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News-Sentinel.com Your Town. Your Voice.
Opening Arguments

Priorities

Empathy:

A man who lost a son to the war in Afghanistan is disappointed in the condolence letter he received from President Barack Obama.

Tom Logan, a Willis resident, calls the note late, impersonal, disrespectful and essentially a form letter.

[. . .]

Local 2 Investigates examined two other letters sent by Obama to families of soldiers killed in action. The one-page typed condolence letters were identical other than names, ranks and service branches.

There is no standard or written protocol that we could find dealing with presidential condolence letters.

"Different presidents have approached the task in ways that are unique with their personalities and their priorities," University of Houston Professor and Historian Nancy Beck Young said.

". . . in ways that are unique with their personalities and their priorities." Subtle.

Comments

tim zank
Wed, 10/10/2012 - 2:18pm

Was there an Obama Campaign credit card donation form in the same letter?

Harl Delos
Thu, 10/11/2012 - 11:28pm

I woould expect the letter of condolance to be written by the soldier's commanding officer.  He has a good chance of knowing the soldier, knowing the circumstances of his death, in a better place to say the soldier accomplished something, that he honored his family by his acts, and they should be proud of him, as well as to say thank you.

The president?  I would hope that he's too busy to individually write letters to each one.  During WWII, people talked of getting letters from the president, saying "Greetings"  Did anyone imagine that FDR signed all those letters himself?  When the Arizona sank, did FDR sign thousands of letters?  Did Bush sign letters to all those who lost a family member on 9/11?  Did the president sign letters to the families when the Murrah byulding was blown up?

Poesidents don't even sign their own Chrustnas cards!

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