Readers write for Saturday, Oct. 23, 2010

I read with surprise and dismay "Young voters feel burned by Obama" (Opinion Exchange, Oct. 16). Like many voters -- young and old -- I was elated by the election of President Obama two years ago. And like many progressives I have been disappointed that more of the president's agenda has not been enacted. I have not agreed with all of his decisions or policies.

However, I do not feel "burned" by Obama, nor have I lost faith in his leadership. He faced the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. This necessarily consumed much of his time, energy and political capital. His economic policies, while not broadly popular, have turned the economy in the right direction.

He has also faced a Republican Party more determined to see him fail than to see the country succeed. The archaic rules of the Senate give a minority the power to hold up any legislation. Individual senators can and do block his appointments to important posts. In spite of this, in less than two years he has had more legislative success than any president since Lyndon B. Johnson.

I hope all citizens will look in the mirror and consider whether their expectations of Obama are realistic; he is not a magician -- he can't simply wave a wand and enact his agenda. The democratic process is neither neat nor fast -- and participating as a citizen is a lifelong commitment, not a one-time election. I hope that voters, young and old, will stay informed and engaged.

ERIC W. FORSBERG, GOLDEN VALLEY

• • •

Such a poignant juxtaposition and irony on the front page section of your Oct. 19 edition: Above the fold, an adroit University of Minnesota student battling for "Obama's Army" to keep Obama Democrats in power. Below the fold, your report on France gripped by crisis and strikes over threats to European-style socialism.

S. R. STROMBERG, EAGAN

• • •

With one stroke of the pen, President Obama cut more government spending than any Republican president since Reagan.

How? Health care reform.

Six of the top 10 line items in the federal budget are reduced by that act. Can Republicans make that kind of change? The GOP resisted that kind of change with every vote it could get.

JAMES MATHEWSON, FARIBAULT, MINN.

• • •

All across America, Republicans are insisting that raising any taxes at all kills jobs. In words, this sounds like perfect logic. But the fact is, huge multinational corporations fund most political campaigns for Congress, they are deeply involved in legislative lobbying, and in truth, they get very involved in writing legislation itself.

There are no guarantees that sparing a huge global corporation from tax increases will create jobs. Our experiences tell us that sometimes all this tax cutting does is open up profits, fund expansion overseas and buying up competitors in their own industries. Many big corporations exist to serve their bottom lines, not humanity. This is part of the nature of the beast when it comes to capitalism and free trade.

Many big corporations want our government to fail. Why? Because they operate on a constant. Buy low and sell high. If government fails, big corporations will swoop in and privatize the remains, for pennies on the dollar.

Where there is a lack of trust, content does not matter because even if people do the right thing, their actions still can't be trusted. It doesn't matter how just or noble anything is done or accomplished if mistrust still rules the day.

Our president has had the opportunity to make cleaning up this mess in Congress his legacy. As a former member of the Senate, he personally knows what's involved. But still, he isn't even talking about it, much less making this the biggest issue of the day.

If we don't as a country discuss what is wrong, surely we can never fix it. Then the problem goes on and those in power will be blamed.

This president deserves exactly what he is getting. A backlash for not even trying to fix our country where it truly needs fixing. Congress must be overhauled and cleaned up and our president knows it.

Why is he so silent on this key issue?

• • •

Young people, especially those who have entered the ranks of voters recently, are learning a vital lesson from the Republicans: the ignoble art of hypocrisy.

Apart from blatant denial and the refusal (inability?) to accept even a modicum of responsibility for the nation's ongoing economic debacle, the "party of no" keeps stonewalling every initiative of the current administration to ease the burden of average folk and pave the way for a better -- at least a more tolerable -- tomorrow.

From financial and health reform to a helping hand for small business, the GOP displays its hypocrisy by obstructing progress solely based on its dislike of President Obama and the Democrats, while claiming their actions are driven by the national interest.

It is doubtful whether independent-minded voters will be taken in by all this.

Come Nov. 2, we'll know for sure...