U.S. has not had a good president lately

I wanted to concur on something Ms. Finney wrote in a recent letter. Let’s bring our troops home. Not as sure about the other stuff.

I was a soldier during the Carter administration. Times make or break a president. Even FDR’s election was close, beating Dewey in 1944, and one of history’s glaringly wrong headlines was “Dewey Defeats Truman.”

These presidents are recorded in history as two of America’s greatest, yet at the time, many in our country were divisively against their presidencies. I, too, question Obama’s ability to lead, but, from a trooper’s perspective, we feared the mistakes Carter would make. For us, Reagan was a shoe-in.

I am constantly in touch with soldiers in both theaters. It isn’t the same with Obama as it was with Carter. While he is a president during what has become once of the worst periods in our history, I am pretty sure we haven’t had a good president lately.

GARY LIRETTE

Sandpoint