A recent letter to the editor suggested that Marc A. Thiessen’s commentary be challenged for its honesty. I found myself seriously agreeing, giving the letter writer credit for words that made sense.

In Theissen’s column, November 13, however, he urges party leaders to reach across the aisle, providing examples of things they they could do together. This gave me a little hope.

Until the last paragraph, that is. That’s when he accused Barack Obama of breaking with tradition of Democrats and Republicans reaching out to find points of agreement. Oh no.

The person who refused to cooperate in any way whatsoever with Democratic President Obama was none other than Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who disgracefully abused the whole system, including to block a qualified Supreme Court nomination months before the 2016 election. When Barack Obama was elected and promptly reached across the aisle, McConnell made a public promise to refuse every piece of legislation presented by President Obama and proceeded to carry this out for eight years, continuing forward another four years to block a long list of legislation proposed by Democrats and passed by the House of Representatives. This is truly harmful to a would-be exemplar democratic nation.

The election result that I find the most regrettable now, is Kentucky’s returning McConnell to office. If Theissen regrets Democrats and Republicans refusing to cooperate, he should not ruin his point with the inaccurate accusation against Obama.

Grace Braley
Portland

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