Letters to the Editor
Picko
Published Letters: 265 Editor's Choice: 11
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manyctnj
[Read the article: The problem with comparing Obama to Tiger Woods]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"There's another point of comparison --- one which needs mentioning. Both Tiger Woods and Barack Obama are vessels into which liberal white America can pour a whole lot of its hopes and dreams -- when neither really fairly represents, in terms of background, educational opportunity and other advantages, much of black America. When the speaker says "You can have your Tiger Woods...", he's not dissing Obama, he's dissing the liberal voters who think they can expiate their guilt over the condition of black America by electing him president. I actually think that's a fair point to make in the campaign."
I guess that would be a fair point - if it wasn't entirely based on conjecture.
I'm interested in the notion that Barack Obama is illegitimate as a black candidate because he is not sufficiently representative of his race in background, educational opportunity and other advantages*. Are you under the illusion that a black candidate who isn't at least a bit culturally white would ever stand a chance of election in this country? Don't we get caught in a Catch-22 here - that is, if a black candidate is assimilated enough that he might actually get elected, he's discounted as a so-called affirmative action candidate, but if he's "too black," he's marginalized as a Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton? Could you please outline the circumstances under which whites could support a black candidate without being accused of rank hypocrisy?
I think your line of reasoning is only a slightly more sophisticated version of Geraldine Ferraro's "Obama's only where he is because he's black" comment. Or what was the term Rush Limbaugh used to describe him - a "Magical Negro?" Do these sorts of comments add anything to the debate?
*For that matter, is John McCain representative of his race in background, educational opportunity and other advantages?
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The mantle of Reagan
[Read the article: McCain's misguided role model on deficit reduction]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'd like to express some skepticism about the efficacy of wrapping yourself with the mantle of Reagan as a way of getting votes. Is there any empirical data that shows that this works outside of the Republican base? In fact, didn't Bill Clinton center his whole 1992 campaign on running AGAINST Reagan? If I remember correctly, the Clinton rhetoric was all about Reagan/Bush, which makes me think that Clinton knew there was a political ADVANTAGE to be gained by linking Bush to his predecessor. Now you can say that this was true in 1992 because voters were weary of 12 years of uninterrupted Republican rule, and maybe time has put some of the luster back on the Gipper's reputation. But I think that one of the big things that people still remember about Reagan/Bush is that they ran up huge deficits which looked insurmountable in 1992, which the Clinton Administration managed to get under control. Personally I think that the Republicans who try to claim the mantle of Reagan only end up making fools of themselves, because they're all transparantly trying to be something that they're not. I would guess that a large percentage of the people who voted for Ronald Reagan liked Reagan the man more than they necessarily liked Reaganomics.
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"You can have your George Burns. We have Senator Obama!"
[Read the article: The dreaded septuagenarian issue]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I mean, there should be nothing wrong with saying that, right?
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now, now, lilybean
[Read the article: Obama says he would have gotten rid of Penn]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"He says alot of things that he obviously doesn't mean. He just loves to hear his own head rattle. "Words, just words"? Yes when coming from a narcissistic blowhard."
I think you're being a big harsh. I'm sure Mark Penn truly did mean a lot of the things he said as a spokesperson for the Clinton campaign. And they ended up filling his head with sand because the rattling sound was getting annoying to the other Clinton staffers. But now you don't have to worry about the narcissistic blowhard any longer, since he's no longer in charge of the campaign.
Strange that Hillary was the last person in the entire world to realize that he was a total idiot.
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ShawnWM
[Read the article: Obama says he would have gotten rid of Penn]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"He couldn't do any of this all while he was busily writing the entire TWO pieces of legislature he ever initated in Chicago."
Could you expand on this "only two pieces of legislature" [sic] comment? I'm looking at an article from the New York Times from last year that says that he sponsored 823 bills while he was in the Illinois State Senate. How are you defining "initated" [sic]?
Here is the address: http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2007/07/29/us/politics/20070730_OBAMA_GRAPHIC.html
If you want to compare Hillary and Obama's U.S. Senate records, here's a webpage:
http://www.mydd.com/story/2007/10/20/224345/27
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Still waiting for a clarification, ShawnWM
[Read the article: Obama says he would have gotten rid of Penn]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]""He couldn't do any of this all while he was busily writing the entire TWO pieces of legislature he ever initated in Chicago."
Could you expand on this "only two pieces of legislature" [sic] comment? I'm looking at an article from the New York Times from last year that says that he sponsored 823 bills while he was in the Illinois State Senate. How are you defining "initated" [sic]?
Here is the address: http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2007/07/29/us/politics/20070730_OBAMA_GRAPHIC.html
If you want to compare Hillary and Obama's U.S. Senate records, here's a webpage:
http://www.mydd.com/story/2007/10/20/224345/27""
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Great.
[Read the article: Clinton: "The tide is turning"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]On the off-chance she becomes the Democratic nominee, do you think she and John McCain will favor us with a duet of "Bomb Iran" during one of the presidential debates?