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# On the other foot
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/on-the-other-foot-editor/
- Published: 2008-09-08T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T20:56:30.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*By Marilyn Brennan*

I was amused that Linda Shockley, (”Tell it like it is,” Letters to the Editor, Sept. 4) who is tired of Democrats “whining,” etc. actually quoted a Democrat in her letter, only she got it wrong. And she didn’t, of course credit the quote but used it as her own. So Linda, it is not “Don’t ask” it’s “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country” and it was said by John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the Democratic President Elect in his inauguration speech, January 1961\. She also says that Sen. Obama says he’s for “Change” but doesn’t say what that change is. Has she noticed that in the last few days, Sen. McCain’s big slogan also incorporates the word “Change?” Can’t he think anything else up on his own? Must he copy? And had Linda listened to Sen. Obama’s acceptance speech, she would now know exactly what those changes are.

And now that there is a personal family issue on the Republican side, both the Democrats and the Republicans have made it an “off-limits” issue, as they most definitely should. However, I can’t resist wondering if the shoe was on the other foot, so to speak, how “off limits” would it be? I recall the Republicans spending a terrific amount of time and our money pursuing President Clinton on what was also a “personal” matter.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 8, 2008.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/090808.pdf?ref=smdp.com)