How could you write this article, a cover story no less, with no mention of the Allston squrat? Obviously, you have not done your homework. I don’t even live in Allston and I know about this horrible animal. I have seen them. They can climb trees.
Stop stating the obvious and go get the real story.
Elizabeth Rose
Somerville
Obama ascendant
Let me lay out in detail just how lacking “Has Obama Peaked? Yes, He Has” is in rudimentary journalistic credibility.
At the most basic level, your article and your voice epitomize the soulless cynicism and rampant laziness that have given journalism such a bad name. You got one thing right: the magic of Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign can never be regained. But you misdiagnose the reason for this (the gulf between the grandiose promises of a campaign and the nitty-gritty details and compromises of governing), and the rest of what you say is nothing but speculation, distortion, or armchair psychiatry.
One of the many hollow generalizations you make is that Obama has “lost” Main Street, and will never get it back. But you give no data to back this up. In fact, Obama’s approvals have been in the low 50s — 20 points higher than George W. Bush, and about what he got in the election, which is not at all bad, considering the state of the economy. Ronald Reagan struggled for the same reason early in his presidency.
Which brings me to the next of the many flaws in your flaccid “argument”: are you really foolish enough to project that a politician of Obama’s caliber won’t bring his poll numbers back up? How many presidencies are really “over” after nine months?
Obama is a sea change from Bush on family planning, missile defense, defending the right to choose and all women’s issues, respect for science and reason, college-aid funding, consumer protection, net neutrality, gay rights, voting rights, medical marijuana, immigration enforcement, Cuba policy, and warm relations with the rest of the world, among many other areas.
Dan Benbow
San Francisco
Mad about Martha
In the article “Coakley Takes a Stand," the greater lesson was missed. Martha Coakley would have let the health-care-reform bill die. Mike Capuano’s decision allowed the bill to stay alive. He knows that there is enough opposition that the Stupak Amendment will not make it past a conference committee. This is the vision and understanding of Washington that Massachusetts needs in the Senate.
Joel Wanger
Boston
