Letters: 'Yes He Can (But He Sure Hasn't Yet)'

The president should continue to weigh audacity against reality as he wrestles with the enormous issues of our time.
Michael Blumstein Scarsdale, N.Y.

Anna Quindlen does a masterful job in outlining the governmental process used to transform campaign promises into concrete action. She explains why Obama cast aside nuance during the campaign to avoid appearing "wishy-washy." However, Quindlen doesn't address how voters could have been conned into believing the giant-stride promises, complete with promised dates of accomplishment.
Al Sartor Walnut Creek, Calif.

Anna Quindlen asserts that, to help move the president's liberal agenda along, Americans "should start acting more like the voters who elected him." I suspect it's a mistake to equate the reasons many independents voted for President Obama—his youth, his family, his freshness after eight years of GOP governance—with strong support for his policies.
Calvin l. White Ooltewah, Tenn.

Can we now look forward to a conservative survival guide to the Obama administration for those of us who believe he's already done too much?
Allen Simen Moorpark, Calif.

'ATLAS HUGGED'
In his tribute to Ayn Rand, Mark Sanford alleges that our economic nosedive was the government's fault. That's as credible as his claim that he was hiking in Appalachia. The government was complicit not because of the regulation that Rand found so objectionable, but because of its appalling lack of oversight. Sanford's economic counsel should be regarded with the same skepticism as his marital advice: South Carolina's unemployment rate of 11.6 percent is the fifth highest in the nation.
Michael Steely Medford, Ore.

'LIGHTS! CAMERA! REVOLUCIÓN!'
Mac Margolis refers to Venezuela's democratically elected president as a "strongman." Hugo Chávez came to power through elections monitored by the likes of the Carter Center and the Organization of American States. Like Venezuela, Canada has a National Film Board that produces and distributes films. Does that make the Canadian government equivalent to the Nazis? And Margolis states that Chávez has aided the Colombian FARC rebels. This accusation has never been substantiated before any international court of law.
Joe Emersberger Windsor, Canada

'TWO WHITE GUYS WALK INTO A BAR…'
I'd love to know the names of the bars where Lisa Miller was bored by guys arguing about God's existence. I've heard umpteen debates on the merits of a particular baseball team or football player there but never a discussion on the existence of God. In truth, if I should ever find such a discussion in a bar, I would take it not only as an encouraging sign but as the potential dawning of a new age.
James A. Simmons Chicago, Ill.

Clarification
In "The New No. 3?" (Scope, Oct. 26), we cited an Associated Press report saying that U.S. intelligence officials knew of indirect contact between alleged terrorist Najibullah Zazi and Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, a veteran Egyptian jihadist and Osama bin Laden associate (NEWSWEEK's sources could not confirm the link). We subsequently learned that, after our print deadline, the AP retracted its story.

© 2009