Obama and that intersection

By Published by The Editorial Board

Published: August 7, 2008

‘Sidetrack issues’ don’t sway her

To the editor:

Ever since Barack Obama started his quest to be the next president, a lot of opinions have surfaced. His name has been changed by his critics, along with his nationality, his religion, his dress and even the color of his skin.

So I ask of those who are not interested in personal adjectives and character attacks, does it all matter?

Letters to the editor have characterized Obama as being inexperienced, unqualified, having no achievement and poor judgment and knowing nothing about living. He was even called stupid.

I will be the first to say this — if George W. Bush can be president, so can Obama.

It really does not matter about the negatives, because if Obama crossed every “T” and dotted every “I,” to some people that would never be good enough.

We need to focus on what this county needs to restore us back to some kind of stability. I believe in Obama, Senate candidate Mark Warner and congressional candidate Tom Perriello. We can’t have one without the others. We need a good ticket that has the interests of everyone at heart, even those who told U.S. Rep. Virgil Goode to vote against the housing bailout bill.

We cannot afford to keep sending people to Washington to represent some of the people and not all. Goode has done a good job for some of the people. How about the rest?

I believe Barack Obama, Mark Warner and Tom Perriello can make a difference.

I watched recently as Perriello and Warner talked to every person that would stop and share a conversation. Goode was in Washington with President Bush making bad decisions that everyone suffers from. We need to put “sidetrack issues” aside and focus on what is really needed for everyone to survive. My vote is for the team that will make good common sense decisions.

DELILAH MANGUM

To the editor:

I’d like to know where Danville’s traffic planners and engineers got their degrees. The construction at one of the city’s busiest intersections — Piney Forest Road and Franklin Turnpike — is an absolute joke.

Lanes have been torn up, blocked off and left sitting for weeks. The intersection is so confusing, it’s a miracle there’s been no serious accidents. If the intersection had been properly studied with the amount of traffic and at different times of day, one would know the left turn lane from Piney Forest onto Franklin Turnpike cannot handle a traffic island. The traffic is just too heavy. Not to mention the businesses being affected. Poor McDonald’s is bound to lose business as there’s limited access into their parking lot.

I have to go through this intersection on a daily basis, often many times throughout the day. What a headache!

ROBIN FRANCIS

To the editor:

Here’s Barack Obama, by the numbers:

1) Surrender in Iraq;

2) No drilling for oil in America;

3) No nuclear power;

4) No coal mining; and

5) His solution to the energy problem is to put more air in our tires.

This from a man who wants to be president of the United States of America — the leader of the free world!

Obama is a charlatan, a pied piper, a wolf in sheep’s clothing. I guess his solution during 9/11 would have been to run faster and duck more.

Wake up, America!

J.C. POWELL

To the editor:

For the first time in my life, I am enthusiastic about a presidential candidate. I’ve always voted, but sometimes it was a matter of choosing the lesser of two evils.

Let me tell you why I’m supporting Barack Obama.

I was mesmerized by his speech at the Democratic national convention in 2004 and liked him immediately. When he became a candidate, I bought his book, “The Audacity of Hope,” and read it in an effort to know him better. After reading his thoughts on values, faith, politics, family, the Constitution and other topics, I was convinced he would make a great president.

Barack Obama believes strongly in family values. He is a devoted husband and loving father. There has never been a hint of scandal about him. If there were, you’d better believe Sean Hannity would have let you know about it, since he seems to be a one-man crusade to try to defeat him.

Obama is extremely intelligent. I don’t worry about his experience or so-called lack of it, because I know he is capable of handling any situation, and I trust him to do what’s best for our country.

He is charismatic. When he speaks for the United States, I believe the whole world will listen and admire him, as evidenced by his recent trip in which 200,000 Germans turned out to cheer him — many waving American flags.

If anybody can unite our country, it will be him. I’m so sick and tired of the division of “liberal” and “conservative.” As Obama says, we are all just Americans, and we need to work together for good instead of constantly bickering about our differences.

Please forget about Democrat or Republican and cast your vote for the best man, Barack Obama.

EARLINE F. GOSNEY

To the editor:

It is impossible to observe the scene in our nation’s capital without coming to the conclusion that the Democrats are happy with high gas prices, and they wish for those high prices to become permanent.

President George W. Bush lifted the executive moratorium on offshore oil drilling a few weeks ago, and asked Congress to lift theirs. Approximately three-fourths of the country agrees, but not the leadership of the Democratic Party in Congress. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi refused to let the matter come to an up-or-down vote, instead adjourning the House and even ordering the lights turned off. Several Republicans were left in the dark, and they continue to ask Pelosi to let the proposal come to the floor for a vote.

The economy of this country runs on oil and it will run on oil for the rest of my life — and probably the rest of yours if you are old enough to read. It’s nice to think of cleaner sources of energy, but except for nuclear energy, it is just a dream at present. And Democrats, fearing the environmental lobbies, refuse nuclear power as an option. Someday, we will do away with oil, but for the foreseeable future, we need fossil fuels. And we need lots of fossil fuels at affordable prices if the economy is to thrive. The high price of oil has already caused the price of everything to increase, and the stupid decision to force ethanol upon us is only making matters worse by driving up food prices worldwide.

Barack Obama, in “The Audacity of Hope,” bragged about adding ethanol subsidies to a 2006 tax bill. As Paul Krugman said, “Bad for the economy, bad for consumers, bad for the planet —What’s not to love?” The production of ethanol strains the water supply, drives up the cost of gasoline and exacerbates smog. But what are those minor inconveniences compared to the Iowa caucus votes?

I’m still waiting for a sign that Barack Obama has even the slightest understanding of anything other than making a pretty speech. I wait in vain. Sure, he can draw a crowd of a quarter-million Berliners, but so could Adolph Hitler. That worked out well, didn’t it?

ROBERT HUDSON

Pelham, N.C.