To the Editor:
Re “Coalition That Vaulted Democrats Into Power Has Frayed, Poll Finds” (front page, Oct. 28):
It seems a century since November 2008, when we debated if we had become a “center-left” country; we believed that Sarah Palin would fade from the headlines; we had not heard of Glenn Beck, Obamacare, death panels, birthers and the Tea Party; and all the talk was Obama, Obama, Obama.
What happened?
Was it the “vast right-wing conspiracy,” of which Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke during President Clinton’s second term?
Or was it President Obama?
Faced with three urgent issues—the economy, Iraq and Afghanistan—he chose to squander critical time and political capital in a catastrophic battle over health care—whose town hall meetings may have helped bring about the Tea Party.
Bill Clinton’s campaign advisers stressed, “It’s the economy, stupid,” but in a far worse crisis President Obama failed to focus on the economy. He has shown a lack of experience, toughness and leadership.
Experts say that revolutions take place when “rising expectations” fail to materialize. And so from a country that was probably not center-left but center-right has come the Tea Party revolt.
James Adler
Cambridge, Mass., Oct. 28, 2010
Note from KBJ: Barack Obama has overreached. It's that simple.
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 