Inbox

Nearing the Finish Line

I was delighted to see Barack Obama's face on TIME's cover [May 19]. However, considering the American people's support of George W. Bush in the past two elections, and the past seven years, aren't there enough reasons not to be so "pretty sure this time"? I am afraid that fear can still be a strong political weapon. Adelaide Rodrigues, LISBON

Memo to Joe Klein: with several states yet to vote, putting Obama's picture on the cover with the headline "And the Winner* Is ..." is just irresponsible reporting. A. Corona, carmel, CALIF.

Where Clinton Went Wrong

I'm surprised Karen Tumulty left out what I and many others consider to be Hillary Clinton's biggest mistake [May 19]. She voted for the war in Iraq and never fully apologized. Democratic-primary voters and caucusgoers simply demanded accountability from their elected representatives. James Bordonaro, EMPORIA, KANS.

I have previously heard many of the points made by Tumulty. But her explanation of the intricacies of the problems, showing where they originated and how one step compounded another, made this an awesome article. N. Jones, WASHINGTON

The True Meaning of Iron Man

Richard Corliss totally missed the boat in his analysis of the movie Iron Man [May 19]. The implicit message of the film, with its stereotypical portrayals of Middle Eastern men and trivialization of the role of our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, is not, as Corliss states, that "we've dwelled too long in the crypts of antiscientific dystopia." It is rather that the possession of state-of-the-art high-tech weaponry is the key to the triumph of good over evil, that might makes right, and that combat is just a high-tech video game. The real villains in this film are not the merchants who supply both sides with weapons of mass destruction but filmmakers who are warping the hearts and minds of the current generation of moviegoers. Jean Ann Edsall, EUGENE, ORE.

Gene-Screening

Michael Kinsley misses a long-term generational effect of perpetuating defective genomes [May 19]. As a former genetics graduate student, I've seen tragic outcomes when parents with inherited diseases (or propensities for them) decide to pass their genes on to future offspring. Sometimes this is done with ignorance, sometimes with hopeful fatalism, sometimes with contrarian determination to prove that "I really am quite O.K.!" Carrying deleterious genes is certainly not within the carrier's control, but dooming a not yet conceived child to receive them certainly is. Discrimination is not always a pejorative term. John T. Lowry, AUSTIN, TEXAS

Israel at 60

Re Tim McGirk's piece on Israel: while it's true that certain Arab leaders (though not Palestinians) have spoken of "pushing the Israelis into the sea," I am at a loss to find even one instance of Israelis speaking of "driving the Arabs into the desert sands" [May 19]. Quite to the contrary: most Israelis would be content for Palestinians to establish a peaceful state in the West Bank and Gaza and, in return, let Israelis live in peace in Israel. Regrettably for both, as long as several major Arab factions are sworn to the destruction of Israel, this will not happen. Arye Ephrath, FAIRFAX, VA.

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