Obama gets something right

Finally, the Obama administration has accomplished something that the public demanded: limit the time a plane can be on the tarmac before returning to the gate ("Stuck on the tarmac," Dec. 24).

Let's recap what the public wanted vs. what the Obama administration wanted over the past year. Public wanted: No bailouts for the banks, no bailouts for Wall Street, no bailouts for the car industry, no bailouts for the insurance industry, no cash for clunkers, get out of Afghanistan, no to cap-and-trade, no to increasing the national debt, and the big one, no to messing with our great health care system. Obama wanted: Yes to all of the above. With the tarmac decision, just maybe there is hope in 2010 that the president will begin listening to his bosses. But, alas, probably not.

As for the new three-hour limit on the tarmac, I have been stuck on the tarmac several times in the heat of the summer for only one hour. Between the foul smelling jet fuel, impatient children's voices, adults acting like children, and listening to cell phone talkers complaining about their situation, I cannot imagine what it would be like to be stuck for three hours. Ron Wirsing, Havre de Grace