Whew. I haven’t read a letter this profoundly accurate since I read Ali Akbar’s Tea Party invitation to Morgan Freeman.
In New York City, Leon Cooperman is a legend, the quintessential self-made man. His parents were Polish immigrants, his father a humble, hard-working plumber. Cooperman became the first in his family to attend college — and, when he started work at Goldman Sachs, fresh out of business school at Columbia University, he had no money in the bank. He worked his way up to eventually run Goldman before he founded his own private investment firm, Omega Advisors. Today, he’s worth $1.8 billion — and has the philanthropic chops to prove it. He’s given away more than he’s ever spent on himself — and he has committed to the Warren Buffett Giving Pledge, which means he has promised to give the majority of his wealth to philanthropy.
Over the years, Cooperman has been inspired by the wise words of men who have counseled charitable giving, from the Talmudic injunction “A man’s net worth is measured not by what he earns but rather what he gives away” to Andrew Carnegie’s oft-quoted reminder “He who dies rich, dies disgraced.” But the investor has been less than inspired by the president’s repeated condemnatory remarks about capitalism; by his repeated appeals to envy, one of the basest of human instincts; and by the thoughtless lashings he’s administered to the American people out of his own political desperation (“lazy,” “soft” and “bitter” we are!). What’s more: Cooperman has taken the time to compose an open letter to the president to tell him just how disappointed he is.
In fervid, forceful, expressive prose, Cooperman excoriates the president for his lack of leadership. Here, a few excerpts, but the letter is absolutely, 100 percent worth a complete read:
WOW! And I’d like to add, in the Spirit of Governor Christe [NJ], just what [the Hell ] are we paying you for? ????????
We are NOT paying you to divide our Country…. If it were up to me, I’d fire Obama…!