To the Editor:
Re “Obama Says Nation Can’t Afford the Politics of No” (front page, Jan. 28):
President Obama did not back away from any issue, including partisan politics. He threw down the gauntlet, and what individual senators and representatives do now will determine just who has a soul.
We will continue to be concerned, however. When you are dealing with a political party that has said, in words and deeds, that its primary goal, if not its only goal, is to bring down a presidency, then you are dealing with politicians who cannot be diverted from their goal, who will deny that such a goal denigrates their leadership ability, who will not suddenly see the light, and who cannot be shamed into working seriously for the people they represent.
Republicans and some Democrats have lowered the bar more than ever on partisan politics. The G.O.P. itself has developed into a clique of mean-spirited, disrespectful politicians whose hunger for power and position is blatant and unyielding.
Until we get past partisan politics, put the brakes on lobbying and reverse the recent Supreme Court ruling allowing corporations, foreign and domestic, to buy candidates, we will never have a government that truly works for the betterment of its citizens.
Patricia A. Weller
Emmitsburg, Md., Jan. 28, 2010
Note from KBJ: Where was this woman from January 2001 to January 2009? Did she write a letter like this protesting the virulent personal and political attacks on President Bush? Oh, wait. Of course she didn't. She's not opposed to "mean-spirited, disrespectful politicans." She's opposed to mean-spirited, disrespectful Republicans.
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 