Wrong again on Obama

Re “What Obama brings to conservatives,” Opinion, Jan. 20

Jonah Goldberg writes that Barack Obama’s being compared to Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt is a sign of his “remarkable self-regard or his remarkable ambitions” -- yet more petty digs from a frustrated, bloviating apologist for failed right-wing doctrines.

Goldberg conveniently ignores two other possible reasons for the comparisons: the fact that Obama presents the image of real character, a welcome change from politics as usual; and the fact that, like Roosevelt and Lincoln, Obama inherits the office at a time of hideous national crisis, largely because of the fecklessness and incompetence of the previous administrations.

Dennis Castanares

Los Angeles

--

As often happens, Goldberg got it wrong when he said the left would fall apart now that Obama is president. His belief is that the left has centered its attention on getting a black elected and will fall into arguments among its various factions now that the election is over.

What he fails to realize is that the left’s goal is, and always has been, not one election, but social justice. Let’s see: How about equal pay for women, or marriage for gays and lesbians, or healthcare for all, or fair treatment for immigrants, or common-sense abortion rights or educational opportunity for everyone?

The causes are many; justice denied for any Americans is bad for all Americans. Most on the left will use Obama’s victory as a rallying cry for greater effort, not an excuse to fail America by engaging in self-centered bickering.

Roy Azarnoff

Banning