Don’t insult Robin Hood by comparing him to Obama Re: “Playing Robin Hood isn’t leadership, Mr. President,” Editorial, Sept. 20
It was with great disappointment that I read The Examiner’s comparison of Barack Obama’s quest to tax the wealthy to the tales of Robin Hood who, according to half-truth, “stole from the rich and gave to the poor.”
To help Examiner readers understand the context, I turn to Belmont University political science professor Nathan Griffith, who writes: “Like the best lies, it begins with a grain of truth. The people from whom Robin took money were wealthy. And the people to whom he gave it were not.
“What is missing from the picture, however, is how the wealthy got the money. They were not capitalists, who increased productivity so that there was more for everyone. They were aristocrats in the time of aristocracy — they were the government. And the money Robin reclaimed had been extracted in the form of taxes. That’s right: Robin stole from the government and gave to the taxpayer.”
Robin Hood’s cause was noble. Sadly, this president’s quest is not.
Matthew Hurtt
Arlington
GOP’s trickle-down policies never work
Re: “Playing Robin Hood isn’t leadership, Mr. President,” Editorial, Sept. 20
When the GOP’s chief constituency of millionaires and billionaires are asked to pay their fair share of taxes, conservative “survival of the fittest” Republicans love to play the class warfare card. Based on their words and actions, Republicans believe we owe the very rich for everything America is today.
During the past 30 years, the rich got richer while the middle class shrank significantly and the number of poor people greatly increased. We now know that trickle-down economics doesn’t work for most Americans, and tax cuts for the rich don’t create jobs. Yet that’s what Republicans propose for fixing an economy broken by individual selfishness and corporate/Wall Street greed.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s old Kentucky saying: “There’s no education in the second kick of a mule,” certainly applies to the GOP’s call for repeating its own failed economic policies.
Paul L. Whiteley Sr.
Louisville, Ky.
Where’s Mayor Gray? Out doing his job
Re: “Where’s Vincent Gray?” Sept. 11
Jonetta Rose Barras is at it again. I am sure she sees the mayor’s schedule and press releases and knows that he is going to twice as many events and citizen meetings as our two previous mayors combined. He announced new programs for job training, ran the first successful summer jobs program for youth in years, submitted the first balanced budget without gimmicks in years, and handled Hurricane Irene and the security threat for 9/11 superbly.
No one will deny the Gray administration made some self-inflicted mistakes, but no one should sell them short. There comes a time when quoting those who didn’t support or campaigned against Gray gets old. The mayor is accomplishing much for the people of the District and will accomplish much more over the next few years.
Peter D. Rosenstein
Washington
