Obama so far

Re “Leading America in a new direction,” April 19

President Obama’s effort in his first 100 days to do everything at once is preventing his administration from focusing on the most important task: that of fixing the economy. Some in his own party, such as Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, seem to realize this. A very capable manager I once worked for said it best: “If everything is top priority, then nothing is top priority.” The other problems -- education, healthcare, energy and so on -- are important, but until the economy has recovered, any effort to deal with them will draw time, effort and resources away from the main problem.

Jim Mentzer

Los Angeles

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I always felt that doing too much was one of the most insidiously effective strategies of the George W. Bush administration.

Every day, there was another horrible appointment or decision. By the time you put together a plan to move against one outrage, two more cropped up in entirely different policy areas.

Perpetually off-balance, opponents never had time to whip up sufficient momentum to overturn anything.

It’s a lesson Team Obama has learned well.

Rodney Hoffman

Montecito Heights

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Re “Measuring Obama by FDR’s yardstick,” April 21

The Times failed to mention a major Obama advantage: Although the president’s approval ratings may be modest by historical standards, looking to the future, he has one thing going for him that neither George W. Bush nor Bill Clinton had -- an opposition party that is missing in action.

A strong, smart, united Republican Party could have had a major impact on how this new president navigates the early stages of his administration. Instead, our new president faces a hapless, disorganized and dangerous Republican Party led by the likes of Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich. Instead of constructive challenges, we get “tea parties.”

Barack Obama has tremendous challenges ahead of him. Strong Republican opposition is not one of them.

Fred Gober

Playa Vista