The shift of power to the Democrats

Re “Pelosi’s task: Party solidarity,” Nov. 9

After 12 years, Democrats got a taste of sweet victory as fed-up Americans voted to put them in control of both the House and Senate. It is clear that the voters -- Democrats and Republicans like myself -- showed at the polls their enormous displeasure with the Iraq war and corrupt members of Congress.

In order to set a standard on which her party will be judged in the 2008 elections, House Speaker-in-waiting Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) quickly promised, “Democrats intend to lead the most honest, the most open and the most ethical Congress in history.” It’s a tall order, but it is the Democrats’ turn to show their mettle. The nation will be watching the Democrats very closely these next two years. Should Pelosi and other Democratic leaders keep this promise, the country will in return promise the White House to Democrats come 2008.

DAVE ANAND

Trumbull, Conn.

*

With the shift of both houses of Congress to the Democrats, for the sake of all Americans, it is now necessary for the major Democratic Party leaders to publicly apologize to President Bush for their disgusting and divisive personal comments about him. This is most necessary for Pelosi and Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nevada). Without this apology, working together with the president, for the American people, will be all but impossible.

DAVID COMPAS

Lake Elsinore

*

The relentless negativity of the Democrats and the media over the last few years has finally borne its rotten fruit. A booming economy, a record Dow Jones industrial average, low unemployment, less taxation (despite the monumental tragedies of 9/11, natural disasters and the war on terrorism) have been completely ignored because they refuse to acknowledge any positives.

I have to laugh at Pelosi’s blather about putting partisanship aside after six years of impeding and trying to destroy the Bush administration.

Now it’s time to figure out once again how to get by on less money and watch my country tuck its tail for the second time as it quits on Iraq, which has a foothold of democracy. I can’t wait for the pictures of terrorists celebrating the defeat of the U.S. that this election represents.

DAVID MANOS

Lancaster