Letters to the Editor
maureenodonnell
Published Letters: 492 Editor's Choice: 5
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"Help me if you can, I'm feeling down........
[Read the article: Quote of the day: Obama on Clinton ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]With all due diffidence, I'd like to suggest that you're all wrong . I think Obama was alluding to the Beatles song, associated particularly with John Lennon, in which the following line occurs "Help me if you can, I'm feeling down and I do appreciate you being (a)round...". Obama is very good at that, linking himself to icons of the past such as JFK and MLK, while orating about the future. All that fainting and freneticism at his rallies is very like something one might expect from the Charismatic Movement, which I know involves "talking in tongues". Perhaps that explains why his words are so opaque.
I've been walking in the woods and the "only fly in the ointment" is a multitude of midges and gnats. They all look the same and make the same sound, so they're anonymous and you don't know which one has bitten you. Talking of which, some one of the Anonymouses or Anonymice wrote of Hillary Clinton's supporters as "the hairy-legged brigade" but he obviously doesn't read "Vanity Fair". Recently, I had to recoil in horror at the sight of columnist, Christopher Hitchens, having his body-hair waxed - and it wasn't just his legs. I felt so queasy after seeing this - out of the corner of my eye - that I needed a strong cup of tea spiked with whiskey. Hitchens has been slobbering over Obama too but I would not have the audacity to suggest that Hitchens' depilation and Obama's progress are in any way connected. As Sylvester Stallone, 6l, said last week "I feel the same as I did at 20 without arthritis". I hpe he hasn't got hairy legs, poor soul. I'll have to put the laptop away for a while as the birds are building their nests and I don't want to disturb them. I like Robert Frost's poem "Stopping by woods on a snowy evening" but we don't have any snow here.
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Angela Merkel is the Chancellor of Germany, the most powerful country in the European Union
[Read the article: Quote of the day: Obama on Clinton ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Nobody would dream of calling her weak and emotional, and any sly suggestion that this is the case would be quickly rebuffed. Why is it that America seems so backward and ol-fashined in its attitude to women politicians, even blaming the woman for a husband's concupiscence? You have a Democratic nomination process which looks not unlike a mass rally of the Charismatic Movement jazzes up with women like Arianna Huffington (nee Stephanopolous, formerly of London before marrying a wealthy Republican) and Maureen Dowd of NYT positively panting for Obama. I have a French perfume called "Femme" by Rochas but you have "feminists of my generation", "feminists of the old-guard", "black feminists", "white feminists" and a melange that looks more like a dog's dinner than anything else. Of course, I have to be careful with every word I say because everything is scrutinised for signs of racism, sexism, and any other -ism that comes to mind. I did not realize that Americans are such angry people, so ill-at-ease with each other until I came upon this site. I understand why the writer called Piece-of-Cake has decided to leave and I would too but I won't let any ignorant bully order me to do so - as happened earlier today. I found the debate on education very interesting (Friday) with well-argued positions and a minimum of four-letter words but the dross that presents itself as argument in the Obama/Clinton imbroglio is appalling.
Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia today, something that has not gone down well with the Serbs and their fellow-Slavs, the Russians. Russia has accused the US of interfering in European affairs and, in case you haven't noticed, Russia is sounding increasingly belligerent. I'm wondering how either of the candidates, Obama or Clinton, would connect with a newly-resurgent Russia. I'm aware of Putin's quip about Hillary Clinton but that was a riposte to an earlier statement of hers. November is a long way off and the world is volatile.
I don't know enough about Kosovo but I intend to inform myself. Perhaps Americans should also do so, especially as your President seems to believe that the US has the right to poke its nose in wherever it pleases. The Democratic Party is being torn asunder, through threats and slander. That, at least. is clear. Come November, I will not be surprised if the Republicans win again, even if a year ago everybody I know said "No way". Your media demonises people, exalts others, and seems to be answeable to nobody as it trivialises everything and allows personal vindictiveness colour its views.
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Madame Defarge, your concern for Paula Jones is really touching.
[Read the article: Quote of the day: Obama on Clinton ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Nevertheless, being a woman, I believe that it is feigned. True concern would allow these women to live in peace. When Hillary Clinton announced that she was seeking the Democratic nomination, Monica Lewinsky spoke to an English journalist about her fears. Ten years on, she felt she could never get away from the scandal and the carrion-crows who are still feeding off it. Not that such a description would ever apply to you, of course.
Your chosen pseudonym does strike me as odd, however. Wasn't Madame Defarge that bloodthirsty woman in "A Tale of Two Cities" who sat beneath the guillotine in Paris, watching the heads roll while she continued with her knitting? You too are a very judgmental person who feels free to comment on the marriage of another couple as if you were their private confessor. Each person is unique so your tale of woe has no bearing on the Clintons' marriage.