I just don’t understand Karl E. Sparn Jr. (“Grieving ex-communist,” Dec. 10) comparing Nelson Mandela to Joseph Stalin and Nikita Khrushev.

Stalin butchered and murdered his own people. Krushchev, the bumbling shoe-pounding clown, liked to play around with nuclear missiles.

There is no comparison.

Nelson Mandela was a good and decent man who spent the better part of his life — 27 years — imprisoned under white apartheid rule. And yet he became a man of forgiveness, reconciliation and peace. He did much for his country and was a shining example to the rest of the world.

Would that all of our world leaders followed his example.

The writer ends his letter: “Obama and all of his followers are communists, plain and simple.”

While I don’t always agree with President Obama’s policies, but I certainly do not believe he is a communist. I am basically an Obama follower — and most assuredly I am not a communist.