Quote from piezoe:
Sorry to note Cashill is no English scholar himself. It is perfectly correct, in the context of Obama's letter at least, to write" "... merits ... has...".
I'm not inclined to give a lesson in English grammar, goodness knows I make enough silly mistakes on my own to get preachy. But suffice it to say either "...merits...has...", or "...merits...have..." is correct depending on whether you intend to refer to "merits" collectively, or not.
