Consensus

* The manner in which both Republicans and Democrats act in Congress is disgusting and completely unacceptable. Adversarial politics only serves to divide the country and is a bad role model from people who are supposed to lead us. In modern business and human relationships, we search for solutions using the “win-win” model, where each side compromises to find a solution that makes both happy--there is no loser. Members of Congress must adopt this style of leadership or risk being replaced.

The description of [the probable] new House speaker, Rep. J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), is what we need--a person who gets along with his colleagues and finds consensus (Dec. 21). Our problems come from the top down!

MICHAEL OSSORIO

Los Angeles

* Let the Senate end the partisan circus and join the president in addressing the people’s business, from improving education to making Social Security more secure. We have heard enough from Clinton-obsessed Kenneth Starr and the vitriolic Republicans on the Judiciary Committee. Having his record forever stained by impeachment is rebuke and punishment enough for Clinton. Let’s move on.

JOHN MONSEN

Glendale

* Re “Senators Queasy Over Starr Report,” Dec. 23: When I was a lad, our school class went to visit a courtroom. The trial involved a man accused of stealing back his $10 bill from a prostitute. The attorneys wanted the courtroom cleared of students, but Judge Evelle J. Younger let us stay, saying that part of growing up was seeing the world as it really is.

Now it’s time for the Senate and the American people to grow up. The impeachment trial should be public, and there must be full testimony about the president’s illicit affair and his entrapment by political opponents. Only then will we have a proper verdict and conclusion to this matter.

SIDNEY I. SIEGEL

Covina

* After all this time, the president continues to concern himself with what people will think of him after he is gone (“Clinton Puts Faith in History,” Dec. 22). When will he learn that an honorable man would care not what people think of him, but instead be focused on the good of the country and doing the right thing? One wonders if what he will learn instead is that he who seeks to be first shall be last.

TOM PROVOST

Los Angeles

* Through all of the debate and confusion generated by impeachment issues, there emerge two strong beacons, offering hope and guidance for the future. Hillary Clinton and Bonnie Livingston have shown us the essence of love, compassion and loyalty. The way in which they have stood by their men through such difficult times is remarkable. Seemingly nothing can deter our first lady from her mission of support for the president, while Mrs. Livingston labeled her husband’s resignation speech “his finest moment.”

As a man, I can only hope that the example these women have set will not be lost on women who expect, lo demand, adherence to what Rep. Richard Gephardt would undoubtedly characterize as “unattainable standards.”

ROBERT WEBER JR.

Glendale