To the Editor:
Re “Rousing G.O.P., Ryan Faults ‘Missing’ Leadership” (front page, Aug. 30):
I’m the eternal optimist and am repeatedly taken aback that people campaigning for office think they have to be nasty and say ugly things about the other candidate to win an election.
Representative Paul D. Ryan accepted the vice-presidential nomination with a rousing speech. He delivered it well, but it was a speech that did not offer solutions. Mr. Ryan pointed the finger at President Obama but didn’t offer one concrete plan for how he and Mitt Romney would change things.
It’s politics as usual this week at the Republican Convention. Politician after politician has taken the podium in Tampa to glory in his or her own personal stories and then to blast the president with outright lies about his four years in office.
What are the Republicans really going to do if elected? Who knows? They don’t seem to know either.
JENNIFER DORN
New York, Aug. 30, 2012
To the Editor:
Re “The Vacuum Behind the Slogans” (editorial, Aug. 30):
In Representative Paul D. Ryan’s brilliant speech, he not only laid out every failure of the Obama administration clearly and boldly, but he also did not duck any issue in elaborating what has to be done to begin solving the enormous problems that face Americans. How you could proclaim that Mr. Ryan “ducked the tough issues” is beyond reason.
Let me cite a few examples. Perhaps most important was that he brought up the first glaring fiasco of the Obama administration—the president’s failure to concentrate on job creation as soon as he took office. Instead, he coerced the nation to deal with an expansive health care plan that no one wanted. The rules, regulations, demands, penalties, increased taxes and bureaucracies imposed were not only mind-boggling, but also contrary to the spirit of free choice.
Next, Mr. Ryan discussed the $800 billion stimulus plan by President Obama to supposedly help create jobs but which created few jobs, as attested by the continuing high unemployment rate. So where did the money go? A good deal of it went to finance many of his cronies’ companies that had no chance of success and went bankrupt soon after, like Solyndra and other boondoggles.
Of course there is much, much more, but it would take an encyclopedia to enumerate them all.
WILLIAM FIRSHEIN
Middletown, Conn., Aug. 30, 2012
To the Editor:
Re “Romney Seen Pulled 2 Ways Over Economy” (front page, Aug. 28):
Many voters are anticipating the 2012 election with deep ambivalence. A significant number who supported Barack Obama in 2008 are disillusioned with his performance as president. Voting for him in 2012 is not an attractive option for them.
Similarly, many voters who might otherwise have voted Republican are not comfortable voting for the Romney-Ryan ticket; the party has veered too far to the right for them.
A way out of the dilemma for these voters is to split the ticket, choosing one party for the presidential vote and the other for Congressional seats.
As your article indicated, Mitt Romney’s business and political experience pull him two ways on the economy. Resolving these opposing pulls as governor of Massachusetts with a Democratic legislature led to interesting outcomes, including statewide health insurance and the closing of budget deficits through spending cuts and increased revenues.
Mr. Romney did well as a collaborative, problem-solving Republican governor with a Democratic legislature. He might very well achieve the same level of performance as president with a Democratic Congress.
ARNOLD TANNENBAUM
Ann Arbor, Mich., Aug. 29, 2012