Follow These Two

As Barack Obama Plunges In
Michelle and Barack Obama smile broadly on the Feb. 2 cover "The Morning After," but next to their picture you state: "Why Obama's job will be even harder than he thought." Franklin Delano Roosevelt's smile never failed him through the Great Depression and World War II. That was the secret of his leadership: unfailing optimism and belief in pragmatic solutions. Let's not underestimate Obama's ability to follow FDR's example, smiling through the worst of times while finding practical answers to our problems.
Fred Fenton
Concord, California

Jacob Weisberg's Feb. 2 essay headline reads "Obama's Big-Picture Problem." With a $14 trillion economy, the United States can afford to protect its citizens' health but doesn't. Japan's relatively puny $4.4 trillion economy offers national health insurance even to foreigners. I'm staying here while my fellow Americans get their priorities straight. Fortunately, President Obama sees the big picture and understands that our health is essential for a vibrant, dynamic economy and nation.
Michael G. Driver
Chiba, Japan

What an inspiration: the inauguration of a black president as the head of the most powerful country in the world. Now that the pomp is over, President Barack Obama faces the challenge of living up to America's moral promise while fulfilling the practical needs of world order. Given the country's staggering federal debt, coupled with a severe economic situation, Abraham Lincoln's model sounds perfect for Obama. As Lincoln did during his first term, Obama can cut federal salaries across the board, including his own. Among the most sobering challenges is tackling poverty and homelessness and making health care available to all Americans. If Obama is faithful to the principles of the Founding Fathers, America will regain its credibility. To restore the United States to greatness is what we yearn for. Wasn't it Obama who said that all Americans have roles in rebuilding the nation?
Dan Chellumben
Amboise, France

I wholeheartedly agree with Fareed Zakaria when he reminds us that President Obama needs to urgently tackle America's biggest challenge: to re-create the country's economic model ("There's More to Fear Than Fear," Feb. 2). Executive orders ending torture, closing Guantánamo and restoring stem-cell research, while representing important campaign promises, make for welcome headlines but are cosmetic gestures when compared with reclaiming America's pride as the economic world leader. It would be nice if Obama's rescue plan respected free-trade principles but, if necessary, the United States should have the courage to become protectionist for as long as it takes to rescue the national economy. The pathetically ineffectual schmoozefest of the Davos World Economic Forum tried to discuss "postcrisis management" as if the global economy had already turned the corner—and yet nobody seems to know which corner to look for, let alone how to deal with it. Obama's proverbial first 100 days ought to focus solely on the economy. When America's ills are cured and the patient can be released, the rest of the world will come off the critical list as well. Only then can Obama start to be multilateralist, popular, visionary and truly free again. Until then, it's even too late for fear.
Karl H. Pagac
Villeneuve-Loubet, France

It was remarkable to read about the common bond of international experience and understanding that President Obama and some of his closest advisers share ("A Team of Expatriates," Jan. 26). The tone of the new administration and its instinctive recognition of America's need to lead responsibly and engage collaboratively with the rest of the world are hallmarks of a new era of leadership that understands the crucial importance of a global perspective. Young Americans want to follow their lead, and one of the best ways is through foreign study. As a senator, President Obama joined colleagues from both sides of the aisle in supporting the Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Foundation Act, an innovative piece of legislation that would make it possible for many more American college students to learn about and experience other cultures. We cannot delay the urgent task of ensuring that the next generation of Americans is well prepared for life and leadership in the global age.
Marlene M. Johnson
Executive Director and CEO NAFSA: Association of International Educators
Washington, D.C.

Is it fair to make George W. Bush the scapegoat of the current economic fiasco in the United States ("The Enigma in Chief," Jan. 19)? Isn't it always convenient to blame someone in retrospect? If Bush were really as incompetent as suggested, then why did Americans re-elect him in 2004 after the Iraq invasion? Bush could well be a less-than-fortunate victim of circumstance and misinformation. The world should leave him alone, and let history take care of him.
Zizenn Chaan
Sydney, Australia

I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the wonderful role that NEWSWEEK has played in my life this past year. The Feb. 2 issue, and especially your Commemorative Inaugural Edition, describe a transformative event in United States and world history. Your singular publication reflects the hopes and ambitions that many of us have had for many years and suspected we would never see so fully realized—or expressed.
Paul E. Munsell
Guatemala City, Guatemala

Defining Presidential Power
"What Would Dick Do?" By Stuart Taylor Jr. and Evan Thomas (Jan. 19) seems little more than a defense of Vice President Cheney's tactics and policies during the Bush administration—policies that include the most basic human-rights abuse, torture. Several authorities on interrogation techniques (including military personnel) contend that most information collected by means of torture is basically useless. It violates international law and puts our own captured military personnel at risk. It shames us globally and destroys our credibility when we call for human rights abroad. Far from discouraging terrorism, we generate new terrorists and give fresh ammunition to our enemies. We have lost our collective soul when we not only fail to oppose torture, but also applaud it as heroic and necessary to our nation's security. It is neither.
Juli Kring
Houston, Texas

The analysis of Obama's potential tactics in the war on terror overlooks a crucial point: those who would harm Americans will be motivated to do so by continuing to do what Cheney did—imprisonment without charge and torture. Indeed, we would do well to drop the very term "war on terror," as it is often equated with "war on Islam." These people are neither ignorant nor irrational, only desperate and threatened. That is why taking the high moral ground in a possible release and trial of Guantánamo "detainees" may have us lose an occasional battle but win the "war."
Mike Duncan
Moab, Utah

NEWSWEEK spends eight years criticizing the Bush administration for its handling of the war on terror, and then—before Barack Obama's inauguration—confidently reports that the situation "may not be so simple"? Bush and Cheney understood something that I pray President Obama does as well: the only reason the 9/11 terrorists didn't kill 30,000 instead of 3,000 is that they couldn't. They're still trying, though, and I hope some of the knee-jerk criticism of the Bush administration finally becomes grounded in the reality of the times we lived (and live) in.
John Sponauer
Southington, Connecticut

Our torture/detentions policy has caused significant blowback in the Muslim world. Ask any knowledgeable person and he or she will tell you that our policy and military presence in Muslim lands have done more to swell the ranks of militants than anything else. Look no further than Colin Powell (someone who is partly responsible for the failed Iraq War), who has lamented the flawed policy and the damage it has done to America's standing.
Ravi Mahalingam
Los Angeles, California

Far better than trying to suggest what Obama might learn from Dick Cheney would be what the new administration, Congress and the American people should unlearn: secrecy, distortion, intimidation and infringements of international law, human rights and constitutional principles. Too much harm was done for equivocation.
David W. Long
West Chester, Pennsylvania

You ignore the fact that torture is immoral and leads to false confessions. False confessions supply a government with bad intelligence that can be used to ramp up fear. They also lead to wild-goose chases rather than bringing terrorists to justice. And we should call for the return of the Fourth Amendment. It is naive to think that warrantless eavesdropping wouldn't be used on political rivals. Remember Richard Nixon? We have a guiding star on how to deal with torture and illegal wiretaps: the Constitution. America is the "land of the free" because it is the "home of the brave."
Doug Zimmerman
Columbus, Ohio

These terror suspects are neither stupid nor inclined to tell the truth. Armed with their false information, we'd waste time and resources. Abuses generated by this policy would follow, and we would still be in a class with the rogue nations that pursue torture.
Virgil Freshour
Vida, Oregon