Hobson’s Choice for Democrats

I WISH to take issue with your columnist Ryle Dwyer (April 26) for allowing his prejudices to overcome his objectivity regarding the current race to the White House.

He falsely concludes that John Kerry lost the presidential race in 2004 against George Bush due to the success of the Republicans’ “vicious smear tactics”.

Kerry lost because, to paraphrase Karl Rove, every time he opened his mouth, he proved to be a “gift that kept on giving” to the Republicans.

The simple fact of the matter is that he failed to connect with the voters who saw nothing in him but an empty suit.

He failed to defeat the supposedly less intelligent George Bush in the presidential debates. (Incidentally, Bush’s college grade point average was higher than Kerry’s. They both attended the same college).

Of the present candidates, it doesn’t seem to occur to Ryle Dwyer that neither of the Democrats is suited to the presidency.

Hillary Clinton changes persona as a normal person changes a suit depending on who she is addressing. She will cry if it will win her the sympathy vote and threaten to annihilate Iran if she has to show how tough she is. Scary.

Naturally, this is between dodging sniper fire when landing in strange countries like Bosnia, while bringing peace to strange countries like Ireland. All she lacks in her own mind is the cape of Superwoman.

Barack Obama is even phonier, if that is possible. While campaigning on “hope” and “unity”, he freely chose to be part of a congregation of an unapologetically racist pastor, Rev Jeremiah Wright, for 20 years.

When some of the outlandish views of this pastor were made public, Obama claimed to be completely unaware of them. Which, if true, would make him an idiot. He freely choose to associate himself with an unrepentant terrorist, William Ayers. If he were white, either of these associations would have made him completely unelectable.

James McGrath

Birchgrove

Hollyford

Co Tipperary