I would like to sit down and ask you
seriously, were drones the best option,
the best way to avoid outright war,
or were you just willing to sacrifice
so many brown lives because it meant
not sending American soldiers into danger?
I have children too, can imagine a little
of how hard it must be, ordering someone
else’s children to risk their lives. Especially
when our country wasn’t directly
at risk. (Though in this interconnected
world, is there still a real difference
between direct risk and indirect?)
I would like to ask you to clarify
your thinking, would like to read all
the security briefings that were kept
secret from us (that maybe had to be kept
secret), because right now, those
drones seem unconscionable;
they attacked weddings, and hospitals,
and other people’s children. I find
that hard to understand or forgive.
And was there really no way
to close Guantanamo sooner,
and why did you deport more people
than any president before you?
Yes, I know it was a rising trend
you inherited, but the point is, you
didn’t turn it back. Couldn’t you have
fought harder for single payer,
Medicare-for-all? Our prisons are
a national shame, and so many
schools were still gutted under
your watch, so many children
went hungry. How did you sleep
at night, knowing that you weren’t
doing enough, that every day you
would fail to save even a fraction
of the people you went there to help?
And yet — this job, I imagine,
is impossible for even the best of us.
You were, I think, among the best of us.
You have been the best president of my lifetime.