Letter to Chicago Sun-Times on Roger Simon Obama oped

Chicago Sun-Times Tuesday, Sept 16, 2008 5:58 AM

Roger Simon 'change' column

Gentlepeople:

Roger Simon, in the 3rd paragraph of his Monday September 15, 2008 column "They all speak of 'change'..." says "More than 80 percent of Americans tell pollsters the country is on the wrong track...."

Rather than the catchall "pollsters", Simon could add to his credibility by quoting a single, well known, respected pollster, so that figure could be independently verified by readers. They see "pollsters" quoted everyday, most working for the mainstream media, so obviously, most hate the President, for the irredeemable sin of being George W. Bush and president simultaneously. What would you expect them to report?

Simon continues: "Change is the byword... of both the Democratic and Republican campaigns for president.... Barack Obama made it the cornerstone of his campaign in the primaries...."

Wow! Did he ever. And no one says 'change' better and more meaningfully, than Obama... when he's reading it off a teleprompter. Any other time it's all but completely lost in a sea of "ums", "unhs", "ya' knows", and the general confusion of his extemporaneous speech.

More Simon: "Sarah Palin used 'change'... but she did a neat little riff on it... to bash Obama.... 'In politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers,' she said, 'and then there are those... who use their careers to promote change.'"

Yes, Sarah Palin, 21 month governor of that little state way out there, the one Obama all of a sudden thinks he's running against. Has anyone heard her stutter, or say "um" or "unh"? Teleprompter? She was reading from one when she responded to McCain's naming her his VP pick, but it got unhinged - did anyone notice a change in her delivery? Had the same thing happened to Obama, he would have melted to a puddle of water on the spot.

Simon: "Obama is now a little miffed at how the Republicans are using what he considers his theme: 'They had been running on experience.... We've been talking about ... change ... for 19 months.... now John McCain is saying, 'I'm for change, too.'"

Maybe McCain was embarrassed comparing his 22 years in Congress and 5 years in a brutal enemy prison camp to four crucial pre-teen years slogging through the mud of Indonesia and 8 years in the Illinois state senate, a job offering no more experience than that of a Chicago Bears 3rd string jock strap attendant, with none of the responsibility?

But Roger Simon knows a good thing when he sees it, closing the column with: "But maybe it will be different this time. For a change."

Arnold H. Nelson 5056 North Marine Drive Chicago 773-677-3010