To the Editor:
On reading “Obama the Other, Deployed as Election Tactic,” by Matt Bai (Political Times column, Sept. 16), I am filled with hope, disgust and amazement.
I am hopeful because there are sufficient level-headed voters in the
United States who can see through the likes of Newt Gingrich, who
accused President Obama of exhibiting “Kenyan, anticolonial behavior.”
I am disgusted by the craven politics employed by the Republicans and
Tea Party loyalists, who can’t engage in reasoned political discourse on
the issues that confront the country: a recession largely precipitated
by Bush-era economic laissez-faire; societal polarization, where people
are targeted for their religious and social differences, their country
of origin and their concern for the less fortunate among us; and
regionalism, reflecting the persistence of Civil War divisions.
I am amazed that the leaders of the Democratic Party have not been able
to develop a strong voice to counter the virulent ranting during this
election cycle. I am afraid that we will wake up after Election Day and
wish that more thinking people had spoken up. I hope I’m wrong.
W. Lionel Williams
Hempstead, N.Y., Sept. 17, 2010
Note from KBJ: The "virulent ranting" is coming from the White House. Has the letter writer not been paying attention?
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 