'Real Americans' are those who vote

Paul White writes (Feb. 6 Fence Post) that President Obama will get his vote when he balances the budget and starts paying down the debt. Where was your letter of disgust, when President Bush squandered the $127 billion surplus left him in 2001?

Where was your outrage when President Bush increased the national debt by $4.2 trillion during his 8-year tenure? Just who will get your vote, when the last two balanced federal budgets were submitted by President Lyndon Johnson (1969) and President Bill Clinton (1998)?

Yes, we should balance our budget and reduce our debt, two things neither party has been very good at doing. But the same old rhetoric, blame, and finger pointing at Democrats has lost its appeal. It's time to stop living in a state of denial and start realizing that the "real Americans" are those of us who show up to vote and actually hold our elected officials, of both parties, accountable for their behavior.

Jay Mitchell

Naperville