Harlem Nights Focus on White House Daze

Earl Ofari Hutchinson makes an admirable attempt to explain the inexplicable: the adoration of Bill Clinton by American blacks (“Presidents Are Nice, but Harlem and L.A. Need Investors,” Commentary, Aug 1). Hutchinson writes that blacks hold Clinton in great esteem because he made more top-level black appointments than any other president. Let’s see, was his vice president black? What about his attorney general? Was his national security advisor black? How about his chief of staff?

Hutchinson says that Clinton boosted spending on education and health. Was there a significant improvement in black children’s test scores during the Clinton administration? Did our health improve? A majority of blacks are for vouchers. Was Clinton?

Hutchinson offers that Clinton “battled” for hate crime legislation and spoke out forcefully against “the racial divide.” Doesn’t hate crime legislation seek to divide criminals and victims by race?

No, Mr. Hutchinson, blacks adore Clinton for the same reason that his other fans do. Bill Clinton makes you think he likes you.

Glenda Sheppard

Los Angeles

My Random House College Dictionary defines hypocrite as “a person who pretends to have desirable or publicly approved attitudes, beliefs, principles, etc., that he does not actually possess.” This definition fits Clinton exactly. He did not move to Harlem in order to play sax at the Apollo. The only reason that Clinton ended up in Harlem is the public uproar that resulted when he initially attempted to move into the high-rent/high-rise office overlooking Carnegie Hall.

Ron Smith

Rancho Mirage

How ironic that Clinton, a liberal president, had the fortitude to balance the national budget and reduce the national debt for the first time in many decades, but the fiscal irresponsibility of two self-styled conservatives (Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush) did more to undermine the financial solvency of the U.S. by generating a greater national debt than all of the preceding administrations combined. Now we see that in less than nine months, President Bush has succeeded in reversing course, putting us back on the road to massive deficit spending and environmental ruin.

Bennett Lewis

Capistrano Beach

The Middle East is about to go up in flames, we pretend the world is wrong about global warming and pollution, we’re about to pave over Alaska, seniors can’t see a doctor or pay their light bill and Michael Ramirez is still doing political cartoons about Clinton’s sex life (Aug. 3). Perhaps the Republican Party can change its symbol from the elephant to the ostrich.

Spider Martin

Laguna Woods