So President Obama has called for unity. The question is - what kind of unity? In the past, he has defined unity as agreeing with him and his policies. Frankly, I feel a little like Colin Powell, who has criticized the Republican Party for going down the wrong track; he’s right and I feel the same way about a party that I’ve been a member of for more than 50 years. The Democratic Party has slipped its moorings and this president is leading it and the country with it straight toward the reefs. It is, I think, fair to say that the president has squandered the historic moment of his election in 2008. He has shown himself to have character traits not often publicly displayed by presidents and dismissive of the values we have shared as a country. Those of us who initially voted for him on the basis of what he said during 2008 and have since been disappointed also know that those of us who study history objectively understand that it is the harshest of all mistresses. Today’s heroes often become tomorrow’s goats and vice versa. No one should want that, and all of us should hope that the political landscape doesn’t become cluttered with the country’s values as well as its politicians.
Thomas Ragozzino
West Haven