Talking Back to Maureen

Maureen Dowd wrote a piece, "Carmela Got Gold Jewelry, Hillary Wants a White House" (June 20, 2007) in which she chastised Democrats, and Hillary in particular, for being power hungry--Maureen's take on her personality. It was a kind of piece that sets in people's minds a negative image of the candidate that too many voters may recall, especially when picked up by the cable talking heads, and cause them to vote against this candidate or that. I could not resist writing to Maureen about this, to wit:

I have to say, Maureen, you’re funny. You’re way plugged into pop culture and making connections with current events in a clever manner. I’m a Democrat. I think there are many interesting choices out there among the Democrats. Right now, I favor John Edwards, but I’m OK with Hillary and Barack as well. In fact, I’m OK with almost any Democrat who wants to get us out the messes that W and his crew have foisted on us over the past 6 1/2 years.

But heaven help any of them you decide to take on. Foibles in your hands are fatal flaws. Al Gore’s sighs, John Edwards’ haircut—all the stuff that’s not really very meaningful becomes grist for your mill. God knows you would have a field day with me if you ever had reason to write about me, which God knows you won’t. I guess what I’m saying is while it’s OK to make fun of public folks and their personality quirks, it’s even better to point out, as you have on occasion, the messes their ideological craziness has gotten or might get us into.

When I listen to the current group of Republican candidates (can you say panderers) and their embrace of creationism and shooting first and talking later, I can only hope that the perceived personality issues of Hillary or any Democrat will not be the basis for deciding on who becomes the next president. That seems to be what happened in 2000, and we will be paying the price for that mistake long after my 2 year old granddaughter is grown up.

—John Woods, June 21, 2007