“Women should compete on an equal footing with men.”
Election preview
Mandate for ‘08: Is Hillary cementing a familiar tradition?
Editor, The Times:
As we head toward the 2008 presidential election, Hillary Clinton stands poised to take on the mantle of most-powerful female leader in the history of the world, the heir-apparent to the record of being the first female U.S. president in our history, and yet I feel let down.
She wears asterisks on that big practiced smile, she belts out laughter and I don’t want to join in.
Even though I would prefer a Democrat to a Republican this time around, I was hoping it would be someone who isn’t neck deep in Washington hypocrisy.
Hillary would be the first female president if she were elected, but she would also be the first presidential spouse ever to change seats with her husband. That seems to me like a family simply playing musical chairs with our democracy. It reminds me of another family in which a shared name did not translate into the ability to lead this country.
- Charles Dinkel, ShorelinePut on your big-girl pantsuit
For all of you women who support Hillary Clinton for president, her reaction to the last debate should give pause [”Clinton cries gender, opponents cry foul,” Times, News, Nov. 3].
She is the front-runner and has raised buckets of cash. These make her a target. The other Democratic candidates didn’t challenge her positions because they are mean old men who don’t want a woman to win; they are competitive politicians who know you have to knock out the top if you want to win.
But she knows that all of you Democratic women out there will buy her cynical campaign that everyone is “piling on,” and so deserves your sympathy and your vote.
She will also rely on your blind following as she raises cash illegally from people too poor to give $1,000 donations to her campaign. Of course, the press is complicit in this, even as the L.A. Times finally writes about the homeless guy who gave $2,000 in New York, and can’t find most of the donors.
But it is wasted ink. Devotees hear what they want to hear, and all they hear is Hillary is a strong, smart woman, who whines when challenged. This alone makes her qualified to run the most powerful nation on Earth. Sure.
Women should compete on an equal footing with men. Why does everyone give this woman a pass?
- Janet Suppes, BellevueSeparation between church and statesman
Regarding ” ‘I’m ready to lead,’ Clinton says at state party event” [Politics, Oct. 23]:
We feel there’s a big difference in being ready to lead and being prepared to lead. Our in-depth studies of most of the 2008 presidential candidates in both the Democratic and Republican parties find former Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass., by far the most “prepared” to lead the United States.
If being a devout Mormon is a deterrent to Romney, why is it not a deterrent for Harry Reid, U.S. Senate majority leader, the second-most-powerful person in Washington? Reid is also a devout Mormon.
- Wayne and Jeanne Quinton, SeattleThe X foils
Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich put himself in a bad way by admitting as he did that he had seen a UFO. Since the CIA and Air Force have put a lid on all UFO sightings [”NASA to review files on 1965 UFO case,” News, Oct. 27], it has been a long-standing joke that only crazy people see UFOs. For those not too well-informed, there are thousands of books and treatises on UFOs by informed authors and scientists - Herman Oberth, the great German rocket developer, for one. Oberth is one of those who believes that UFOs are from other solar systems.
Kucinich pointed out that former President Jimmy Carter also stated he had seen a UFO.
The GOP now wants to use this UFO business to discredit Kucinich in running for president. This brings to mind former first lady Nancy Reagan using horoscopes to guide President Reagan in his decision-making.
It seems Kucinich has put a scare in the GOP, since he is the only Democrat who openly calls for impeachment of both George Bush and Dick Cheney. Maybe that’s why the GOP would like to see Kucinich just disappear. And some of us wish he were the front-runner.
- Jess Stewart, SeattleAn unblemished outlook
The reason I am voting for presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., is the same reason his opponents tell us not to: He does not have the experience.
To me, that only means that he is not part of the political machine, he’s not part of the system that has gotten this country to the terrible state it is in now.
Age and inexperience never stopped Alexander the Great (who, by the way, went to battle with his soldiers) and it should not stop Obama.
- Barbara Barron, BremertonGrand Cold Party
Watching the GOP presidential candidates debate, restate and support President Bush’s failed policies about the war in Iraq and the privatization of Social Security [”Giuliani, Romney defend their conservative credentials,” News, Oct. 22] set me to thinking about how good a job these candidates are doing.
The GOP contenders are doing an excellent job of positioning the Republican Party to become the biggest political loser of all time. The ability of these personalities to parrot the party line at the expense of the existence of the GOP is truly astonishing, and gratifying.
As a lifetime Democrat, I want to express my heartfelt thanks to the GOP presidential candidates for their best efforts in extinguishing the GOP once and for all. The GOP and all of its [odd characters] are headed for the trash can of history, courtesy of the words and deeds of the GOP’s own candidates. Good job!
- Gerry Merritt, Eugene, Ore.Fashionably early
I got dressed years ago
I will probably never be accused of being a fashionista, but having lived and/or worked in the Capitol Hill area for 30 years, I find myself almost masochistically drawn to check out Jasmine Park’s fashion commentary of the area [”Where they wear it”] in Sunday’s Northwest Life section each week.
It seems that about 80 percent of the time, the 20- and 30-somethings pictured are usually wearing T-shirts and jeans and are typically referred to as stylish, hip, etc.
I had no idea that when I was in elementary school 50 years ago, I too was stylish and hip!
News Flash to Jasmine: Sometimes a T-shirt and jeans are … well … just a T-shirt and jeans.
- Robert Isgur, Seattle