LETTER: Letter slamming Obama lacked a clear point

According to her letter, several things are obvious to Joanne P. White of Danielsville. First among them is her allegation that teachers want to use students to further their own agendas. One item on that agenda, according to her, is to elect Obama to office in 2008 just as it was to elect Jimmy Carter to office in 1977. Even setting aside the odd assertion that there is a link between the two, we can conclude that on the question of electing President Bush to office in 2000 and 2004, the teachers must have remained silent.

The writer goes on to say that young people aren’t experienced enough to know better than to vote for Obama. What’s more, her argument goes, young people too often “aren’t intelligent enough to care or learn better.”

Somewhat surprisingly we are fully five paragraphs in before hearing the old saw that the media cannot be trusted. Instead, the men and women charged with reporting the news are reduced to making “offensive remarks” and using a “disgusting tactic” all in an effort to sway the vote and appeal to “those young voters.” Them again.

The black vote, we read, is a given. “They will vote for Obama because of his skin color. No other reason that they could give could possibly be true.” They?

In fact, the letter asserts that anybody who plans to vote for Senator Obama is “asinine” and is doing so out of selfishness or just plain stupidity.

One uncharacteristically astute comment in an otherwise poorly conceived, let alone uncharitable, letter is when its author expresses her hope that “there are enough voters who realize the serious need to stop thinking with their emotions and use common sense” in deciding which way to vote. I couldn’t agree more. Having now insulted a large swath of her fellow citizens for no obvious good reason, one could also hope the writer will see her way clearly enough to follow her own wise council.

Sincerely,

Michael Hill

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