Froma Harrop, in her June 21 column, “Obama succumbs to constituency politics,” correctly points out two troubling examples of timidity by the Obama administration — its refusal to participate in the recent mayors conference in Providence because it meant crossing a firefighter union’s picket line, and its refusal to consider medical-malpractice-damage award caps out of deference to trial lawyers.

These decisions reflect a “politics as usual” approach rather than “change we can believe in.”

A comprehensive bill to reduce health-care costs will need to include some limit on damage awards, just as for struggling cities to maintain services during difficult economic times, the costs of municipal-worker contracts need to be reassessed.

In the latter instance, Mayor Cicilline has demonstrated leadership in pressing all the stakeholders to recognize their responsibility to contribute to a solution. The Obama administration’s fear of crossing a picket line in Providence does not inspire confidence that similar leadership will be demonstrated to address our daunting health-care, energy, economic and foreign-policy challenges.

DAVID GRISWOLD

Bethesda, Md.