BEATING AROUND BUSH
Douglas Jehl and James Gerstenzang, in discussing the “style” of President Bush, praise with faint damns (“The Mind of the President,” Oct. 11). The problem with George Bush has not been the conflict between ideology and values but rather a ruthless ambition that sacrifices both. Doing whatever it takes to win an election represents less a description of the 1992 campaign than a characterization of a political career.
Just consider: Have the values of “decency, fair play, duty” been served by the Bush policies on choice, civil rights, the environment or health care? Or have they represented a cynical surrender of principle to enlist the support of the furthest right in American political life?
Now, with most people facing the hard realities of economic and personal insecurity, is the time for policies and actions that meet human needs. Freeing Bush of the burdens of the presidency may be a service to him as well as to our country.
MARVIN SCHACHTER
Pasadena
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