Obama Obsession

Senate Majority Leader McConnell has a chronic and progressive disease — displaying many of the unmistakable symptoms of advanced stage Obama Derangement. This is described as the acute onset of paranoia in otherwise normal people in regard to any policies or statements (including Supreme Court nominees) from President Obama, no matter their value.

Stage three through four of the affliction display continued opposition to Obama, which has in fact advanced to become a force of habit. People so stricken say things like, “anyone but Obama,” or, “any position so long as it’s not Obama’s.” It is usually the result of watching and believing too much Fox News.

It’s clear that McConnell has already moved into the dreaded stage six of the condition, often reserved for bigots and birthers. At this stage, nearly incurable, the assaults on Obama’s character begin to imply that he is evil at his core — sufferers are offended by Obama’s very existence, they are in big-time denial, finding it impossible to believe that a black man could be elected president, much less twice and by decisive victories.

McConnell’s continuing pronouncements denying Obama’s high court nominee — it would not matter what the name was or his or her qualities — the basic courtesy of a first meeting, much less a congressional hearing and an up-and-down vote, are alarming in their ignorance. His flimsy excuses for the denial are about as effective as a screen door on a submarine. They mark the smug and arrogant McConnell, and many like him, as lawmakers so fearful of Obama that they have stopped thinking logically or pragmatically, and the nation’s business suffers.

 Advanced Obama Derangement: Obama is a sinister force in a conspiracy to weaken and destroy not only America, but the world, the sufferers think.

The saddest part of all this out-of-touch sickness is that the unprecedented obstructionism has created a monster currently threatening the very party itself — Republican leaders  wonder why at this very moment the Trumpenstein monster is tearing them asunder from within, ripping apart the archaic old GOP castle stone by crumbling stone.

Progress is inevitable despite our best efforts to halt it, but it is a shame so much destruction is necessary along the way to achieve it.

Robert Roudebush

North Haverhill

Attention Vietnam Veterans

All Vietnam veterans and their families are invited to attend a Vietnam Veterans Welcome Home Ceremony on Saturday, April 2 at 11 a.m. at the Hanover High School Gym on Lebanon Street in Hanover.

This is the 4th Welcome Home Ceremony and is being sponsored by the New Hampshire National Guard. The governor and members of our congressional delegation will be in attendance. In addition, all Vietnam veterans who served between Nov. 1, 1955 and May 15, 1975 are invited to attend a 50th Vietnam War Anniversary Commemoration Ceremony at the VA Medical Center in White River Junction on Tuesday, March 29 at 1 p.m. for a formal presentation and recognition ceremony. I hope Vietnam veterans will be able to attend one or both of these functions.

John O’Brien

Orford

A Biased Presentation

On March 14, the Montshire Museum of Science hosted an installment of its long-running travel series “Magic Carpet.” Ann Chandler spoke about “Palestine,” including Jerusalem, Nazareth and Galilee in her definition of Palestine.

Individuals concerned about bias approached the Montshire leadership and board with concerns and were told Ms. Chandler was to give a non-political travelogue. Ms. Chandler showed us postcards with bloody barbed wire implying Israeli violence against Arabs and a picture she had pulled off the web of a woman in a niqab being grabbed by two other women. Her description of this picture? “Jews kick and attack Muslim women in Palestine.” She noted how she repetitively cried tears for the plight of the Palestinians and their victimization by “fanatic religious people who live in settlements.” She gave an inaccurate and one-sided account of the situation in Israel, mentioning terrorism only to note she couldn’t imagine Palestinians causing it, and to discuss Jewish violence against Muslims. 

I was shocked by how accepting participants were of her fiction. Individuals murmured, “I didn’t know about that,” “How horrible,” in response to tales of Jewish misdeeds. Misinformation about the Israeli-Arab situation in the Middle East is endemic.

It is Ms. Chandler’s right to speak. But any public institution that offers her a forum should take responsibility for ensuring she is teaching the truth. In this instance, the Montshire’s reputation for scientific impartiality provided a sheen of respectability to Ms. Chandler’s screed and gave the false impression that if only Jews would stop in their “fanaticism” there would be peace. Those familiar with the facts on the ground know that nothing is further from the truth. 

Hillary Ryder

West Lebanon

The Trump Message

Granted, Donald Trump has a flamboyant, in-your-face attitude that has produced a vitriolic response from the political left (including this newspaper). But his success in the primaries reflects a deep discontent among many Americans with our inflated and inept federal government and our self-serving political elites. And no candidate more closely represents those problems than Hillary Clinton.

Jeff Lehmann

Lyme Center

A Gardener’s Life

The “A Life” piece March 21 about Daphne Gratiot was very nice, but left out an important part of Daphne’s life: gardening. She grew all kinds of flowers, vegetables, decorative trees and shrubs and exquisite houseplants.

Years ago I wrote a column about Daphne Gratiot and her love for bonsai, the ancient Japanese art of training miniature trees into living sculpture. In the summer she had hers outside on pedestals under a shady trellis; in the winter she kept them in an insulated box at 40 degrees. On hot summer days she watered them twice a day, even three times, as the bonsai have tiny root systems and little soil in their specialized pots. She started most of hers from cuttings and trained them for decades.

Daphne Gratiot was a lot more than just a political and civic-minded person, and a great mom. She was also an artist, a cabinet maker and a superb gardener.

Henry Homeyer

Cornish Flat

Explaining Ayotte’s Stance

I just loved your recent editorial headlined “Obstruction of Justice!” You seem to find it hard to understand Sen. Kelly Ayotte’s position on the Supreme Court. Let’s see if I can be of some help to you. With less than a year to go in G.W. Bush’s last term, Ruth Bader Ginsburg has just passed away and now the president wants to appoint a conservative. Get it now?

Jim Newcomb

North Haverhill