Obama’s war policies mirror Bush’s Re: “U.N. ‘authorization’ is emperor’s new fig leaf,” March 29
President Obama is doing everything in his power to make everyone forget George W. Bush. How? By being George W. Bush.
President Bush once said, “We cannot wait for the final proof, the smoking gun that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud.” Obama similarly told the nation on Monday that “I refused to wait for the images of slaughter and mass graves before taking action.”
Obama may have replaced Bush, but he didn’t replace any of his policies. In fact, he hasn’t even replaced his rhetoric. He still “can’t wait” to jump into any conflict he can justify.
Admit it: Obama plays Bush, only he’s better at it because he makes people think he’s not more of the same.
David Bier
Alexandria
War in Libya exposes American inconsistencies
Re: “On President Obama and the triumph of evil,” March 26
Bill O’Reilly talks too much and thinks too little. Libya is not the only place where justice and democracy are needed.
Why didn’t the U.S. practice the same “humanitarian” intervention in Yemen and Bahrain? And why did the U.S. not intervene to prevent genocide in Cambodia, Sudan, Rwanda, China, Cuba, North Korea, and so many other countries?
Free access to the Internet and modern technology is being used to internationally organize all these protests in perfect synchrony, which is not possible in communist enclaves where access to the Internet is banned.
American exceptionalism has already disappeared, Mr. O’Reilly, when you have a president who declares war without asking permission from Congress.
Clara Fuentes
Hyattsville
Leggett is keeping his promise to taxpayers
Re:”Leggett reneges on pledge not to raise taxes,” March 22
Once again, The Examiner is fact-challenged in its coverage of the hard choices continuing to be made by County Executive Ike Leggett to make Montgomery County’s budget more sustainable.
Leggett’s budget does not raise property taxes beyond the charter limit, which is the previous year’s amount plus inflation. That was his promise to county taxpayers — and he’s keeping it.
In fact, the $11 million increase in revenue is a O.8 percent increase — the amount allowed by the charter. Adjusting for inflation, county taxes as a share of personal income are the lowest since 2004. Homeowners, in other words, contribute a relatively small portion of the $300 million budget shortfall.
Over the past five years, the county executive closed a $2.5 billion budget shortfall while eliminating more than 1,250 county government jobs — 10 percent of the entire work force. This year, he is eliminating another 200 positions, reducing pensions and benefits, and cutting services even further. Also unmentioned is the fact that Leggett reduced his own office budget by at least 20 percent over the past two years.
Patrick Lacefield
Public information director,
Montgomery County
Rockville
