Updated with the following additional paragraph June 4/12
I have been following the comments to this thread with great interest. I believe that this Obama social media initiative is a great opportunity for us. This post needs to be linked to the “Just Me” post of April 22/12 where he talks about the stupid form letter that somebody received after writing Obama about OVDI. I reference the following helpful comment from Steven where he says:
@All.
I have a slightly different view and perhaps an idea worth pursuing.
The fact that the White House responded at all gives the IBS an opportunity to use the response as a vehicle to further publicize the issues facing expats and the inequity of citizenship based taxation in general. You now have a letter from the President dated April 18, 2012. It is in effect, and invitation to dialogue with him. What if the IBS board were to respond to the WH as follows:
“Dear Mr. President:
Thank you for your letter of April 18, and to respectfully suggest that you that your letter was not at all responsive to Mr. XXX’s letter to you of [date] in which he detailed for you, a glaring inequity affecting seven million voting Americans living abroad who find themselves potential victims of the unintended consequences of a law you approved regarding their tax obligations……[explain the problem]
[don’t make the IRS the issue]
[offer a solution]
[dont disrespect him or the Office]Perhaps a closing with the suggestion that it would be nice to hear in his acceptance speech for the nomination of his party at the DNC convention in Charlotte, N.C. in September, one sentence in which he acknowledges the problem and pledges to do something about it if he is elected again in November.
It might also be a good idea to send a copy of the letter to:
Geithner
Shulman
Ms. Olson
Cong. Carol Maloney
Democrats Abroad
Senators Levin, Baucus and a few others.
Mr. Romney and some other top Republicans
Selected Canadian officials.This the way the game is played in Washington. If he doesn’t respond in a few weeks you can write to him again and cc everyone again to let the world know that you are not going to go away and the problem is going to keep getting worse if it is not addressed.
Thoughts? Comments?
Once again, I see the americansabroadforobama.org (plus twitter and facebook add ons) as a fantastic opportunity to engage Obama and the Democrats. The very existence of americansabroadfromobama.org suggests to me that the Democrats really do NOT understand how they have destroyed the lives of U.S. citizens abroad. If they really understood the problems they have created, I don’t believe that they would have launched this site.
Because they have opened the door to a public discussion, we need to see this as an opportunity to educate them. Furthermore, I believe that we should use this as an opportunity to reach out to Romney and Ron Paul. The americansabroadforobama.org is the best chance yet to open a dialogue.
We need to work on how to do this in an intelligent way. Complaint without more will not do it. We are crediting Obama and his mindless disciples with far too much intelligence and understanding.
Your thoughts? Continue reading
