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Gates, Open

I was impressed with Elizabeth Rubin's engaging profile of Robert Gates [Feb. 15]. I have a new respect for and confidence in Gates and President Obama's choice.

Kermita Thornton, OKLAHOMA CITY

Why do U.S. leaders like Gates persist in the old ideas of wars, troops and battlefields? Sending troops across the world to "win" is a fundamentally flawed and outmoded concept--not to speak of the fact that we as a nation cannot afford it. The terrorists are slowly bleeding our nation toward ruin as we are drawn into war after impossible war.

Robert Anderson, IDAHO FALLS, IDAHO

Many Democrats were opposed to retaining Gates as Secretary of Defense. It is clear to me that on entering the Secretary's office, he left his politics outside.

George J. Martin, ST. PETERSBURG, FLA.

Your story was right on the money, except you refer to the Eagle Scout that Secretary Gates "was." Please remember: once an Eagle Scout, always an Eagle Scout.

Ronald Bennett, LOUISVILLE, KY.

Aisle Crossing

Joe Klein, in "Into the Lion's Den," is correct that the Republicans' need to demonize Obama trumps the party's ideological beliefs [Feb. 15]. What happened to jumping over the net and congratulating the guy who beat you? Through obstruction, obfuscation and outright lying about Obama--death panels, indeed--they make it clear that the only GOP agenda is to bring Obama down. If this President fails, we all fail.

Judith Buczek, CAMANO ISLAND, WASH.

How can Klein label Obama a "moderate liberal" with a straight face? The President's newfound willingness to extend an olive branch to Republicans hasn't come about because he's a moderate; it has come about because he's a pragmatist (and pretty good at photo ops). Obama knows if he hasn't been able to ram his policies through Congress by this point, he sure won't be able to now.

Mark S. Dolecki, BAYTOWN, TEXAS

Now That's Good Thinking!

Thank you for "How to Tame the Deficit" [Feb. 15]. We need leadership from the President to reduce government expenditures, not to spend and spend. We should start by not trying to be the world's policeman and not pandering to the electorate as Obama has. Citizens have to live within their budgets. The government must learn to do the same starting now, not in 2011.

Don Smalter, LAWRENCE, KANS.

Jeffrey D. Sachs' article should be mandatory reading for all Americans. Brilliantly reasoned, beautifully written and tactfully presented, it is a powerful, balanced argument for regarding the T word--taxes--as one way out of this economic morass, not something to be avoided.

John Mackiewicz, ALBANY, N.Y.

Sachs' reference to our current state of "peacetime" is a slap in the face of every brave serviceman and -woman deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. In the story's illustration, a man doesn't want to hear that military spending is up. Why should it be? It's not like there's a war on.

Don Scribner, NEKOOSA, WIS.