Dear Editor,

I recently finished reading the article, “Hey Obama, Let’s
Hear More Prose, Less Poetry!” by Jake Blanc. After having done so, I feel
compelled to respond as there are many errors in regards to Blanc’s
interpretation of Sen. Barack Obama’s position.

First, Blanc criticized Obama’s position on the War on
Terror as being “more aggressive than that of President Bush.” Specifically, he
cited the senator’s position of deploying 65,000 Army troops and 25,000
Marines. He also cited the senator’s position on attacking Iran
and Pakistan,
writing, “How is threatening Iran
and Pakistan
with nuclear carnage a change from the past eight years of Bush’s foreign
policy?"

All of these points are a clear misreading of the senator’s
position. Obama has called for enlarging the size of the military by 65,000
Army troops and 25,000 Marines, not for their deployment. This enlargement is
critical for a military which, many analysts have said, has been stretched too
thin by both the War on Terror and the Iraq War. Also, the senator has not
called for directly attacking Pakistan,
but rather al-Qaida operatives who are believed to be operating within the
borders of Pakistan
only if the Pakistani government continues to refuse to be more aggressive
against these terrorist cells. The senator has also said that he would attack Iran
only if diplomacy fails to deter the country from pursuing a nuclear weapons
program. And when have any Democratic candidates, let alone Obama, called for a
nuclear strike against Iran
and Pakistan,
as Blanc insinuates in his article?

Also, Blanc’s criticism of Obama’s campaign phrase “Yes We
Can!” is simply unfounded. Just because it is an English translation of a
popular Latino-American group’s does not mean it is plagiarized.

Finally, his criticism of the senator’s letter to the
Palestinian ambassador is not a callous disregard for the plight of the
Palestinians, but rather a call to the Palestinians to turn away from terrorist
tactics in order to achieve political ends. As long as Palestinian terrorists
continue to use extremist tactics, Israel
will always respond with excessive force to ensure its survival. And as long as
Israel remains
the one true democratic government in the Middle East,
the United States
must support the Israeli people’s desire to live free of the fear of terrorism.

Please, before writing an article that criticizes a public
official’s positions, be sure to get all of your facts straight and to consider
what other things he or she might actually be saying.

— Christopher Moffatt

junior, Revelle College