Editor, Gazette-Journal:

Dawn Dale (Readers Write, Jan. 12) says President Obama is not a leader. Apparently, she has compared him to other presidents and he has come up wanting. I wonder which ones she used. George H.W. Bush declared, "Read my lips: No new taxes." But there were tax increases. George W. Bush told us we had to go to war in Iraq because they had weapons of mass destruction. But there were none. Is lying to the American people a sign of leadership? I think not.

Barack Obama ran for the presidency wanting to change the way Washington worked. He saw gridlock in Congress and hoped to bring common sense and compromise to the pressing issues we faced. Even though overwhelmingly elected, he was told by Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell that the main objective of the Republican Congress was to make sure he had only four years in office. His ideas were dismissed out of hand; Republicans became the party of NO.

While Americans suffered, Republicans again and again...