Letters to the Editor
Rocky57
Published Letters: 215 Editor's Choice: 4
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Oh, It's happened....
[Read the article: Does "Obama Girl" help Obama?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"...I particularly hate that at least some Obama supporters keep harping on "the partisan politics of the last 20 years" as the fault of both the Republicans AND the Clintons. I know you're running against Hillary, but do you really want to discount the legacy of the ONLY Democrat that has been elected presiden in the past 20 years, and the most successful Democrat since FDR (arguably)?..."
But, the point has to be at least recognised: FDR made his share of mistakes [eg. packing the Court] but he left the Party in great shape...at a time when it was a big tent that included progressives, intellectuals, populists and--unfortunately--the hidebound racists from a region of the country that would go on to fuel the growth of the GOP a generation and a half, later.
Truman took over and was able to beat back Dewey...the Dems retained both Houses of Congress and, after the interlude of Ike, snatched the Presidency right back for another eight years. Contrast that with Clinton, who, upon handing the matter deemed important by nearly all, Health Care, to his wife, botched it which led, almost immediately, to Republican control of the Senate and the House. Throw in the fact that the '94 Congressional Repubs can at least argue that they forced Clinton to act fiscally responsible--leading, in their eyes, to the boom of the late nineties--and his inexcusable dalliance with Monica Lewinsky and you can see how some might see the Clintons as having contributed to the bitter partisanship of the nineties [yes, we all know the lunatic fringe--of course, I'm being charitable using this particular descriptive--was gunning for the Clintons since Arkansas but it hasn't been as if they've not handed some of the ammunition to their enemies] and left the Democratic Party, nationally, in worse shape than they found it.
Anyway, Mansooh's article isn't particularly about the campaign as it is about how a technology is shaping us...Obama is almost an aside but, regardless of how you or I may feel about the worth of his candidacy, you've gotta admit his campaign has more of a feel for the new technology Shirky and Mansooh are discussing than the Clinton campaign which, up until March 4, had been getting its proverbial clock cleaned.
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Rocky 57
[Read the article: Does "Obama Girl" help Obama?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"...Bush's policies have put our standing in the toilet and killed thousands. Is that really as bad as the indiscipline shown by Monica Lewinsky and allowing the Republican congressional takeover of 1992..."
Kev, I hearya but, if Clinton hadn't pissed his opportunities away perhaps we wouldn't have had a Bush, an Iraq War or a spiralling down the toilet, economically. The way the Clintons conducted themselves was, admittedly, due in part to the partisan warfare they faced, starting with the early days in Arkansas, from the regulars and crazies on the other side of the political aisle. But, they knew they were being gunned for and still Bill allowed them the one opportunity to put the kibosh on his successor by heedlessly lying under oath about yakahooling with Monica[whatever we think about the impeachment effort, it left a needless stain on the Party and the 2000 campaign]. At the end of eight years, even Gore was sick of Bill. We can argue the merits of health care until the cows come home [and, I suspect, I'm not too far from where you may stand on the issue] the fact remains Hillary's cloak'n dagger approach to the matter was just plain silly and led to Gringrich and the likes of Scarborough to make their ascendancy and advent, again to the detriment of the Democratic Party.
Look, Bill should be given his due, where he deserves it, but, let's face it, he--often through ineptness and witless behaviour--contributed to the partisanship and made things alot more difficult for his Party and those who would advocate for his Presidency than they needed to be.
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Great Column(s)
[Read the article: More on "Obama Girl"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I've read you, often, Farhid, and I particularly love the thought-provoking Shirky discussion, in your first article, today...it's stirred up a hornet's nest in the comment section {it's all good, though]
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One Sec...
[Read the article: Some free advice for Obama]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"...Yet many questions are still unanswered about that relationship, which included well over a hundred thousand dollars in political contributions and simultaneous real estate purchases that concluded three years ago with the Obama family owning a South Side mansion (and the Rezko family owning an adjacent lot that enlarged their celebrated neighbor's yard space)...."
C'mon, Joe: As your colleague, Glenn Greenwald, has pointed out, there's nothing remotely wrong with that deal, as any Net Diver can readily find from a number of neutral, fact-oriented sites. Obama and his wife wanted to buy a house and land but the owner wanted to sell that parcel along with an adjoining one at the same time. Obama mentioned it to Rezko, a long time political backer and friends of a number of Chicago politicians, including the current governor, I believe, and his wife eventually bought the adjoining property for about 700,000 bucks. Later, Obama wanted to expand his property and bought, for about 105,000, a ten-foot strip of land, about 1/6 of the total acreage. The amount he paid Rezko's wife was about 1/6 of the value of the property. He didn't gain an monetary advantage from the deal and neither did she.
If everything's on the up and up with Ms. Clinton, let her release her returns as everyone else has done. And, do it well before the Pennsylvania primary [let's face it "on or about April 15" doesn't exactly cut it, in terms of full disclosure].