On May 17, columnist Leonard Pitts expressed, well, dissatisfaction with Republicans.

He rose to previously unscaled heights of hyperbole in his piece and I am certain that it took all of his self-restraint not to reveal the stunning facts that 1) our leaders come from the far-off planet Ickletron and 2) we eat “mangled baby ducks” at every meal. (If I have offended or shocked old fans of SNL, I offer my profound apologies.)

In 2009 President Obama said “if I don’t fix this thing (the economy) in three years then this is going to be a one term presidency.”

For two years, the Democrats had a politically perfect storm: a Democrat in the White House, a Democratic-controlled Congress, a virtually veto-proof Democratic Senate (including an alumnus of SNL) and what might be called a friendly press.

In January 2009, gasoline was approximately $1.83 per gallon. It’s more than double that now. Unemployment was 7.3 percent; for two years it was around 9 percent and is now down to 8.1 percent. The national debt was less than $10 trillion; now it is $15 trillion and counting (Meet The Press, June 2011).

Let’s look at that last number — $15,000,000,000,000. That’s real money — not mine, not yours, but our grandchildren’s and maybe even their grandchildren’s.

Is there anyone better off now than four years ago?

Terence McManus, New Sharon