To the editor:

The American-Spanish philosopher George Santayana once wrote that those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. While his Old World pessimism is at odds with the “yes, we can” optimism of the New World, there is wisdom there that we would do well to heed.

Example: A local politician from the Midwest goes to Washington and, with a minimum of experience, is nominated by his party to run for president. He has virtually no foreign policy experience and his domestic platform is presented with a fervor and charisma that gets by its vagueness and lack of specifics. Everywhere he goes, he is greeted by large crowds who proclaim their adulation. More an orator than a statesman, he rests his platform on optimism and hope, promising “change” from the ways things have been done. By the time of Election Day, however, his charm has worn thin, and he loses the election to an older candidate who appeals to the more conservative instincts of the electorate.

Although this may describe the election of 2008, it certainly describes the elections of 1896, 1900 and 1908, provided one substitutes the name William Jennings Bryan for Barack Obama. While Obama may indeed prevail, it would appear prudent to avoid anointing him prematurely. (For the record, Mr. Bryan lost to the likes of William McKinley and William Howard Taft.)

Jeff Southard,

Lawrence