Congratulations! After watching your victory speech, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of patriotic pride as you summarized the historical triumph America had just completed. Being from the younger generation, it’s a little hard to imagine a world where people actually hate each other based simply on their skin color. Not that we’ve completely conquered racial prejudice, but America has definitely come a long way in the past 50 years.

In your speech, you said you’d be willing to listen to all American’s opinions, not just those who voted you into office. I didn’t vote for you this election. I voted for a third party candidate who stood for what I believe in — American freedom and the Constitution. I didn’t vote against you either, as I seem to be in the extreme minority of Americans who feel you are neither America’s savior or anti-christ. I could have gone either way between you and Sen. McCain, and I feel that if he had won, I’d be writing this exact same letter.

I’ll be watching your first term closely. I can promise you I won’t vote third party next election. I will either be voting for you in 2012 or against you with the Republican nomination. To earn my vote, it’s pretty straightforward.

I’ll give you the quick outline.

1. Don’t expand the powers of the executive branch.

2. Elect Supreme Court justices, whether liberal or conservative, who only interpret the law, not legislate it.

3. Do something about the national debt — right now it’s $10 trillion and counting.

4. Protect my First Amendment rights.

5. Keep us out of unnecessary foreign conflicts.

There, that wasn’t so bad, was it? Hopefully not, but as I said, I will be watching. I feel I don’t even need to add “prevent economic collapse” because then your re-election will be out of the question anyway.

I think I can safely say the majority of Americans are with me on these principles. As for me, I don’t even care whether or not you are actually a secret Muslim-communist-terrorist-loving-French tree hugger as long as you just do your job.

So, for now, congratulations. I’m proud to call you president.

Let’s change America and the world for the better. Or at least not for the worst.

James Laugerman

Sophomore

Political science