Letters: Advice Obama doesn’t need

Re “He needs a family plan,” Opinion, Nov. 20

Jonah Goldberg’s recommendation to President Obama to advocate for better family values among African Americans is incredibly offensive. Given Goldberg’s long-standing opposition to just about anything Obama does, I get the impression that he raises this issue primarily as a line of attack on the president.

The casual way in which Goldberg marshals oversimplified demographic and research findings in service of his agenda is mean-spirited and smacks of the kind of thinly veiled racism that we saw throughout this election.

Bill Saltzman

Pasadena

Let me get this straight: Goldberg’s proposal is that the black president tell black fathers to toe the line so that there can be more black professional baseball players?

I have a better idea. How about the GOP stops blocking Obama’s proposals directed at increasing economic opportunity and shoring up the social safety net for lower- and middle-income families — black, white, brown or whatever.

Richard Olmstead

Van Nuys

If Goldberg really wanted to deal with the problem of fatherless children, he would have mentioned the two most significant ways of helping deal with the problem: free contraception and a rational sex education program in schools. The Republican call for cutting off funding for Planned Parenthood and demanding abstinence-only sex education shows just how unimportant the issue is for them.

Pat Ormsbee

Newport Beach

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