Calling the race

Re “Voices of experience,” editorial, Jan. 9

Your editorial was amusing. Not only did you figure out a way to make the “experience” issue another President Bush-bashing moment, you imply that Hillary Clinton’s derivative experience is somehow actual experience. Was Nancy Reagan “experienced” enough to be president? How about Laura Bush? Is my work experience something my husband should tout as his, or vice versa?

What is Clinton’s experience? Will someone ever detail the cases she worked on as an attorney, what organizations she provided services for, what she did without a security clearance in the White House? I realize that my inquiry is comparable to noting that the emperor has no clothes on, but this constant refrain about Clinton’s purported experience makes this old feminist’s blood boil. I thought we were supposed to be assessed on our own strengths and weaknesses, not those of our spouses.

Becky Mocciaro

Los Angeles

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I suppose it’s a real testament to the women’s movement that Clinton has come to be considered the establishment candidate. The fact that a woman has made it this far in presidential politics seems to have become accepted tedium rather than groundbreaking. Looks like some pretty good leadership to me. You’ve come a long way, baby.

Melanie Rothschild

Topanga

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While the editors aptly finger Bush for discrediting “the very idea of Washington knowledge,” acting on this insight is more crucial than voters might first think. Barack Obama’s “change” trumps Hillary Clinton’s “experience” because he possesses the persona that will release us from the past and help bridge sectarian and racial divides with other nations.

William Solberg

Los Angeles

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The sad political fact is that Americans have voted for slogans without substance, like “change,” and we ended up with a miscreant in the White House.

This time around, a bunch of farmers and evangelicals are not going to decide the fate of a nation. Clinton knows that the greatest threat to democracy is the Republican Party, and she has the experience to deal with this beast. As for Obama, you have a great future, but you’re not ready yet.

Carlos Khantzis

Woodland Hills

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Re “Fresh starts on a long road,” Jan. 9

Clinton has unfortunately learned that she can use the well-known “power of a woman’s tears” to win a primary election. With her eyes moist and her voice breaking, she managed to entice an emotional and gullible electorate, mostly fellow women, to hand her the keys to New Hampshire.

But in playing her “cry card” this early, she has given considerable fuel to her male counterparts who will now rightly ask if, as president, she thinks she will be able to cry her way out of difficult situations with bullying dictators and Islamic terrorists, who don’t have much regard for women anyway.

Barrie Britton

Riverside