Letters to the Editor
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Published Letters: 151 Editor's Choice: 4
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Why all the anti-intellectualism?
[Read the article: The rubes and the elites]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I live in a small town in central New Jersey and Sen. Obama has given an astute and accurate description of conditions here. People (of all skin colors) are angry, frustrated, tired, and yes, bitter, about the declining economic conditions in this 400-year-old hamlet. The Minute Maid factory pulled up stakes three years ago taking most of the good jobs with it. A Walmart settled in here, but wages are not good there for anyone except elderly people supplementing another source of income.
Tension with immigrant populations is on the rise with Latinos from Guatemala and Mexico and Indians as primary targets of white (and black) resentment.
Obama got it right: people here are fed up with the do-nothing stance of government and the incredible destruction of the Iraq war. The billions squandered by the Bush administration in this illegal war without end is quite well known to people here and is certainly a source of the bitterness Obama describes.
Obama also got this right: under stress people (black, white, purple or green) turn to those things and institutions which provide comfort and have explanatory powers against the perceived threats and injustices of the world. Religion falls into this category for sure.
Being able to articulate these fundamental realities is not elitist or out of touch nor disrespectful to traditional values. This is called being a smart, involved, and empathetic leader. This is what Obama is and why he got this one right.
The true and lasting value of this current miniscule "bitterness" flap is confirming that Sen. Clinton really does side with the GOP on all the key questions. She has beaten this thin story for four days and counting, aided and abetted by the right-wing media and other lazy journalists. Now even her great supporter, Gov. Rendell has acknowledged that this attack on Sen. Obama is having limited impact; it will be a forgotten story by the time of the general election, Rendell said yesterday.
With Clinton and McCain forming a Gang of Two to beat the stalwart Obama around the head and shoulders, it is now clear that there is only one real Democrat left in this primary race.
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Common sense prevails
[Read the article: Did the "bitter" flap affect the race?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Once again, the honesty and common sense of regular people is winning out over lazy journalism and the blatant hypocrisy of the Clinton/McCain tag team.
Most people in the U.S. were not offended by Obama's observations about the declining state of the American economy. "Bitter" is not too harsh a word to describe the state of middle class America today.
Obama handled this ludicrous flap with remarkable wit, grace, and even-temper. He is once again displaying the qualities we need in a national leader. In contrast, Clinton has beaten this dead horse into dog food and succeed only in linking herself more closely with the GOP.
The multimillionaire daughter of wealthy suburbanites, educated in Ivy League universities, Clinton is now indelibly linked in the American popular imagination with multimillionaire John (Bomb Iran) McCain. These are the last throes of a "bitter," dying campaign.
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Pathetic parody?
[Read the article: Clinton pollster urges senator to go relentlessly negative]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]When I first read Schoen's hilarious essay in the Washington Post this morning, I assumed it was a rather inept satire, given how far from the truth it was.
Sen. Clinton's campaign (led by Schoen's partner in pandering, Mark Penn) has been relentlessly and ineffectually negative since at least South Carolina. The result has been that her negative ratings have sky-rocketed and she has fallen behind Sen. Obama in all measurably areas including popular vote, number of pledged delegates, and number of states won.
National polls in the Washington Post, LA Times, and Gallup support the conclusion that the American public is getting fed up with Sen. Clinton's negative campaign and turned off by her dishonesty. The Clinton approach has been to act as a free trial run for the scurrilous attacks against Sen. Obama the Republicans will uncoil in the fall campaign. She is recklessly burning the Democratic party with these short-sighted attacks. Any victory Sen. Clinton now wins in Pennsylvania next week will be a Phyrric one at best.
In the face of her endless brow-beating and pandering, Sen. Obama has remained graceful, balanced, funny, and sharp. Ironically, the unrelenting pressure of the campaign has made him stronger while utterly undoing her.
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ABC Dereliction of duty
[Read the article: Worst. Debate. Ever?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This was, as so many others have noted here, clearly the worst debate by far. The sham journalists mascarading as moderators failed utterly at the job of posing informed intelligent questions that would enlighten the voting public about the policy views of the two candidates. We have two strong, smart, and extremely talented people running for president and all Stephanopoulos and Gibson can think to ask them is about their lapel jewelry, Rev. Wright (boring!), the laughable bitter-gate, and a washed-up old lefty from the 1960s.
Rather than mindlessly parroting the tabloid questions fed him by Sean Hannity, George would have been better served by communing with the ghosts of Peter Jennings, Howard K. Smith, Eric Severeid, and Edward R. Murrow on the role of a free press in a democracy.
ABC rendered itself irrelevant and revealed itself as irresponsible and anti-democratic in the deepest sense of the term. Rather than helping voters gain insights into the serious questions of war, economic calamity, and environmental collapse facing us today, these hitmen piled up on Sen. Obama in an irresponsible and tone-deaf manner.
The real winner was Obama who once again displayed his cool, collected and balanced approach to the pressures of campaigning. The gang-banging he suffered in this debate enhanced his underdog position, gained him immeasurable sympathy, and many new donors and votes. Poor Sen. Clinton was left to stand like a cardboard cutout, stiffly representing John McCain in the debate format.