DIVORCING OBAMA

AN ORIGINAL EMPOWERMENT
MANUAL FOR HELPING THE FIRST
FAMILY MAINTAIN FIDELITY TO ITS
PROGRESSIVE VOWS

Press and Promotional Overview

Contact: Allan Shore / Erick Martinez
http://DivorcingObama.com
LeftHipPub@gmail.com

Sounds defeatist, we’re sure. But Divorcing Obama is

really not as sad a commentary as it may seem. It’s
actually more of an out-stretched hand as might be
offered by one loving partner to their hurting other.
Except in this instance it is a marriage intervention of
sorts precipitated by an immediate set of actions and
activities that, when properly understood, portend a
much greater falling away from the couple’s original
vows of domestic love and harmony – the very public
vows of hope and fundamental progress affirmed as this
couple walked hand in hand down the aisle of
possibilities for truly revolutionary change.
The President of the United States had in January 2011
forced this confrontation with his most intimate by laying
forth to the entire American family that he was not only
dissatisfied with their commitment, but that he had
already decided that his needs could best be med by
finding comfort, albeit temporary comfort and passing
satisfaction, in the arms of others – others who were not
only in patriotic need but who would help him publicly
display his still strong affection for fundament change.
Only in this manner the change would be brought about
by those who would stay true to his visions but would do
so by unquestionably following his expectations and
thereby affirming the wisdom of his transgressions.
The instrument used to make this confession came in
the form of a Presidential Study Order entitled
Strengthening Our Military Families: Maintaining
America’s Commitment. And there was no missing the
emotional intention: it was cover, in a beautifully
wrapped gift package, of the access and authority he
would provide to those who were helping him to give
back the depth and truth of their commitment to all.
If you think this is a bit of a stretch, look first to what the
Pentagon itself says about this gesture. Strengthening
Our Military Families is, after all, a collection of some
reported 50 (though actually only 47) leadership
directives that seek to ensure that never again will
families be in need of the mental health, substance
abuse, educational, employment or child care help. As
long as these suffering men, women and children in
question were connected to the US Armed Forces.
“It is earth-shattering,” admits the Pentagon. “Never
before have we had the full force of the federal
government behind taking care of (our) families. But now
we have carte blanche to experts in the field and how to
connect with state resources.”
The rest of America’s needy – those who most directly
walked down the aisle of progressive alternatives and
expectations – would quite literally have to wait. They
might even have to give up some of what they currently
have through budget cuts so that these more patriotic
families get what they deserve first. It could even be the
case that by following this strategy, some families may
have to stand side-by-side by others who get the help
they need while others go without – with the hope being
that somewhere down the road all might eventually
prosper. Top-down change works that way, and that is
the way the Obama First Family sees change as
happening at this point.
As First Lady Michelle Obama put it “Every American
can do something.” Even 16 Cabinet Secretaries
promised not only their support, but an aggressive
commitment to directing resources and ensuring that
these expectations were to be fully integrated into their
non-military bureaucracies, a remarkable anchoring of
America’s helping sector to military care institutions.
Divorcing Obama is our progress initiative to show that it
is not too late to extend our hand and help the president
and the First Family see the error of their ways, not ours.
That even though we see and understand the
sympathetic plight of their loss of affection, the tools and
tactics of Strengthening Our Military Families symbolize
a wrong approach, using the wrong methods, within the
wrong institution. And that there is still time (before the
big guns are rolled out in March 2011) to redefine this
mission so that the arsenal of weapons for caring
change comes from peace directives and the more
effective community empowerment and civic
empowerment models. We even seek to sooth their
discomfort by showing that there are viable philanthropic
models that already exist and that could be even more
shining examples of the promises brought into action.
Divorcing Obama goes step by step through each of the
specific orders and highlights how they could have been
better focused and implemented. We even provide
specific visions of what the president’s world could be
like IF OBAMA GOT IT RIGHT – Empowerment Right.
Here are a few selected summaries of the original orders
and our suggestions. The paragraph numbers denote
the orders as they were presented in the original
document. Both the printed and digital formats of
Divorcing Obama have the same 47 summaries grouped
for convenience, followed by detailed discussions of
where the orders when wrong.
2. ORDER: 1.1.2. By conducting policy workshops for the
states and leveraging the resources of the Mental Health
Block Grants and the Substance Abuse Prevention and
Treatment Block Grants, the Department of Health and
Human Services (HHS) will help Governors to develop
strategic plans to strengthen behavioral health care systems
for returning service members, Veterans, and their families.
If Obama Got It Right: Money must flow toward those most in
need. If the First Family had gotten this one right, money and
other resources would be moving the other way, from the
military towards community and neighborhood block grants to
reduce the burden on the communities where most of all
families live (including military families).
15. ORDER: 1.4.2. As part of its 3-year Veterans
Homelessness Prevention Demonstration project, the HUD,
Department of Labor (DOL), and VA with cooperation from
HHS will provide early intervention and test strategies to help
prevent Veterans from becoming homeless.
If Obama Got It Right: Empowered doors swing both ways. If
the First Family had gotten this right, they would make it
clearer that homeless military families have many non-
military doors to go through to keep their feet on the ground.
Are these doors in working order too?
17. ORDER: 1.4.4. DOL, through the Women’s Bureau, has
made women Veterans experiencing homelessness one of
its four priorities.
If Obama Got It Right: Women’s equality is the best cure for
homelessness and powerlessness. If the First Family had
gotten this right, the directives would link women’s
powerlessness in the services with homelessness and unfair
access everywhere.
21. ORDER: 2.1.2 DOD will ensure that military children
have school facilities that are safe, secure, in good repair,
and provide an optimal learning environment that supports
current and future educational requirements.
If Obama Got It Right: All environments must be safe,
secure, in good repair and optimal for learning. If the First
Family had gotten this right, they would have issued with all
of their authority a directive to make sure all families and
students everywhere have school facilities where they can
learn.
34. ORDER: 3.2.2. DOD will leverage the successful
partnerships created under the Army Spouse Employment
Partnership and expand this program to the Navy, Marines,
and Air Force spouses.
If Obama Got It Right: Community Nonprofits Businesses
Make Good Job Partners Too. If the First Family got this
right, they would be recognizing that the nonprofit sector was
looked at for good jobs as well.
Taken together, Strengthening Our Military Families is a
systemic softening of the Military Industrial Complex –
an Iron Triangle of self-serving, nepotistic profit-making
relationships between the government, the
manufacturing industry and the Armed Forces. The
president is effectively inviting a fourth family of self-
interests to the table to discuss and control the building
of what may well become America’s Military Family
Complex. The resources being directed to family
services could well make it impossible for the private,
community sector to offer anywhere near the kind of
supportive help that many families desperately need too,
thereby cementing for sure that many of our differences
with the Obama vows are truly irreconcilable.
IF OBAMA GOT IT RIGHT is highlighted because it is
the title of the companion video and participatory
blogging elements of Divorcing Obama. Our expectation
is to continue this discussion and to encourage others to
share their progressive beliefs about how empowerment
strategies can be a better support structure for the hope
and family change that we all still expect to be able to
count on. (PRESS: Message Allan, 707-297-6452.)