Gorbachev’s Leadership

In your editorial “One Who Made a Revolution” (Feb. 8) you correctly praise Gorbachev for “honestly defin(ing) the--conditions facing his country; begin(ning) the slow and painful effort to the unshackle the regime from the corpse of failed policies and irrelevant ideologies, not least those of the Cold War.”

I can’t help but wonder how long it will take the U.S. to acquire the same quality of leadership, foresight and willingness to accommodate to a changing world with challenges of environmental degradation, overpopulation, energy resource depletion and poverty.

ADOLPH B. AMSTER

Ridgecrest