This amazing when you think about it: Obama Has Written Personal Checks To Struggling Americans

[wndycty]

By the way this is going to create big problems for him. He has done nothing wrong but it won't take long before start looking into this, wanting to know who wrote checks to, how much and how made those decision. I love him even more for this but sadly in today's climate folks will find a reason to find fault with this.

Obama Has Written Personal Checks To Struggling Americans



WASHINGTON -- Got problems? Tell Barack Obama. He can help. He might even give you money.

On more than one occasion, the president has cut personal checks to struggling Americans who've written to the White House, according to an excerpt from a new book by Washington Post reporter Eli Saslow about the ten letters the president reads every day.

"It's not something I should advertise, but it has happened," the president told Saslow.

How many times has President Obama intervened on someone's behalf, and with what kind of problems does he help? Mortgage payments? Medical bills? And when he wants to help someone out with a personal check, how does it work? Does he send a check signed "Barack Obama" directly to the individual in need, or does he send the money to a bank or company on the person's behalf? Do people even know when Obama has helped them out, or does the help arrive anonymously through a lawyer?

The White House declined to answer any questions about the practice.
-snip-

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/21/obama-personal-checks_n_1019501.html

[Enrique]

1. however much the face value of the check is

it's worth more on Ebay.

[ClarkUSA]

5. Obviously, those who have received his checks are decent people who aren't out to take advantage...

... of President Obama's generosity.

[CrispyQ]

6. Many, many years ago I read that if Picasso wrote you a check, if it was less than $100,

don't cash it. It was worth more for his signature. I'd never thought of something like that. It made me laugh.

[Andy823]

2. K&R

Thank you for posting this.

[emulatorloo]

3. Thank you for posting this.

[ClarkUSA]

4. Barack is a wonderful human being. Has any other POTUS ever done this? I doubt it. Bookmarked.

I have never heard of former presidents, living or dead, many of whom were/are swimming in millions, ever doing this, much less lesser politicians. Sure, they have their foundations and charities, but writing personal checks takes humanity to another level of compassion?

Wow.

[SkyDaddy7]

7. According to many here on DU...

President Obama is EVIL & does not care one bit about the American people but only when he will get his next donation from Wall Street!

I am so disgusted with the way people talk about President Obama on this website...And in most cases it is not even fact based criticism but pure HATRED! Its SAD!

[demgrrrll]

8. True Every time there is an accomplishment the flying monkey

brigade swoops in with a bucket load of negativity. I loved the Wizard of Oz....

[SkyDaddy7]

15. Thanks for making me laugh!

I needed a laugh after dealing with the crap on here today!

Oh yeah, I too love the Wizard of OZ! I watch the movie for the first time since I was child not long ago & I still loved it!

[ClarkUSA]

9. Why do you think I bookmarked this OP? I can't wait to whip it out the next time I hear whining.

"He is no friend of the 99%"!! :eyes:

[Phx_Dem]

10. Me too!

[SkyDaddy7]

16. Exactly! I am going to start using...

my bookmarks as well...I always wish I had the info I see here on DU at some point & many times I can't find it. So, I need to remember to bookmark certain OPs for future use!

[Whisp]

14. I know why he really wrote those checks...

It was to hire hitmen to kill old people and teachers. uh huh. because he is That evil.

:sarcasm:

[SkyDaddy7]

17. I swear you are not far off from what folks...

here on DU are saying about OUR President! I swear since Gaddafi got killed it seems like many here on DU were feeling sorry for that truly EVIL person & basically making Obama out to be worse than Gaddafi!

I feel like some of these people want the Republicans to win & the Democratic Party to fracture & become irrelevant in American Politics...Just to teach Obama & other Democrats some kind of lesson. When in reality they are going to make it far more worse for us, the middle class & working poor!

[roguevalley]

21. oh please. According to some any criticism no matter how

principled is HATING!!!!!!!!!!!

How juvenile. Consider this. If he had done something about jobs instead of health care at the beginning he wouldn't have to write personal checks to anyone. We were drowning in unemployed and he started with healthcare. Unbelievable.

[RandomKoolzip]

22. +1. Seriously. I mean, it's a nice gesture to write checks to individuals.

No, really - it's a very sweet, kind thing to do. I don't doubt that Obama is a good man with a warm heart.

But infrastructure repair and a WPA-style jobs act directed toward full employment of all citizens would be much more effective in the long run if his goal is alleviating, or even temporarily relieving poverty. I don't doubt that he cares about American citizens, unlike Bush and every Repub leader - I just think there are better ways of manifesting that care.

If the Administration's focus, from the beginning, had been directed toward unemployment and financial system reform, the president wouldn't have had to take that money out of his own account. The Dems in congress (not just him) had the power to make something happen in 2009 and utterly squandered that opportunity.

Again - this is a nice gesture, but it amounts to putting a band-aid on a gunshot wound to the heart.

[Thrill]

11. I would guess

they get it anonymously.

[Hutzpa]

12. Can he throw me some crumbs?

bwahahaha... }(

But all seriousness this is what sets him apart from other politicians, his empathy.

Ok I'll say no more.... getting to effing emot......

[tblue37]

13. Remember the story about his paying the $103 luggage fee for a woman

who was flying to Norway? This was back when $103 was worth much more--and he was a lot poorer, because he made little money as a community organizer! An urban legends website confirms the story:

<snip>

Mary Menth Andersen of Asgardstrand, Norway displaying a letter her parents received from Barack Obama in 2006.

Andersen, who was born in the United States and whose parents still live in California, married a Norwegian man in 1988 and was about to fly across the Atlantic to join him when an unexpected baggage surcharge threatened to ground her in Miami. A tall, well-dressed good Samaritan stepped forward to pay the $103 fee in full. The name he wrote down on a slip of paper over a return address in Kansas was "Barack Obama."

Eighteen years later when Barack Obama was considering a run for the presidency, Mary Andersen's parents sent him a letter of encouragement, also thanking him for the good deed he had done for their daughter so long ago. Obama's cordial response is quoted in the email above and is on display in the Verdens Gang press photo of Andersen.

<snip>

http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/barackobama/a/random_act.htm

[A Brand New World]

18. I love my President and it's things like this that make

me love him even more. I've never said this about a president before and probably never will again. And by love, I don't mean the sexual kind. Although he does have that going for him too! And yes, the negativity on this board from some does get tiresome at times.

[PragmaticLiberal]

19. After reading this it's obvious that President Obama has a disdain for the downtrodden among us.

;-)

[Kablooie]

20. I'm disappointed too but I can't blame him with GOP stomping everything into the ground.

I'm sure he would have done things very differently if he actually had control.

When he had more control he still had the GOP filibuster killing nearly everything.

If he did everything the way he would like I'm sure I would still disapprove of some things.
We aren't a monolithic, single minded society.

But I believe he is a good person and is earnestly trying to do the best he can within the evil, toxic environment that Washington has become.

[and-justice-for-all]

23. kick..nt

[Number23]

24. How the heck did I miss this??

Thanks for posting. Wow. That is really, really something.

Too late to rec but I can kick

[woo me with science]

25. And the famous Joe Profaci

gave generously to charities when he was not running part of the New York mafia.

I don't give a flying fuck about a couple of personal checks. Obama has put billions of dollars worth of cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid on the bargaining table, where the Super Committee is apparently now reaching "consensus" to accept them.

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2011/10/pentagon-looking-safe-super-committees-cuts/43974/

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2164954

Token good deeds mean little when you are actively working to impoverish millions of Americans.

[BlueIris]

26. Functional health care policy would help many more people

than he can cut personal checks to.

[RandomKoolzip]

27. +1000