Letters to the Editor
maureenodonnell
Published Letters: 577 Editor's Choice: 5
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Madame Defarge, you spoke about "clinical terms" and I wonder, if, from your knowledge,
[Read the article: Quote of the day: Obama on Clinton ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]the fact that Barack Obama was raised by two women would have any significance. I know his grandfather, Sidney Dunham, was there for part of his childhood but it seems that it was his grandmother who was the more level-headed and stronger character. He was uprooted from Hawaii and taken to a foreign country, Indonesia, where English is not the lingua franca. As you seem so aware of dysfunction and all that, any comments you might make on Barack Obama's early years might prove enlightning. Since his destiny was shaped by two women, would that have any effect? His wife, Michelle, is also a dtermined, strong-willed person and some psychologists will surely look into the effect that women have had on Obama's life. Maybe you will be the first. Bill Clinton's life has been analysed to bits and it's time to move on to something more exciting and unconventional.
It's late here now and, although I asked ages ago whether Obama or Clinton would be the more astute in dealing with Kosovo and the fury of the Russians with US policy in Europe, I haven't seen any response. This happens all the time. I ask a question about American foreign policy - which affects everyone - and the flurry of accusations and counter-accusations continues unabated, as though I'd never asked the question. I hope it's not the American way to ignore questions or, alternatively, to denounce the questioner as a troll, a Botox-user, an Al-Quaeda operative, a covert Republican, a leprechaun, a racist - it really gets monotonous although fleetingly amusing.
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Madame Defarge, You disappoint me so much!
[Read the article: Quote of the day: Obama on Clinton ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You have "put the cart before the horse" because I never called you a leprechaun. That's reserved for Irish people, didn't you know? It's incredibly witty and cerebral, of course. Nonetheless, you are extremely well-informed on Obama's foreign policy team but I was wondering about the man himself. The "poster" who likes bees (It's a bit late now to check the name and you probably don't want to know anyway), suggested outsourcing your Presidency. I was thinking about some of the political dopes here for the job but you are in enough of a mess without having them inflicted on you and there would be too many technicalities. However, you might consider outsourcing Obama's foreign policy team as two of them have names I think I've seen before. Haven't they been around the block a few times? What's the good of having a President who knows nothing about foreign policy and has to rely on a "team"? It reminds me of George W. Bush too much but it's nice to know that he's in Tanzania just now and that he's big in Africa. "A prophet knows not honour in his own land" or something like that.
Madame Defarge, on the question of clinical terminology, I'm sorry to have to tell you that you've evaded the issue, although you were in full flow about poor old Bill who now likes to go tobed early with a milky drink and just a tincture of bourbon. They used to say here that "There's many a good tune played on an old fiddle" but that's just men boasting. I was hoping to get your profound thoughts about the influence of women on Obama's life - a book might be too much to hope for, I suppose. I'm not into this "feminist" thing very much as I tend to resist categorisation but I would like you to be impartial about this, as you have harped on Bill's dysfunctional relationship with women quite a bit, haven't you. "Periodically", "The Periodic Table" and so forth.. Who cares, although it's a clumsy use of words for such a silver-tongued charmer. What is needed is nitty-gritty, brass tacks, or whatever expression is most suitable but just let Bill alone as he nods off, dreaming of all the wild oats he's sown or imagines he has. JFK had more than a roving eye too but we must'nt talk about that - "De mortuis nil nisi bonum". Cheers.
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Hakim Kutta, your lyrical language has ovewhelned ne so much that I could not log off
[Read the article: Quote of the day: Obama on Clinton ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]because I was near swooning to the power of such peerless prose and its prelapsarian concepts,innocent world not ruled by gold and guns, a veritable Garden of Eden. I did not like the idea of kicking a dog but your exotic name and transcendent treatise is reminscent of "The Perfumed Garden", an Indian book of erotica, which has me all-of-a-doodah. Would it be possible (se puede) to touch the hem of the Great One's garment as I'm quite sure that you are close to him? I'll bring my smelling-salts, I promise you, and I'll learn as much about the Charismatic Movement as I can before venturing into such a hallowed space. I don't suppose you're one of his speech-writers, Hakim, although all of the orotundity of your language has that transcndent quality that's so adorable. It's time for me to consider sleeping now but your prose-poem will give me happy dreams of a world without gold and all of us running through meadows, wild and free with the spices of Arabia wafting on the gentle breezes. There must be no kicking of dogs, Hakim, and your mention of powerful animals is a little unnerving too. I hope you don't mean cougars, panthers or cheetahs as they're not too friendly to humans.