Just to keep my records in tact, here are the April issue letters to the editor regarding my article in the February issue, entitled, "Dear Mr. President, Here's How to Make Sense of Your Second Term, Secure Your Legacy, and, oh yeah, Create a Future Worth Living."

The Sound and the Fury

Apr 01 '05

An inviting and, yes, legal Scarlett Johansson played the siren for our

February issue. Inside, we celebrated 2004's gaffes with our annual Dubious

Achievements (sorry, Geraldo--not this year), and Tom Chiarella tested his

bartering skills on everything from a TiVo to a tube of toothpaste. Also,

as George W. Bush embarks on his second term, war strategist Thomas P.M.

Barnett, economist Jeffrey Sachs, and writer at large Tom Junod used the

occasion to advise him on how to spend his newfound political capital.

Thomas Barnett's excellent article ("Mr. President, Here's How to Make

Sense of Your Second Term, Secure Your Legacy, and, Oh Yeah, Create a

Future Worth Living") achieved that rare balance of being informative,

humorous, and thought-provoking. However, "This will never fly" was the

main thought circulating through my mind as I read it. Catching Dick Cheney

insinuating the administration's bellicose intentions toward Iran on that

evening's newscast sadly confirmed it.

HENRY MENA, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Barnett's analysis pays no attention to the foundation of the Islamic

Republic, the††velayat-e-faqih, or "regency of the theologian." This

theocratic model is inherently repressive and motivated by a strict

interpretation of religious ideology. Barnett refuses to accept that there

is no dealing with such a regime, that "realist" secretaries of state will

not be able to get any strategic assurances from the mullahs.

POUYA LAVIAN, New York, N.Y.

COMMENTARY: What I liked about the pairing was that I was tagged as the idealist in the first letter and the realist in the latter.

I'll take either, plus the reprint of the article in the annual compendium of "Best American Political Writing."