September
2, 2012
Obama
vs. Romney: My Opinions
Recently
in the Times-News, a Nicolas Kristof column began with a clever taunt
to read the following quotes and guess which presidential candidate
said each. My initial thought was...here comes a series of jabs at
Mitt Romney. As expected, Kristof finished by asking "who is the
real Mitt Romney?".
Kristof
could have written a similar article about President Obama and his
flip-flopping on campaign promises made while running for president
in 2008. He could have written about his original positions on issues
such as: same sex marriage, the debt ceiling, illegal immigration,
NASA, the closing of Guantanamo Bay, military tribunals, unilateral
military action (Libya), anti-missile defense for Europe, Bush tax
cuts, the Patriot Act, lobbyists, and his promise for total
transparency...to name just a few. All of those campaigning positions
have been reversed or ignored since his election.
Mr.
Romney, of course, has taken both sides of many issues too. The
reality of primary campaigning requires a candidate to focus on the
main task of winning their party's nomination before they can even
think about actually competing against the opposing party's
candidate. Campaign tactics are driven by the reality that both
parties include voters with a wide range of differing personal
beliefs which must be appealed to in order to win the nomination.
Mistakes are immediately exposed and punished. Do you remember, for
example, Newt Gingrich saying all Americans should be on Medicare,
and then quickly rescinding his statement when voter backlash
exploded? Most intelligent voters understand this gamesmanship is
simply part of the "art" of politics. Can you even imagine
how difficult this tight-rope is to walk? How often do you see any
candidate consistently speak the truth as they see it? Ron Paul has
tried for years and, while garnering a small loyal following, has
failed to gain significant national support. With our current level
of media "show" exposure and editorialization, it forces
every answer to be laundered for political expediency. Prior to our
own recent GOP congressional runoff election, LeRoy Goldman and I
interviewed the two candidates, Vance Patterson and Mark Meadows. It
quickly became apparent that both had much practice in responding to
every question in ways which, while answering the question, were
buffered to protect them from a possible fatal blunder. One of them
even admitted the most difficult part of running was feeling forced
to answer every question truthfully, but in ways which would appeal
to the largest number of voters...and offend the fewest.
Both
parties take endless polls to determine what their loyalists and
on-the-fencers most want to hear...and then both candidates spew the
words they have been instructed to say by their speech writers. I am
not accusing them of being out and out liars. I am saying that they
are mostly telling you what they think that you most want to
hear...either positively about themselves, or negatively about their
opponent.
In
sharing which candidate I will vote for, I am not favoring one party
over the other. Frankly, I sincerely believe that neither party is
working to serve the best interests of the majority of Americans.
However, as trite as it might sound, I think that we must once again
answer the simple question that I first heard Ronald Reagan ask
before the 1980 election; "are you better off than you were four
years ago?" We must also honestly and realistically consider the
experiences, qualifications, and values of our two presidential
candidates regardless of party. Mr. Obama has almost zero (read none)
working or leadership experience within any private-sector
capitalistic enterprise. This has been repeatedly reflected in his
decisions and performance. How could anyone realistically expect such
a person to understand how to provide the needed leadership required
to turn the largest economy in the world around? Mr. Romney, on the
other hand, has demonstrated by experiences, and results that he
understands what it takes to work successfully within a capitalistic
economy. It is absolutely clear that Mr. Obama's promises of hope and
change without him having the needed experience didn't and won't
work. Is Mitt Romney the person we should trust with our nation's
future during this particularly dark time? I don't know for sure, but
I am certain that Mr. Obama's performance has proven that our nation
cannot afford to risk our children's future in his hands any longer.
The
United States, in spite of its many economic problems, remains the
most powerful and envied nation in the world. Our nation can be
saved, but it will take strong experienced leadership, significant
mutual sacrifices, and collective political bargaining to patch up
the good ship America and salvage the future for our generations to
follow.
Fewer
than a dozen states, including North Carolina, will determine whether
the name of our next president is Obama or Romney. Since the majority
of Democrats and Republicans will likely vote according to party
affiliation in these swing states, the winner of this presidential
election will most likely be determined by independent voters. If you
are an independent voter and think Mr. Obama deserves to be
re-elected, then by all means vote your conscience. If not, then vote
for Mr. Romney. Which ever side you support, please be sure to vote.
These
are my opinions. What do you think?
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