Dear Mr President:
You proclaim yourself the first CEO to occupy the White House. You would know that a CEO who ignored the pre-9/11 warnings that only he saw, ignored the pre-Katrina warnings the world saw days in advance, hired incompetents such as those in the CPA for what you proclaimed your top priority (that's biz-speak, remember?), retained incompetents like Rumsfeld long after their policies failed, made inancial projections about the Iraq War's cost that was off by $397Billion (you said it would cost us $1.5-3B), and who, for good measure, turned a $5.6 Trillion surplus into a $8 Trillion debt, would have been fired a long time ago.
Our company's by-laws, the Constitution you so disdain, enables you to stay in office. But, if the Board of Directors (the Congress) were to give you the free hand you demand, based upon your record, it would be a direction of their fiduciary duty to the company's shareholders, the American people. Your prior Board of Directors did not exercise their fiduciary responsibilities, and were removed by the shareholders.
Thus, if you are to continue as CEO, you will be kept on a short-leash. I know you think it is your company to do with as you please (one of your ads to get the job said, "I know exactly where I want to take this country" as if it were your little sandbox), but this is not a family company. Nonetheless, Daddy tried rescuing you again with the Iraq Study Group report, but you dissed them. The Board and the shareholders are not happy.
CEO's, Mr. Bush, need to earn their right to a free hand. You usurped yours by providing misleading information to shareholders about the threats to the company's survival, and elevated the enemy to a much higher threat than they posed. Moreover, you focused on the wrong enemy. And, then you botched it completely. You have not earned a free hand that only the Board, with the approval of the shareholders, could give you.
The Board and the shareholders will not allow an openended commitment. We are, however, open to reasonable discussion on how to get there.
It is now up to YOU to propose to the Board a mechanism by which the limitations on an openended commitment can be enacted and enforced. We provided you one, and you rejected it. The ball is in your court. If you do not provide an acceptable alternative, the Board instructs you to make your first priority the safety of those who are in harms way. They remain YOUR responsibility.
Sincerely,
Nancy Pelosi, Chair of the Board
Harry Reid, Vice-Chair of the Board
(on behalf of the shareholders, the American people).
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