Open Letter To Obama

The Honorable Barack Obama

President of the United States

Dear Mr. President :

My name is Roberto Wissai, a Vietnamese-American. A few years ago I wrote to you, voicing my grave concerns of China's hegemonic designs on Vietnam and beyond. To my delightful surprise, you wrote back, saying to the effect that you took my concerns into consideration. 

Now I am writing to you in reference to the letter addressed to you by two council members, Messrs. Manh Nguyen and Tam Nguyen of the City of San Jose, CA. Below is a copy of their letter which has been circulated widely in the Vietnamese diaspora communities. I am writing to you because the letter's strong tone and last paragraph do not reflect the views of the majority of the Vietnamese-Americans. They at best represent the personal views of the councilmen and their supporters. 

While the yellow flag of the defunct Republic of Vietnam has continued to have a powerful pull on the hearts and minds of a great majority of Vietnamese-Americans, mine included, and possibly of the inhabitants in South Vietnam as well, and the actions of Mr. Ambassador Ted Osius could have been more tactful and sensitive to the feelings of the Vietnamese-Americans with whom he was meeting in California, the regrettable actions of Mr. Osius didn't warrant the untempered view of the councilmen that Mr. Osius "has severely strained the relationship between the Vietnamese-Americans and their government."

I would like you to know that a great majority of Vietnamese, in and out of Vietnam, are overjoyed at the current fast-moving economic, educational, and military rapprochement and cooperation between the United States and Vietnam. We also think that Mr. Ted Osius has been doing a fabulous job as the Ambassador of the United States in Vietnam. The Vietnamese government, the Vietnamese people, and a majority of the Vietnamese-Americans have full confidence in and affection for Mr. Osius (please see his Facebook pages). 

I also would like you to know that you have been a good, possibly great, president. You have brought Affordable Healthcare to all Americans, brought down unemployment to a healthy level, proposed affordable college education, confronted tyranny and undue aggression in major regions of the world, and restored relationship with Cuba to the delight and gratitude of the Cuban people. I have been in complete agreement with your domestic and foreign policies. You are my type of President. And thank you for being in this world. You have made a positive difference in the lives of so many people.

Respectfully yours, 

Roberto Wissai