Mailbag: A presidential visit should be embraced

On a glorious Southern California winter day, crowds greeted the president of the United States in Corona del Mar. The mood was festive and exhilarating. There were large groups who supported and opposed President Obama with signs and banners.

I gathered with many of my neighbors at Seaward Road and Coast Highway to see the president’s motorcade arrive. While we all don’t agree politically, we are friends and neighbors who support, respect and take care of each other. We all agreed that this was a very exciting event as the president of the United States had chosen to visit our beautiful community.

I am sorry to read that some individuals have chosen to see such an event in a most negative way. As to the photo on Feb. 17, on page 7, it is a picture of myself and my neighbors holding handmade signs welcoming President Obama to Orange County. We appreciate the Daily Pilot’s good reporting.

Carolyn Williams

Corona del Mar

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Obama coverage looked uneven

I was disappointed to see that the only picture you had on the front page of your paper Feb. 17 depicting the crowds for President Obama’s visit to Corona del Mar was of a group of pro-Obama people. My husband and I were there along with many anti-Obama protesters. Where was that picture? The Daily Pilot represents Newport Beach and Costa Mesa, or so it says.

Newport Beach is the cornerstone of conservatism in Orange County and maybe the U.S. I would think your paper would want to depict a view represented by most people in Newport Beach and Costa Mesa. Where was the photo of a conservative group protesting?

Instead, you decided to use a large photo of a bunch of people bused in from Laguna Beach and inland cities. At least you could have had two pictures, one depicting the liberals and one depicting the conservatives.

Or is it because you are affiliated with the liberal Los Angeles Times that you are so politically controlled by them, and cannot be fair and balanced?

Shame on you.

Therese Loutherback

Corona Del Mar

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Republicans twisted account

After reading the Daily Pilot, I am amazed at how the anti-Obama demonstrators twist and create their own reality. As I drove to an early morning appointment Feb. 16, I observed many people with pro-Obama signs all along East Coast Highway. I drove by again about 10:15 a.m., after my appointment, and noticed people still standing and sitting on the sidewalks, from Poppy Avenue to Newport Coast Road, waiting for President Obama to drive back to the airport.

Although I didn’t count exactly — as I was driving — the majority of these demonstrators were holding signs in support of the president. I remain amazed that Republicans blame the “liberal” press and leave no room for finding common ground. We, either Democrat, Republican, Independent, Green Party, or whoever, all care about our country. Politics is not black and white, and we all need to have a civil conversation concerning the issues of America.

Annie Quinn

Newport Beach

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Government should not be ‘lean’

Our democratic republic was designed by its founders to be inefficient. This is why they created three countervailing branches of government: the legislative, the executive and the judicial.

This was done to protect the rights of the individual and of minority interests from the tyranny of the majority. In our system, acts and ideas are tested in many ways prior to final implementation. Dictatorships are lean and efficient.

Get over it.

Lance Jencks

Costa Mesa