I find it disturbing that The Free Lance-Star couldn't come up with a better article than the one titled "Can Virginia add Obama to its leadership legacy?" [June 21].
Even with the question mark, the article reads to me as if the purported ancestry is valid in the eyes of the author.
Genealogy without full documentation for each individual in the ancestral chain is not genealogy. Rather, it's speculation.
If Sen. Obama had achieved anything that placed him in the same light as James Madison and Robert E. Lee, the article would have been newsworthy.
Pondering all the events around the globe and in outer space, surely there was more compelling and pertinent news available for your centerpiece article than this piece of fluff.
We have seen that many people in the past have voted for political candidates only because of name recognition and sound bites. The Free Lance-Star has just reaped additional ballots for Sen. Obama.
Johnny Brooks
Bealeton