President Obama’s leadership; police charged in a Fullerton beating death; the GOP presidential candidates’ stances

Obama and the GOP

Re “Government by brinkmanship,” Editorial, Sept. 22

One might argue that President Obama is a subtle, effective leader. He correctly read the voters’ desire to stop hyper-

partisanship in Washington, actively demonstrated commitment to bipartisanship and, by the way, gave the Republicans enough rope to hang themselves with.

On the other hand, one might argue that Obama is a bumbling, ineffectual leader. He has consistently thrown away chances to yank Congress’ chain and force Republicans to cooperate. He has repeatedly allowed them to set the agenda, which lately has been just to create artificial crises to get their way.

Even though I supported Obama’s election, I believe the Democrats have irretrievably squandered their time in the saddle. In large part it’s because they didn’t put a lid on ugly politics as they promised.

A pox on both their houses.

Tom Egan

Costa Mesa

One of the major causes of the current global economic troubles is the worldview that U.S. political factions cannot find common ground. This country was built on compromise, and the refusal by extreme conservatives to entertain a rational economic approach is retarding our growth.

Personally, because of the extremism of both political parties, I changed my registration from Republican to “decline to state.”

C. Martin Vincent

Rancho Palos Verdes

Trouble in Fullerton

Re “Fullerton cops charged in death,” Sept. 22

It is sad that only the most egregious cases of excessive force lead to criminal prosecution. Very few juries have been willing to find that police officers have used excessive force, despite many cases having outrageous facts.

Tasers are all too frequently abused by law enforcement.

Even in civil cases, jurors usually look favorably on law enforcement. Jurors reflect society’s values, and they have sent a signal to law enforcement that excessive force will go unpunished.

Now, society has the blood of Kelly Thomas on its hands because we have allowed this type of conduct to go on for far too long. It will be interesting to see if the police officers in this case are granted the customary acquiescence.

Charles Schurter

Tustin

Thomas’ death demonstrates how some of us fiscal conservatives are penny wise and dollar foolish when it comes to social services. In the 1960s, when California ran one of the finest mental health programs in the world, Thomas could have received the care he needed, and law enforcement wouldn’t have had the extra burden of dealing with a combative, mentally ill individual.

Cutting services for the sake of lowering taxes may be more costly to our community in the long run.

Ira Kromberg

Camarillo

Republicans talk the talk

Re “What candidates don’t say speaks volumes,” Sept. 22

Some Republicans like to compare Texas Gov. Rick Perry with Ronald Reagan.

This kind of comparison brings to mind the vice presidential debate in 1988 between Democrat Lloyd Bentsen and Republican Dan Quayle. Bentsen uttered the famous line, “Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy.”

President Reagan was smart and smooth. During his time as governor, California was certainly not one of the poorest states in the union. Reagan never said anything about seceding from the union. On tax and deficit matters, he was pragmatic. He raised taxes when it was necessary and borrowed and spent whenever he could justify it.

Where’s the similarity?

Bina Nandi

Anaheim Hills

Re “It’s Perry versus Romney again,” Sept. 23

Watching Thursday night’s Republican debate in Florida, I was most struck by former Sen. Rick Santorum’s ingenious new recruiting slogan: “I would say any type of sexual activity has absolutely no place in the military.”

Evidently, along with wanting no gays in the service, Santorum wants no guys.

Peter Cavanaugh

Oakhurst, Calif.

Real-world prices

Re “Living wage laws don’t kill jobs,” Opinion, Sept. 21

As much as I am for workers to earn all they can, this conclusion is based on restaurants operating in the Los Angeles International Airport, where the customers have no free-market option for food except not to eat at all.

The LAX concession bidders are all in the same boat, able to recoup their costs by charging outrageous prices. The same food outside the airport boundaries is much less expensive because of a free market.

The “celebrated chefs and local restaurant” are not saints; they look at gross receipts. How many glorified fast-food establishments can survive in normal neighborhoods on $10 sandwiches?

Richard Hart

Simi Valley

It’s history

Re “Answers to key questions on Palestinian U.N. statehood bid,” Q&A, Sept. 22

The first answer begins, “After nearly 20 years of failed peace talks....”

This is false. The peace talks that began in Oslo in the early 1990s did not fail. Because of them, Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization negotiated an agreement in principle to recognize one another; to create and fund a Palestinian government, the Palestinian Authority; and to have Israeli forces withdraw incrementally from highly populated areas in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The internal Palestinian security forces were created. Israel withdrew from significant sections of Palestinian territory.

In 1999, then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and President Clinton proposed fast-track negotiations to create a Palestinian state. Those negotiations produced an agreement that would have resulted in a Palestinian state with the sharing of Jerusalem.

In 2000, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat refused to sign the agreement and launched a campaign of murderous attacks against Israeli civilians.

Frederick Landau

Los Angeles

Insurance facts

Re “A bad ‘discount,’ ” Opinion, Sept. 21

Jamie Court refers to insurer Mercury General Corp.’s efforts to price auto coverage according to risk as discrimination. This is nonsense.

Mercury’s experience as an auto insurer has shown that people who have been continuously insured pose less risk than those who have not. It asks for the right to price its product according to the risk present.

Court provides no evidence that these lapsed drivers come back to the road with the same risk as those who have been driving continuously.

In reality, Court appears to be the one advocating discrimination by demanding that higher-risk drivers pay at a reduced rate-to-risk ratio than the rest of us.

Juliet Hotchkiss

Oak Park

Changing times

Re “Sneaky in Sacramento,” Editorial, Sept. 15

I disagree that the 2010-11 budget reform package was a “carefully crafted bipartisan deal, years in the making.” The ACA 4 budget reserve was a last-minute demand by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger when the budget was 100 days late and Democrats had already agreed to massive cuts without revenues. We acted to save the state from fiscal collapse.

Nothing can be set in concrete when it comes to state budgeting. Each budget requires an honest look at all options. This year, Democrats were forced to make even more massive cuts into services on top of what we did in 2010-11.

The Times’ concept that one part of a deal can never change under changing circumstances is being applied selectively.

With our sluggish economic recovery, the public’s best interest is to delay ACA 4. Locking into a “rainy day” fund is fiscally foolish when the economic storm continues to pour.

Darrell Steinberg

(D-Sacramento)

The writer is the Senate president pro-tem.