Readers React: Obama doesn’t give himself enough credit for trying to work with Republicans

To the editor: I enjoyed reading about the interview with President Obama. One has to give him credit for (among other things) his humility. (“Obama interview: ‘Maybe I could have done ... a little better,’” Feb. 11)

However, for him to state that he was “partly to blame for gridlock in Congress” leaves out one important fact. On the very day Obama was inaugurated in 2009, Republicans vowed to oppose everything the president did; then-Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) stated that his main goal would be to ensure that Obama would be a one-term president.

Surely enough, the Republican leadership made sure its colleagues marched in lockstep to defeat everything Obama proposed (often before it even knew what was in the proposals). I wish Obama had proposed doubling the salaries of all Republicans in Congress just to see how they would have voted on that one.

Barbara Rosen, Fullerton

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To the editor: I went to a small parochial high school in Los Angeles in the mid-1960s. The majority of the student population was white.

Back in those days, besides playing on academic or sports teams, most (but not all) of the black students usually hung out together. I was one of them.

Although I make no comparison to the president, over the years I have wished that my interaction with the white students had been better — that I had made a stronger effort to “reach out” to them, as the president lamented about working with Republicans. I even discussed my thoughts about this with a longtime friend and fellow black classmate.

He agreed with me to a point, and with this rejoinder: Our fellow white classmates could have done the same thing.

Rodney K. Boswell, Thousand Oaks

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To the editor: Obama’s address to the Illinois Legislature was a much needed civics lesson. He pointed out simply how our political system is being bought and our lawmakers are lobbied and influenced, making it almost impossible to do the people’s business. (“Returning to his roots, Obama calls for an end to ‘poisonous political climate,’” Feb. 10)

The art of compromise is lost because it has been labeled as a weakness rather than a strength. If our political system is polarized, we can’t govern ourselves. Obama spoke eloquently about the foolhardiness of thinking that either side of the aisle could get 100% of what it wants, that compromise is a must if we want to fix our problems.

He touched on gerrymandering (“politicians should not pick their voters; voters should pick their politicians”) and warned that “our children are watching what we do.” How do we expect our youth to act any better when all they hear and see are the adults lying, name calling and being disrespectful?

Diane Welch, Cypress

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