Letters to the Editor
BernieO
Published Letters: 33 Editor's Choice: 3
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We are still fighting the battles of the sixties
[Read the article: Update: Michelle Obama disagrees with me]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I was deeply insulted by Obama's casual dismissal of the "fights of the sixties" while praising Reagan at the same time, something he has done on more than one occasion. I strongly agree with Joan that the sixties were about the fight for equal rights for all people as well as a fight against a disastrous war. These fights are still very relevant today. For Obama to be so dismissive is an slap in the face to all of us who fought so hard to make our country live up to its principles.
It is very strange for a candidate for president to run by insulting a large part of his own party. It is divisive and smacks of arrogance.
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Funny how Tim let this slide
[Read the article: Russert 1, McCain 0]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I have seen Russert go after candidates, repeating his question, insisting that his information is correct yet he let McCain slide. Of course, Tim knows that McCain is a "Straight Talker" so he would not lie.
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Joe's objectivity
[Read the article: There's no taking sides]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]in the 90's Joe Conason was one of the few reporters who correctly saw through the irrational media hatred of the Clintons as well as the right wing propaganda machine that was trashing them. Because he was one of the few journalists to report objectively on this insanity when most in the media had joined in the trashing and many Dems were bamboozled by it, I would trust his analysis more than most any other journalist.
The media is still biased against the Clintons and are giving them much more critical coverage. Some like Dana Milbank and Howard Kurtz, hardly Clinton lovers, have openly admitted this. Milbank attributes it to personal dislike of the Clintons, which is completely unprofessional. In 2000 they felt the same way about Gore, leading them to unfairly trash him by repeating Republican lies, (no, Gore never claimed to have invented the internet)while painting Bush as a straight talker. Many Dems bought the smear on Gore and voted for Nader, helping us get to our current disastrous state.
Because Joe is one of the very few who was able to stand outside of the media group-think at a time when anyone who did so was the object of ridicule, he deserves to be trusted.
Every Democrat need to read "The Hunting of the President" by Gene Lyons and Joe Conason in order to understand what our candidates are up against.
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Kennedy was not ready on day 1
[Read the article: Endorsing Obama, Kennedy goes after the Clintons]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Ironically I just was reading in Newsweek this morning about how JFK was misled into the Bay of Pigs disaster because he was a rookie. Instead of listening to the existing national security structure, he was taken in by the "freebooting swells at the CIA - who promptly led him into the Bay of Pigs". (Evan Thomas,"In the Shadow of Bush", Jan.28, 2008) Thomas' point was that, unlike Bush, JFK was able to learn from his mistake, but this incident is a glaring example of the kind of terrible mistake that inexperienced presidents are prone to make.
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Obama will be ready from day one? Really?
[Read the article: Obama and the Kennedy legend]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I just heard that Ted Kennedy said that Obama will be ready to be President from day one. Ironically I had just finished reading an article in the Jan. 28 edition of Newsweek by Evan Thomas in which he describes how JFK as a new president got bamboozled by "the freebooting swells at the CIA - who promptly led him into the Bay of Pigs." (http://www.newsweek.com/id/96527/page/2)
JFK was clearly not ready from day one. Thomas goes on to explain that, unlike Bush, Kennedy learned from this rookie mistake. Nevertheless, this was a disastrous mistake that a more experienced president would not have made. And Kennedy had served a six years in Congress and was a second term Senator, so was much more experienced than Obama now is.
I realize that a lot of people pooh-pooh Hillary's experience as First Lady, but any First Lady who is closely involved with her husband's career (ala Nancy Reagan, Eleanor Roosevelt or Rosalyn Carter) has a keen insight into the workings of the presidency, the likely pitfalls of a new administration, etc. In addition to this kind of knowledge, Hillary is much more versed in policy issues than is Obama and has established good working relationships with many of the players a president must deal with, like the Pentagon brass. She has worked extremely hard on the Armed Services Committee to educate herself about complicated national security issues as well as establish her credibility with military leaders. As a result she has the respect of these people, something which Bill Clinton did not have and which caused him huge problems as President.
Contrast that with Obama who got the privilege of chairing the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on European Affairs and failed to have any meetings of substance. He could have used this position to begin repairing our damaged image with these allies, establish working relationships with NATO and other European leaders, and better prepare himself before deciding he was ready to be the world's most powerful person. Instead he completely blew off his responsibilities to the detriment of himself, his party and his country.
Given the enormous problems our country now faces, I am not comfortable with a president who is a green as Obama. That does not mean I hate him. In fact, I want to see him do all he can to prepare himself, then run in four or eight years. If he does this, then I think he could be one of our strongest Presidents ever.
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Obama's advertising in Florida
[Read the article: Clinton's primary night gambit]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]His excuse is that it is a national buy. Funny, but I have not seen any of these so-called national ads, and I have been watching a lot.