An Open Letter to Barack Obama

Senator Obama, you have to take off the gloves.

Dear Senator Obama,

I became an Obama convert after the Iowa
Caucuses. I had the pleasure of meeting your wife backstage at the Trumpet
Awards in Atlanta along with your
wonderful sister Auma. In fact we have a mutual friend in Dr. Cheryl
Rucker-Whittaker. I have been stomping and jumping for you for a while now.

The hopes and dreams of so many Americans from
all walks of life are tied to your candidacy. You have caused us to
believe "Yes, We Can!" You represent the best and brightest of
America's future. We believe
that you can bring a divided nation back together again. We believe
that you
can restore America's stature and standing
in the world to its proper place. You are now standing on the precipice
of
unprecedented possibility and at the edge of elevation. You cannot
blink.
Instead you must boldly forge ahead.

Senator as you move forward in this great
campaign that Americans from all walks of life want to end with you occupying 1600 Pennsylvania
Avenue, you cannot continue to play nice guy with your
Democratic Primary opponent. Your opponent hit you very hard before "Critical
Tuesday" and in my opinion your campaign's response was not strong at all!

I want to point you to two lessons from history.
After the Roman Civil War, Julius Caesar decided to allow most of his defeated
enemies to live rather than put them to death as was the Roman way. A young
Mark Anthony warned Caesar against this bad strategy by telling him "your
friends today will be your enemies on tomorrow." Among those friends who became
an enemy was a man by the name of Marcus Brutus. When that last dagger struck
Caesar, his last words according to Suetonius were in Greek "You, too, my
child." Obama, your opponent plans to stick another dagger in your back real
soon.

On the brink of another Civil War when the
second Triumvirate collapsed, the young Octavian Caesar had to make a decision
about his friend Mark Anthony. Do I keep playing the nice guy and let him
eventually kill me or do I go to Actium and face my opponent in
a decisive battle with his beloved Queen Cleopatra? In 31 B. C. Octavian
decided to take off the gloves and he defeated his "friend" Mark Anthony in
that great naval battle which determined the fate of Rome. He changed the history
of the entire world and became known as "Augustus."

Senator Obama you have to take off the gloves.
Your fight for the nomination is your personal Actium. After Actium, will you still be
known as Obama or will you become known by one name: "Mr. President" and change
our entire nation and our world? The best way for me to put "Critical Tuesday"
in perspective is to quote a line from the movie The Color Purple, "The dead
has arisen." You must not be kind to the dead. You must not allow the dead to
kill you! Man we are now at Actium and you have to fight!

Yours to serve,

Kenneth Walker