[Re: The Real Side, "Obama the War President," Aug. 28-Sept. 3] Nice try, Jim Scarantino, but we are not that stupid. Obama’s war? The illegal, unjustified invasion of Iraq belongs squarely to George Bush and the army of Republican sycophants (officeholders, voters and political commentators) who cheered him on.No matter who is elected president, there is a large mess to clean up, and extracting ourselves from Iraq will not be easy. There are realities on the ground that cannot just be walked away from. If Obama did that, you’d call him a quitter and an appeaser. Make no mistake, this war belongs to Bush and the Republican Party, who would love to get rid of it in the face of an impending electoral trouncing. It’s just too sticky and won’t whitewash off!The audacity of the Republican spin machine knows no bounds as it attempts to rewrite history through lies and distortion. "Obama the War President"? Give me a break. Enough already! ¡Ya Basta!
Letters Obamacon
I found Jim Scarantino’s last commentary [Re: The Real Side, "Obama the War President," Aug. 28-Sept. 3] hard to comprehend. His attack on all Obama supporters sounds self-righteous and reactionary. Who appointed Jim to the role of bringing Barack and his supporters "down to earth"? Whatever his motive, he gets it all wrong. Narrowly defining a candidate’s entire platform for political office into a "black or white" matter or into a single issue is detrimental to our democratic process. It’s a slap in the face and an affront to the intelligence of more than 20 million Obama supporters who participated in the primary process.According to Scarantino, let’s send the hard-working, single parents with no health care for themselves or their children to Iraq; let’s send the factory worker who lost his job because his corporation decided to move all production to China; let’s send off the young college graduate who can’t find employment in his field and so takes a job at minimum wage but can’t afford to make a decent living; send, too, the couple who refinanced their house to obtain a home equity loan to pay off high debts so their children could attend college, but now their home is in foreclosure. What about the low-income high school graduate, without a chance to attend a university because there aren’t enough educational grants for tuition to go around? How about the victim of Hurricane Katrina, still without a home or hope of returning to New Orleans? Don’t such important social and economic issues merit some mention? Are these people condemned to fight in a war, not of their making, for supporting a candidate who has made it his goal to bring change to Washington, D.C. and try to give all Americans a better life and prosperity?To castigate Obama supporters and condemn them to serve in Iraq if Barack is elected president is to lay the blame for a failed foreign policy that is squarely in the lap of the Republicans, the Bush Administration, and the likes of Sen. McCain and our own Sen. Domenici. So, Jim, why write such vitriolic words against the hard-working, intelligent, multifaceted citizens who want change? Maybe you should have dedicated the space to an article demanding the impeachment of the lying perpetrators of this misguided war that has taken the lives of more than 4,000 Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi people, not to mention that it has robbed the American people of the basic care, programs and infrastructure needed to maintain our own country.
Letters Magic Don
[Re: Letters, “The Don on Immigration,” Aug. 14-20] Three cheers to The Don for saying what needs to be said about immigration. It’s a shame the way we treat strangers better than our own cultural neighbors. I’ve been working on a joke to try to explain it: Q: How are Mexican immigrants like Mexican beer? A: Both have to pass through New York for approval.OK, so it’s a work in progress. I have much higher hopes for my next project, that of diverting funds from the Magic Fence to pay for special glasses that will let everyone see the line in the dirt separating our two countries. Hope there’s a pair in there for me, too.
Letters I Heard A Rumor
[Re: Blog, “Hot Polling Action #21”] That Ralph Nader actually died about 10 years ago. They skinned him, had him stuffed and mounted little wheels on his shoes. Now they just keep rolling the old fool out every four years, prop him up and let him run for President. It’s okeydokey with me. In fact, I think it’s kind of cool. Let’s vote for the dead guy.
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