2008.12.02
Discuss Tuesday's commentary and letters
Wait and see about Obama
Courtney Furrow
Furrow, of Roanoke, is a nursing assistant for an Alzheimer's clinic and is a volunteer for Big Brothers and Big Sisters.
Re: the Nov. 21 letter "Bush supporter will give as good as he got": Matt Merricks states that he only will give President-elect Barack Obama the same respect that has been bestowed upon President George W. Bush. I seem to remember that in the beginning of Bush's presidency, he was given plenty of respect. The country rallied behind him after Sept. 11, 2001, hoping that this man could restore our nation after a devastating attack. And the best he could come up with was to shop at Wal-Mart. He then led our country into two wars, one of which we never needed to be in in the first place.
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Can't Congress make bankers sweat?
Roland Lazenby
Lazenby teaches journalism at Virginia Tech. He is writing a biography of basketball legend Jerry West for Random House.
I understand that it makes great television to have the auto industry executives come begging before Congress. And those same executives make a great piñata so that seemingly everyone can subsequently bash them because they failed to offer a "business plan" for what they would do with the $25 billion they wanted from the government to keep that portion of American manufacturing afloat.
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Challenges present a turning point
W. Lee Wilhelm III
Wilhelm is the chairman of the board for the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Future historians will look back at the year 2008 as a turning point in American history, but where this turn will take us is still to be determined. The election of Barack Obama as America's first African-American president is a watershed moment in our history. But his election will be viewed against a backdrop of economic turmoil and uncertainty unseen since the days of the Great Depression, environmental challenges that threaten our very way of life and a country that is at odds with many of its allies and at war with the forces of extremism.
Read more.
Read Tuesday's letters here.
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"Can't Congress make bankers sweat?" Good commentary. The only differences I see between the auto makers and the bankers & insurance companies is that the auto makers make an honest to goodness product all people use and they have a unionized workforce. If Citi, AIG, Bears Stearn, etc. all had a union workforce (that some people have dogged and defamed for decades), they would have had to work and sacrifice for their bailouts too. What better time, what better excuse for what amounts to union busting? The writing is there for all to see.
"Wait and see about Obama" and "Challenges present a turning point"
were both excellent commentaries I agreed with as well. I would so love to see this country actually lay aside the vitriol and baiting from both sides and pull together to solve our problems. We suffered through eight years of Clinton bashing and they suffered through eight years of Bush bashing, couldn't we just call it even and move forward for the good of all?
TCTS: I have seen and heard several comments regarding the comparison's of FDR and Obama and the Great Depression versus this recession and the right wing consensus is that the war is what got America out of The Depression not any of FDR's ideas or programs. Not being a scholar, I have to ask: Is it really impossible that FDR could have succeeded if the war had not happened to "save him" (which is such a savage thing to say)? Conversely, we are currently in two wars and many contemplated a third, so how come that won't "save us" now? Was it the war or was it America pulling together for a united cause with the requisite sacrifice? Skip the flip answers and let's discuss rationally (but simply, for us slow folks).
Comment by Sandi Saunders — December 2, 2008 @ 11:13 pm