Exit with honor - Vaclav Havel

Sac Bee ^ | 2/12/03 | Bee Editorial Staff

[NormsRevenge]

In his quiet fashion, Vaclav Havel, the playwright and political dissident who provided much of the moral force that helped bring down a Communist dictatorship without resort to arms, retired the other day after 13 years as president of Czechoslovakia and, since 1993, the Czech Republic. He leaves a legacy that conventional political figures should envy and emulate.

[NormsRevenge]

Not bad for a guy with one lung.

Hats off to a Czech patriot.

[Siobhan]

God bless Vaclav Havel. May the Czech Republic be spared Klaus as their leader.

[dfwgator]

Europe needs more like him.

[Alberta's Child]

I once remarked that the United States could learn some real lessons from these former Eastern Bloc countries. What was most remarkable at the time (and what prompted me to make that comment) was that many of the post-1991 leaders of these countries (Havel and Lech Walesa in particular) had once been imprisoned under the old Communist regimes.

One cannot imagine a U.S. president who spent any time in prison as a political prisoner.

Though I can imagine Bill Clinton having spent some time in an Arkansas prison years ago. I'm sure he would have been called "Hillary" by his cell-mates, though.