I have held dear in my heart these last seven years a secret hope that you would once again stand for public office.
Only in these last few months have I come to understand that I share this hope with millions, and in the sharing I have found gladness and yet more hope.
I have, with my huddled masses of fellows, consumed every scrap of news, every shred of speculation, as to whether you might fulfill that hope. Though the scraps and shreds are uncountable as the birds, none of them means anything. I am beyond, now, the point of knowing what to believe or even what to hope.
You don’t need me to rehash every argument and suggestion for you, so I will mention only one thing. Some point to your statements that dealing with global climate change is a moral issue, rather than a political one, as evidence that you won’t run. Some have pointed to your statements that you are engaged in the most important job of all, by implication making the work of an honest American President the second most important, as evidence that you aren’t interested in the Presidency.
To which I can only say this: climate change is indeed a moral issue, but it is also a political issue. Because politics should be at its heart about effecting true morality in the world, rather than about effecting the crass and venal policies of greed that have come to be associated with it.
If it were true that you had to choose between the first- and second-most important jobs, then of course, I would encourage you to pick the first. But Sir, you don’t have to choose. Unique among the growing billions who inhabit the Good Earth, you alone do not have to choose. You, Sir, can do both.
And imagine what our species could achieve in the beacon of your leadership.
We huddled masses, Sir, we yearn to breathe. And we yearn to do so freely. The fullest measure of my support awaits that single sentence only you can utter, one which will change forever the direction humanity takes into the future. I know now that millions of others are with me. And I am, with no trace of shame, begging you.
Jason Black,
Redmond, WA.
