To the Readers' Forum:
Although greatly saddened and somewhat disappointed, have rather reluctantly accepted that the next president shall be Barack Obama as was decreed by the majority of voters and the Electoral College on November 4, 2008. We are to be led by two trained lawyers who have never held any job in their whole lives which was not involved with politics; neither has ever met a payroll nor done anything of note other that talk for long periods of time about what they want you or others to do. It should be quite interesting to say the least.
On Jan. 20, 2009 these two gentlemen will take the oath of office as defined in Article II of the United States Constitution. The oath: ''I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President (Vice) of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.'' - it is an oath which must be taken seriously by our Commander in Chief and his Vice President. It is questionable based on both senator's prior statements whether they will actually preserve, protect and defend this governing document as it is written; our recently elected 44th president has been very clear in his prior positions in the Illinois legislature and in the U.S. Senate that he does not hold this document in high esteem. So will his oath be a mere formality which he will then ignore or will he take the responsibilities seriously.
Of course, we already have a great example from the 2000 election when a certain junior senator promised to deliver 200,000 jobs to Western New York; we're still waiting for that one! Are we to similarly disappointed with the presidential choice of 2008? He will soon find that ''not present'' and ''above my pay grade'' do not hack it anymore; he is present 24/7 and the buck stops at the Oval Office. There will be no one to blame - just ask George. Even his in-the-bag media friends cannot cover a failure at this level for very long. We can only wait and pray that he realizes the gravity of upholding the Constitution as written and approved by the voters.
Mike Aaron
Lakewood