fine
You threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn't you?
People'd call, say, "Beware doll, you're bound to fall"
You thought they were all kiddin' you
You used to laugh about
Everybody that was hangin' out
Now you don't talk so loud
Now you don't seem so proud
About having to be scrounging for your next meal.

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be without a home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

You've gone to the finest school all right, Miss Lonely
But you know that you only used to get juiced in it
And nobody has ever taught you how to live on the street
And now you find out you're gonna have to get used to it
You said you'd never compromise
With the mystery tramp, but now you realize
He's not selling any alibis
As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes
And ask him do you want to make a deal?

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

You never turned around to see the frowns on the jugglers and the
clowns
When they all came down and did tricks for you
You never understood that it ain't no good
You shouldn't let other people get your kicks for you
You used to ride on the chrome horse with your diplomat
Who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat
Ain't it hard when you discover that
He really wasn't where it's at
After he took from you everything he could steal.

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone

Princess on the steeple and all the pretty people
They're drinkin, thinkin' that they got it made
Exchanging all kinds of precious gifts and things
But you'd better lift your diamond ring, you'd better pawn it babe
You used to be so amused
At Napoleon in rags and the language that he used
Go to him now, he calls you, you can't refuse
When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose
You're invisible now, you got no secrets to conceal.

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

For nearly nine months, the truth has been staring you in the face.

You didn't need to seek it; it was handed to you on a silver platter by myself and others like me.

And now you're disillusioned by illusions that you helped to create in the first place.

And now you're trying to wash your hands of everything that you did to further this myth.

No. Not that easily. Not this time.

You don't get to be outraged this time. You don't get to bitch and moan this time.

You and others like you continued to shove Barack Obama down the throats of Americans and people world-wide. Over and over, you told us that Barack Obama was the greatest thing that ever drew breath. You told us that he was the future and, when he was seated in the Oval Office, things would change. Birds would sing, skies would turn blue, water would be clean, massacres would end. I can go into your archives and show you proof of all of this and more.

Now, when it doesn't go your way, when Joe Biden is chosen by the Powers That Be, now Obama is suddenly, unbelievably, a corporately-owned entity. As if he wasn't before the weekend. As if it just suddenly happened.

You leave just enough daylight for me to operate in, Mike.

That daylight allows me to ask: if Biden hadn't been chosen, if, say, Dennis Kucinich would have been chosen (as if that was going to happen), would that have sat just fine with you? Would Obama not have been a corporately-owned entity then? What would it have taken for you to remain on the Holy Obama Tour?

You don't get to slink away from your man Obama, Mike. You own him and he owns you. Because of what you did for at least the last nine months. Because of how you ignored the truth, rather than reported the truth. Because of how you gave up all semblance of integrity for the flavor of the month.

That is why I left as Senior Correspondent. Because, while I still sought the truth and gave it to you, you wanted nothing to do with the truth and instead decided to live a fairy tale.

In your latest comments, you bemoan the fact that the DLC once again got its way when Biden's name was announced. The DLC has had its way the entire time, from the moment that Barack Obama announced that he was going to be a nominee for the candidacy for president, from the moment Hillary Clinton did the same. From those moments onward, the DLC had won.

The game was rigged from the beginning. You were either too stupid to see it, too blind to see it or you were always with the gang until it didn't work for you anymore. I can't tell which and, in the end, it's all the same to me.

Now, when it's too late, when you've helped to brainwash a group of people into believing in a myth, now you want us to believe you've seen the light. No, strike that. Now you want us to believe that you never believed the lie in the first place.

No. Not that easily. Not this time.

You should enjoy what you've helped to create, Mike. We'll talk again in 2012 after you've had four years to digest what you've wrought.

The continuing massacre in Afghanistan (you do understand that this is Obama's "smart war", don't you?); the continuation of foreclosures and the rising homeless rate; the lack of universal health care (trust me, in 2012, we'll still be asking for universal health care); the hundreds of new drilling rigs that pollute the oceans of the planet; the multiple attempted (with some being successful) coups around the world, ushering in brand new future "enemies" that have no problem with massacring their own people while the Obama administration looks the other way; the continued support of Israel's subjugation of the Palestinian people; more tensions with Russia; new tensions with Pakistan (up to and including invading that country "to go after Al Qaeda"); new tensions with China (they're already talking about it on C-SPAN, just as they were with the Russians starting back in January); possible nuclear strikes on Iran and North Korea (who's to say?); nuclear power plants all over the country (perfect for Obama's backers, Exelon Energy) and on and on.

Yeah, we'll sit down in 2012 and have a nice long chat, Mike.

Until then, kick back with the Jack Black and toast yourself.

You've earned everything that's coming to you.