Letters: Soudbites or leadership?

Re “Vision quest,� Opinion, July 1

It’s hard to accept that “Americans today aren’t interested in slogans and sound bites.� Don’t campaign strategists act as if superficial, slickly worded ads will sway undecided voters?

Franklin D. Roosevelt’s inspirational visions were offered to a receptive public as his first term began. Neither President Obama nor Mitt Romney has anything to gain from offering rosy visions of lofty national objectives to a skeptical, ill-informed public scant months before the election.

Instead, the candidates’ strategists will obsess over incremental poll results and continually triangulate their pitches. Alas, that’s become the formula to electoral success with an ever more polarized and dumbed-down electorate.

Edward Alston

Santa Maria

ALSO:

Letters: Stealing history in the Sierra

Letters: A cautionary tale for teachers

Letters: Healthcare and Congress’ powers