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When The Times invented the “Op. Ed. Page” in 1970, the editors announced that they were hoping to create “an intellectual forum” with “divergent” views. In that spirit, I want to call attention to a piece taking issue with a recent Times Op-Ed. (Yes, the punctuation style on Op-Ed has changed since 1970.)

Last week, the author Caroline Randall Williams wrote an article addressed to Barack Obama, urging him to speak up against President Trump, especially after Charlottesville. “We need your voice,” she wrote. “There is not a saner, more trustworthy opinion that many of us would rather hear.”

In The Daily Beast this week, Jamil Smith disagreed. Hearing from Obama more often may well offer relief to progressives. But Smith argues — persuasively, to my mind — that a more talkative Obama would hurt the causes that matter to Obama and his allies.