Editorials

There was a discredited president, distrusted by his own party, portrayed by even his fondest allies as a disappointing underachiever. There was an Eastern governor, decorated with breathtaking academic credentials and a star turn in the nonprofit sector, mounting a serious challenge. There was the threat of minor-party candidacies, with charismatic leadership and a core of devoted supporters who could skew the contest. It was perhaps the greatest election in American history. It was exactly a century ago.

Hitting the century mark makes for quite a milestone, one reached by few organizations. One hundred years of staying power doesn’t simply happen.

Q: Going way back to my college days, I recall that in one of my classes we discussed a figure of speech in which the main element of a statement is reversed and repeated for a more profound effect. There is a word for this. Do you know what it is? — M.W., Wilkes-Barre, Pa.

DEAR ABBY: I just read the letter from a fellow frustrated night shifter, “Working a 40-Hour Week at Age 73” (Dec. 20). I have worked 12-hour shifts for many years to accommodate our family life. It is easier for me to be home in the morning to get the kids to school and be home when they get off the bus in the afternoon. I have the early evening free to get them to their activities, then go to work later.

My friend Lonny Cale and I participated in the indoor triathlon at the YMCA in Muscatine last week. It’s always on the Sunday before the Super Bowl, so it’s sort of a cure for football withdrawal.

Even after all these years, journalist-socialite Sally Quinn still embodies a Washington way of thinking — a heart-of-Georgetown, A-list set of salon-tested assumptions “everyone” knows that provides attitudes for any occasion.

It was predictable that President Barack Obama would pander again to entitlement sentiments. This time involves the misguided belief that everyone is entitled to homeownership, even at the government’s — the taxpayers’ — expense.

DEAR ABBY: I’m 30 years old and have a close relationship with my mother, but something is bothering me. When I was a little girl, my grandmother gave me a U.S. savings bond for my birthday. It has matured to its full value. My mother refuses to give it to me. She said that my grandmother intended it as a wedding gift.

“What’s that smell?” Sue asked from the front hall. “Is that a dead mouse?”

On Thursday an Iowa House committee approved a bill that would stop cities and the State of Iowa from using traffic cameras to capture images of cars speeding and running red lights and issue tickets automatically (see story on Page 4B).

If you depend on Des Moines radio, TV and newspapers, you might think legislators spent the entire week fighting over a few hot-button issues. Reality is much different. Yes, subcommittee meetings were held on a number of controversial bills. However, upcoming deadlines kept most legislators focused on bill drafting while attending regular committee meetings.

DEAR ABBY: Over the years I’ve stayed in touch with my childhood best friend, “Claire.” We talk a few times a year and I attended her wedding 10 years ago.


I was thrilled to see this headline on the American Civil Liberties Union’s website after the Supreme Court’s unanimous Jan. 23 ruling on United States v. Jones: “Supreme Court GPS Ruling: Bringing the 4th Amendment Into the 21st Century” (aclu.org, Jan. 26). Wow!

DEAR ABBY: “She Has a Name in Georgia” (Dec. 2) complained that the care staff at the assisted living community where her mother lives calls her “Granny,” “Grandma” and “Mamma.” She found it disrespectful, and I agree with her.

The basis for the idea of a disbursement party actually began on July 17, 1954, the day my wife and I spoke our wedding vows. A large reception followed in our church hall before we headed north to a little resort in Canada for a short honeymoon in our classy dark blue 1948 Silver Streak Pontiac acquired for $800 just a few weeks earlier.

The Romney campaign has been hitting Newt Gingrich hard over the 1990s ethics case that resulted in the former speaker being reprimanded and paying a $300,000 penalty. Romney mentions it often, and his campaign made the ethics case the focus of the most widely viewed attack ad of the Florida primary.

An Obama administration mandate requiring all employers to offer health plans with no-cost birth control for women raises several red flags — and not just for Catholics. It’s a move that impinges on the conscience of some Americans. And that’s not a road the federal government should travel down.

DEAR ABBY: I am 26 and have been dating “Mike” for four years. We met in our senior year of college and recently became engaged. I’m looking forward to being married and starting a family, but there’s one “small” problem. I’m in love with Mike’s identical twin brother, “Matt.”