LTE: Hartman misses the mark

Editor, Gettysburg Times,

I’ve always respected two things about Harry Hartman. First, he seemed to stay out of editorial and let the news people produce the newspaper. Second, he lets significant amounts of opinion that has to make him grind his teeth be published on his editorial page. Gettysburg residents benefit from Harry’s ownership of the Times. There are plenty of people in towns a lot bigger than Gettysburg that don’t have a paper anywhere near the quality of the Times and I’m grateful that Mr. Hartman is a good publisher.

That being said, his commentary on my opinion piece (“The Crisis President”) wasn’t his finest hour.

First, it’s never a good look to call one of your subscribers and contributing writers an idiot. It tends to undercut your point.

More generally, if you’re going to take issue with what someone wrote, it’s probably best to address what they actually wrote. I made one point in my op-Ed: that Biden faces some pretty severe challenges that are at least in part the creation of his predecessor. I didn’t say a word about Obama (except that Republican obstruction made his challenge worse, a point that is, I think, beyond dispute). I never said I thought Obama was a great president or that Biden would do a great job. I just said he faced a big challenge and that Republican obstruction would make the challenge worse.

Mr. Hartman’s rant about senile old Joe is certainly a standard conservative trope but with every day that Biden addresses issues calmly and lucidly, it becomes more obviously wrong. All his references to me considering Obama my Lord and Savior are just wasted words, attacking something I didn’t say. Blaming the pandemic on Hunter Biden seems just a little off the mark, but even if it was true, it doesn’t affect my point, which is that we have a serious recession and a serious pandemic, both made worse by the president’s inaction. As with any opinion piece, there are issues to be taken with mine. But Mr. Hartman missed a chance to raise an actual issue with it.

Leon Reed,
Gettysburg