Not the hallucinatory one
With all due respect, in Charles Krauthammer’s recent column, his description of our new president as “hallucinatory” is repugnant when, in fact, it is him and his constituents I find painfully hallucinatory [“Meet the new boss, same as the old boss,” syndicated column, Feb. 8].
In the past eight years, my husband has been a direct recipient of the catastrophe nurtured by the past administration. Now, in the second company layoff in six years, we are forced to sell our home, move to another state (for the second time in five years) and worry about whether or not we will have any form of livelihood — much less health insurance, a family vacation or any form of pleasurable existence — in 2009.
I am sure that Krauthammer is not in this predicament or he would not be calling the proposed stimulus package, offered by the new administration, an “abomination.” But, the same scenario that my family faces is playing out in hundreds and thousands of families like ours.
Republicans still do not get it and it is people like Krauthammer who are living in a “fairy tale.” It is easy to whine and complain about every detail of the daily news, but much more difficult to offer solutions.
If only Krauthammer and people like him could muster up the guts to give us some alternative solutions to the problems created by the former administration. If this so-called “fraudulous” stimulus bill does not happen swiftly, the results will be much worse than the mistakes that occur in the interim of figuring it all out.
I urge Krauthammer to continue his efforts to understand and resolve the dire consequences our country faces, but I beg him to consider the reality of myself and others in his supremely arrogant observations.
If only he could use his brilliance to do some good, not make matters worse than they already are for myself and others like me.
— Margaret Keeler, Kirkland
Premature Lincoln hype
Seems every time I turn on the news these day, I hear President Obama being characterized as the next President Lincoln. It’s getting silly.
President Obama has been in office less than a month and, really, has not accomplished anything yet. The economy is still in the dumps, Washington, D.C., is still the palace of partisanship and he is still having trouble getting his Cabinet in place and functioning effectively.
OK, I’ll give him the children’s health-care bill, but even that was not his accomplishment. But, he signed it, so the credit’s his.
All this Lincoln hype is based on hope, not accomplishment. I, too, hope Obama succeeds in effectively solving the problems we face today. If he does, he can then stand tall next to Mr. Lincoln (and Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Reagan).
But then, I remember Jimmy Carter, who came to town to solve all the nation’s problems. …
— Michael Scott, Snohomish