To the Editor:

Re “In Speech, Obama Warns Against Rise of ‘Strongman Politics’” (news article, July 18):

My wife and I, both 67, white, progressive Democrats, just spent nearly 90 minutes watching former President Barack Obama speak in Johannesburg at a ceremony commemorating the 100th anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s birth. It moved us to tears.

What we had; what we have now! How quickly it can fade, disappear — things taken for granted be threatened, be gone.

Mr. Obama’s thesis: Don’t take things for granted. There is no getting there and staying there: “The struggle for basic justice is never truly finished.”

Constant vigilance and resistance are required!

JOHN E. COLBERT

ARROYO SECO, N.M.