Dear President Obama,
Hello! My name is Brittany and I live in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. I am 25 years old (but I will be 26 on October 3rd!). I am a registered Democrat and I have been voting since I was 18... I have Down syndrome.
I started working part-time in 2004 when I was in high school. I graduated in 2008 and have worked at that job ever since. My employer receives money from the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare so that I can work, and the public transportation people receive money from them to take me back and forth to work. My mother applied for Social Security's Supplemental Security Income program (SSI) for me when I was 19. I really want to make lots of money and have a hot tub someday, but SSI subtracts my paychecks from my SSI benefits, so I don’t have much to put into a savings account.Is the Obama campaign just publishing this letter because it is an inspiring story of someone doing the best they can? No. I left out the title of the blog post (Brittany: “A face of one of the 47%”) and one line from the first paragraph of the letter: " I am one of the 47% of Americans who fall under Mitt Romney's definition of 'entitled' and 'unable to take responsibility for my life.'"
Leave aside that this woman's story is the antithesis of what Mitt Romney was trying to get at in his remarks that were admittedly open to distortion. Leave aside that Romney and his family have personally helped many individuals who needed help like Brittany in quiet ways over the years. Leave aside that the Romneys give millions to charity. Later in Brittany's letter, she writes the following [emphasis mine]: "I have paid $542.72 in federal, FICA, state, and city taxes this year as of August 31st." So even under the literal interpretation of Romney's comments being about those not paying taxes, Brittany does not qualify.
The Obama campaign has taken what could have been, with sensitive editing, a feel-good letter from someone who is doing her best under difficult circumstances and wishes to support Barack Obama into a dishonest, exploitive cheap shot at his opponent. The president and his campaign should be ashamed.
