The American Freedom Network

Tea Party – Grassroots Not Happy with Obama Meeting

April 30, 2009 – 3:55 pm

Dear Friends: As most of you know, Obama decided to deride the Tea Party Movement efforts yesterday (MUT Note: Noticed how he used the term “tea bags” instead of Tea Party).

“Those of you who are watching certain news channels on which I’m not very popular, and you see folks waving tea bags around, Obama said, “let me just remind them that I am happy to have a serious conversation about how we are going to cut our health care costs down over the long term, how we are going to stabilize Social Security.” “But,” Obama continued, “let’s not play games and pretend that the reason [for the deficit] is because of the Recovery Act.”

There is so much to decry about this dismissive arrogance, but the main thing I want to focus on is that Michael Patrick Leahy, who has been a thorn on the side of grassroots Tea Party planners since the beginning, agreed to meet with Obama – despite the dismissal.

Frankly, the US Congress is more concerning to me than the President when it comes to promoting tax-and-spend policies. However, I also noted that Obama met with Republican pundits earlier this year, the promptly dismissed Republican congressmen with an “I won” attitude. I had a bad feeling about this meeting. It would not end will for the Tea Party. Furthermore, it diminished the grassroots sensibility of the movement.

Turns out, I was not the only one upset. Ron Neppell, Leahy’s partner on Top Conservatives on Twitter, disbanded the group with a brief statement:

I’m sorry to have to do this, but effective immediately, I am shutting down Top Conservatives on Twitter.

TCOT as a group and as a ranking system is the work of two people: Mike Leahy, and myself, and we have agreed from the beginning that it was an equal, 50-50 partnership and would be run as such. Unfortunately, over the past week, Mike has reneged on that agreement.

One week ago today, I sent Mike my thoughts on how TCOT should be run and how we should work together in the near future. This is particularly important, as due to his inability to work in a group decision-making environment, Mike was recently asked to leave the leadership team of Tea Party Patriots, a group that I remain a part of, and I felt it very important to reach clear and mutual agreement on how TCOT should operate. Mike responded that my plan sounded “reasonable”, but that he “may have a few tweaks on it”. Since then, I have asked him repeatedly to follow through and respond with his “tweaks” so that we could resolve any differences and go forward. He has refused to do so, citing other priorities and demands on his time. I asked one final time for his input yesterday, stressing the importance of the matter, but was again ignored.

At this point, I do not feel comfortable continuing to operate this site with a partner who deliberately refuses to communicate with me on fundamental issues, and it would be inappropriate for me to run it by myself given that our agreement was an equal partnership. I have never received a dime for my work on TCOT; Mike, on the other hand, has a paid contract with PJTV for his show “TCOT on PJTV”. I’ve never asked for a cut of Mike’s PJTV profits, but I have asked to simply understand what his agreement is with PJTV for the show that bears our group’s name — a request which Mike has also ignored.

Then, there is this statement from the umbrella organization under which my group (Southern California Tax Revolt Coalition, LLC) operates, Tea Party Patriots:

On the morning of the April 15th Tea Parties, we were informed on national news by one of the President’s economic advisers, Jared Bernstein, that the President was “unaware” of the tea parties taking place in over 850 cities across the nation. Yesterday, the President informed us that he has now become aware of our presence, but only from “certain news channels on which I’m not very popular.” He referred to the one million plus Patriots who came out in legitimate and Constitutionally protected demonstrations of free speech on April 15th as “folks waving tea bags around…” While he collects royalties from his book, The Audacity of Hope, the President has the audacity to imply that you have nothing serious to say, and no legitimate grievances. The President also seems to believe that it is appropriate to make fun of millions of Americans who are expressing their opinions in a peaceful manner. Perhaps he feels that by mocking you, he can marginalize you. But we know that real patriots cannot be marginalized, and that you will make your voices heard.

This sort of condescending approach to the grassroots is a hallmark not only of this President, but of politicians of both parties all across this land. We, the grassroots are dismissed as “folks waving tea bags around,” and any discussion of our legitimate complaints and concerns is avoided through the use of such derogatory and condescending rhetoric. We’ve heard similar rhetoric from the the Speaker Nancy Pelosi and many others. Unfortunately, the President and the majority of politicians at a national level refuse to discuss the issues head on, and refuse to acknowledge the fact that you have organized yourselves into a massive, national movement, which has coalesced around limited government, fiscal responsibility and lower taxes. As politicians, they are simply interested in taking and spending more and more of our money, and in leaving our children with the burdens of their excess.

As a side note, yesterday Michael Leahy, who was removed from the leadership of the Tea Party Patriots due to his inability to work in a cooperative group setting, and his position that the grass roots needed to be “led” instead of being honored with the leadership they themselves have earned, issued a press release. In that press release, Mr. Leahy had the audacity to purport to speak on behalf of the national tea party movement in offering to personally meet with President Obama. While one may argue whether or not such a meeting would be a good idea (and we’ve received emails indicating that most of you don’t support this approach), Mr. Leahy’s press release was a simple example of grandstanding for personal gain. It is not for Mr. Leahy, or any one individual to make such an offer. This is a grassroots movement, and no one person has, or should ever claim the power to speak for the grassroots without consulting the more than 850 leaders of the Tea Party Patriots who organized the events all around the country on April 15.

Tea Party Patriots has it exactly right. Obama can meet daily with Leahy for the remainder of his term, and it would not make a dime’s worth of difference. Obama is simply out for a healing photo-op.