Letters to the Editor
SueNJ97
Published Letters: 175 Editor's Choice: 4
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About the working class
[Read the article: Barack Obama, working-class hero?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Are any of the presidential candidates working class? No.
There was at least one in the starting field that did grow up working class and had actual issues paying for college (Edwards) but most people didn't believe that he cared about the working class because he became a trial attorney, made lots of money and, oh, yeah, had good hair and a nice smile. Therefore, he had to be a phoney. But, the people who grew up in more comfortable circumstances, they might actually care. Look, all of them are politicians. Perhaps we should just drop the pretence. People like who they like and they will believe what they want to believe. And disparage the candidate they are not supporting.
Also, the comment about going to Wellesley and Yale and being working class, well, yes, Hillary wasn't and isn't working class. But, I went to Wellesley. I met lots of different people there. I'm sorry to break it to you, but I actually did run into people who were - shock, horror, - working class - at Wellesley. Certainly, people who are not middle class or wealthy are not as well-represented as they should be, because it's damned expensive. But, to decide that the working class just doesn't ever go there...ridiculous.
The bus tour that Obama is on is no different than what other candidates do. So far, he seems to be doing OK. Certainly, there's no major gaffe on the level of the GHW Bush going into the grocery store and not knowing that scanners existed. What people ask is that the candidates attempt to see what their lives are like and that they listen to them talk about their problems. They don't ask that the candidates actually become one of them - although there is the dangerous idea that we should want to have a beer with our president. I like to think the problem has been that they felt that the last two Democratic candidates were SO unapproachable that they didn't even feel that Gore or Kerry could attempt to understand, because they could not unbend, at all. Gore can, now, but he's not running for anything.
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The President and their legal responsibilities
[Read the article: Barack Obama, working-class hero?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Taliesan is, in some ways, correct. As far as I remember the oath of office, although the President is the Commander in Chief and does bear the responsibility for deciding when military action is necessary and requesting permission from Congress, the actual Oath says that the President will "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution".
That is, in some ways, a legal position. Is the President the final legal authority? Not at all. Certainly, the President gets legal advice from his legal team and from the Justice department and, in the end, even laws that the President doesn't veto (or put signing statements on) can wind up being declared Unconstitutional by the SCOTUS. However, technically, if someone is swearing to preserve, protect and defend the constitution, you'd hope they have some understanding of what that document is. It is a great shame that the current occupant has not only not protected it, he has done quite a bit to undermine it, and the Congress has been complicit in this.
However, I can't see why someone who grew up working class, really working class can't have become a lawyer. But, maybe we've just become too completely separated by our understandings of class and we don't believe that anyone's capable of it - or, were they just not really working class to begin with if they become a lawyer?
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Why do most people on here care about this?
[Read the article: The John McCain "centrism" fallacy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Because from what I can tell in the Hillary vs. Obama debates on Salon, centrism is nothing people here see as good. Especially if has anything to do with something the DLC might have once embraced, then it is evil, evil, evil!!!
I am basically a centrist (socially liberal, economically conservative, meaning I think we should figure out how to pay for what we decide to legislate) and, BTW, I believe in civil liberties, so no, it is NOT just liberals who care anymore. I am an independent. And, quite frankly, I'm tired of both parties. I find little attractive about the 'core' constituencies of either, both of which don't represent me and have basically spit on me. But, they will pander for my vote.
So, why should you care if he is portrayed as a centrist? Say he is one, and call that evil, too. Personally, I don't agree, despite the 'gang of 14' that he was a part of, he would have signed that SD abortion law, which says where he stands. His plan for health insurance (taking away the business tax break and forcing people out on the individual policy market as businesses stop providing it, would just cause people to lose their health insurance, as he's not mandating that the insurance companies actually have to cover people who want to buy individual policies) will be a disaster which will increase the number of uninsured. But, it's not like people around here have any great love for centrists, yet, you get completely deranged when he is portrayed as one. Right. So, he's even worse than people like me. I suppose I should be grateful.
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@Aycharaych
[Read the article: The John McCain "centrism" fallacy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]But, from what I can tell, at least from reading the letters on this site, in general, most people here do not believe centrists are reasonable policicians. They believe they are evil and responsible for just as much as the Republicans, they are just "Republicans Lite". Sorry, but I just don't buy it. They have "sinned" because they are not pure-hearted, "unsinning" progressives, who will give the country the pure gospel they think we need. People like me are considered just as mis-huided as McCain. Sorry, but I don't buy it. You're just afraid to call them evil, because it might cost the Democrats votes. So, call him a centrist and call them evil. I'm just tired of it all.