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He steered a reasonable course between the shrill "Drop dead, you horrid atheists!" of the local faithful and the "Thank God for atheistic watchdogs!" of the strict Constitutionalists. He correctly acknowledges that a generous, good-faith impulse led to a technical error in judgment without accusing anyone of cynically plotting an end-run around the U.S. Constitution, and he suggests ways in which the same goal could have been achieved without creating an opportunity for outrageously smug legal grandstanding.

The watchdogs were all over this teapot-sized tempest, but where are the watchdogs when they are really needed? For years now, our president has been busy undermining two centuries of Constitutional checks and balances to concentrate power in the presidency, among other things enabling him to launch a war the nation and world didn't want. That is a constitutional crisis worthy of any watchdog's attention. Sick 'em, boy!

Edwin L. Clopton
Iowa City