Decision Time for Americans

November 6, 2012.  The Presidential Election which is probably the most important in American history.  The choices couldn't be more stark.  On one hand, you have the most radical Left-wing President in Barack Obama this nation has ever elected.  He has no interest in meeting in the middle on any issue.  It's his way or the highway.  He is partisan, he is stubborn and he is arrogant.  President Obama has an ego so big that his ego even has an ego (kudos to Greg Gutfield).  President Obama has never been able to accept criticism.  Unlike former President Bush, Obama absorbs criticism and feels he must automatically respond to it.  I have always gotten the impression President Obama has never understood the enormity of the Office of the President of the United States.  A case in point was his comment on his old friend being arrested and Obama commenting "The police acted stupidly."   Most Presidents grow into the job.  President Obama never has and, hopefully, will not get a chance to do that in the next four years.

Mitt Romney is not the perfect Republican Presidential candidate. He has vacillated on issues over the years from abortion to illegal immigration to health care.  But, Mitt Romney is infinitely better than President Obama.  Obama and his Democratic Progressive branch will continue to spend until this nation falls over the proverbial fiscal cliff (which is not far off now).  The out of control spending has to be stopped.  The only way to do that is to elect Mitt Romney as President.  My vote for Mitt Romney is not so much because I like him.  My vote is due to wanting Obama out of office as soon as possible.  President Obama came into office with tremendous problems facing him.  However, instead of making them better, President Obama has made them worse. The economy is in shambles. Unemployment is still completely unacceptable.  Our drop in AAA rating is a danger sign that doesn't get enough attention.  He has proven tentative on foreign policy with Benghazi being the latest disaster.  You can point to Osama bin Laden all you want.  But, the fact remains there are four dead Americans, including the U.S. Ambassador, in Libya. Obama is more concerned with his position in the world rather than in the USA. 

I hope those of you who read this post will join with me in voting for Mitt Romney.  We must shift away from a nation of dependents and back to a nation of independents.  Americans have always been known for their "can do" spirit to get things done.  The world is waiting for us to return to predominance, to lead once again.  President Obama is not the answer.  President Romney is the only choice.  

The Final Debate

We had the third and final debate between President Obama and former Governor Mitt Romney.  Of course, the majority of the MSM outlets declared Obama the winner before the debate was even over.  Regardless of whom you thought won, Romney came across more Presidential and relaxed.  Obama came across more as the challenger and not an incumbent President.  Both men made good points in Monday's final Presidential Debate.  I liked how Romney zinged Obama with his comment on the "Middle East "Apology Tour."   This was in reference to Obama's apologizing for the policies of the USA in past years.  Of course, Obama now denies he ever did this.  That's fine if he wants to do that. But, President Obama can not walk away from the Benghazi Attack that cost the lives of our Libyan Ambassador and three other Americans.  Much has been made of the differing stories of the Obama Administration over this being due to a video or a terrorist attack.  Much has been made of the denial of added security for the embassy.  Obama is "all over the map" (to use one of the President's quaint terms) in defending his administration's handling of this matter.  I do believe Romney did not press Obama hard enough on this issue.  Obama has yet to explain why his administration denied Ambassador Steven's request for additional security.  We have yet to see an adequate explanation.

This debate produced nothing new and President Obama's continued defense of his record on foreign policy ("I killed Osama bin Laden") is rather shallow when you take into account that four Americans are dead at a U.S. Embassy in Libya.  Also, dead are Brian Terry, a Border Patrol Agent, due to gun running in the "Fast and Furious" scandal.  Say what you will about Watergate, there were no deaths due to the coverup of that scandal.  This is still a very tight election.  This is the most important election in U.S. history.  Do we go back to being Americans under Romney, where Capitalism is the driving force of our economy?  Or do we continue toward Socialism under President Obama?  In either case, this election will be a nail-biter to the very end.

Second Debate: Obama's Waterloo?

[This post is being written on Monday, October 15, 2012]

How did it all go so wrong?  Obama was (supposedly) surging to as much as a nine point lead in national polls after the Democratic National Convention.  He was far a head in the battleground states such as Ohio.  Obama had a double digit lead in some polls.  In Florida, he was leading by as much as five points in various polls.  Republicans were screaming at Mitt Romney to change up his campaign, especially the campaign leaders.  Many were starting to question Romney's Vice-Presidential choice.  In short, President Obama appeared to have smooth sailing toward the Presidential Election.  But, then the first Presidential Debate took place.  It was an unmitigated disaster for Obama.  I have been around a long time.  The first Presidential Debate I can remember was the Nixon-Kennedy debate.  I was a child then and it was something special for us to see on TV back in those days.  I've seen a lot of debates.  But, none were as one-sided as two weeks ago between President Obama and Governor Mitt Romney.  As a result, it gave a historic poll shift to Romney.  Romney is leading President Obama anywhere from 2-4% nationally.  But, where the President is really hurting is in the battleground states such as Ohio, Florida, Virginia and North Carolina. There has been movement in virtually all demographics.

The Second Presidential Debate, to be held at Hofstra University, will be more of a town hall debate where audience members ask the presidential contenders questions.  The moderator, Candy Crowley, will supposedly moderate unbiased.  Neither campaign is happy with her.  But, the important thing for Obama is to come out with something resembling fire and enthusiasm.  His lackluster performance in the first debate was the reason his campaign is rattled to its core right now.  President Obama has to show the American people he has a plan to get the economy going and not slogans this time.  He has to give reasons why he should be reelected with such a still terrible unemployment rate and sluggish economy.  Mitt Romney has to keep the heat on Obama.  Breaking even in the debate with an incumbent president will not be enough.  That will be seen by the biased mainstream media as a win for their Lord and Savior, President Obama.  If Obama has another subpar performance, it could well be his final mistake of this campaign (and there have been plenty).  Another subpar performance by President Obama could, indeed, be his Waterloo moment of the campaign.

Biden vs Ryan

 
It's often said that Vice-Presidential debates are meaningless and with little influence on the Presidential election.  The same was said of Presidential debates.  That may have been true prior to last weeks' debate between President Obama and former Governor Mitt Romney.  Romney absolutely demolished Obama in the debate.  As a result, Romney saw a historic bounce of 12 points to take a (currently) 4 point lead in the polls.  Now, this may be short lived or it may be a harbinger of things to come.  Regardless of which it is, tomorrow's debate between Vice-President Joe Biden and Congressman Paul Ryan is extremely important to both camps, particularly for the Obama campaign.

 It appears Democrats have gotten their talking points down if you take the Sunday Press shows seriously.  The Obama Campaign is saying that Romney emphasized "theatrics" while Obama focused on issues of "substance."  That is the rants of someone who thought they had the election in the bag and now realize they are in for a tough fight.  So, the Democrats need VP Biden to come out swinging against Congressman Ryan.  The problem for Biden is his propensity of putting his foot in his mouth.  He's done it so many times until it is not news any longer.  The fear, for Democrats, is that Biden will get taken to the woodshed by Ryan.  That is the perception among the liberal press ironically enough.  That may or may not be the case.  I suspect Biden will be a bit tight, but focused during the debate.

Congressman Paul Ryan is the man Democrats love to hate.  He came up with plans for Medicare, budget overhaul that the spend and tax crowd aka liberals, detested and howled like banshees. I am sure Ryan's plans will be attacked by VP Biden vigorously.  But, unlike Joe Biden or even his boss, Ryan has presented plans to get this country out of debt.  Democrats have no plans to do anything about this crushing debt that is currently $16 trillion dollars.  The people who will be paying for this debt during their entire adult lifetimes have not even been born as yet.  We cannot sustain this debt without doing something about it and doing something soon.  I'm fairly certain Congressman Ryan will make that point abundantly clear.  VP Biden will no doubt say Ryan's plans are unworkable in the real world.  In the liberals world, he's probably right.  There are no checks and balances in the liberal world.  But, back in the real world with the adults in the room, we know something must be done about our debt if we are to continue to be a viable world power.  Who do I think will win the debate?  I think it will be closer than many experts think.  But, Congressman Ryan should win tomorrow's debate.  If Ryan does garner the perception he won, this will be added momentum for the Romney Campaign.

Presidential Tracking Polls: Who's Right?

The latest daily tracking polls have been all over the place since the Democratic National Convention.  The New York Times/CBS poll had President Obama leading in some key swing states.  In Ohio and Florida, Obama is leading Romney 53-43 and 53-44 in Ohio and Florida respectively.  Romney simply can't afford to lose Ohio and have any hope of winning the Presidency. Nationally, Obama leads Romney from anywhere from 10 to 2 percent, depending on what poll you tend to believe.  That is the rub.  Who do you believe?  Take for example the New York Times/CBS poll.  Does anyone really believe those two are unbiased in their polling when it comes to Republicans?   Republicans have reason to take with a large grain of salt anything that comes from the MSM.

The mainstream media is anything but unbiased, contrary to their protestations otherwise. I recognize the party that is losing always questions polling.  I accept that. However, there has never been a president in which the MSM has put so much of their time, effort and credibility (what's left of it anyway) into assuring President Obama is reelected.  There is real fear how impartial the moderators will be in the presidential debates.  This is nothing new for Republicans.  The reason they (we) are screaming now is that there is so much fear of an Obama reelection and what that means for this nation.  The Obama Zombies don't care what happens to this country as long as they continue to get their "free government handouts."  Beating an incumbent president is difficult enough without help from outside influences.

The only thing that gives me hope is Gallup and Rasmussen, particularly the latter of the two.  Rasmussen has come within .5% in the last two presidential elections in predicting the outcome.  Right now, Rasmussen has Obama leading Romney by 2% and Gallup has Obama by 4%.  In fact, every poll has Obama leading.  So, it's hard to argue all polls are corrupt.  It all boils down to the debates for Romney.  It didn't have to be this way.  Obama's Achilles heel has been the economy and unemployment above 8%.  So, what has Romney being doing?  Defending himself over silly attacks on Bain Capital and other attack ads from the Obama campaign.  It is a strategy that has worked for Obama.  Take the focus off the moribund economy and the 15-20 million unemployed and keep the focus on Romney.  It has worked.  The electorate has suddenly been struck blind of Obama's faults if we are to believe the polls.  I do believe the polls will tighten up as the election draws near, especially if things in the Middle East continue to spiral out of control, a purported coverup in the U.S. Ambassador's death in Libya, etc.  Barring that, I see another four years of unemployment above 8%, an economy doing a "Take Two" insofar as a recession and more out of control spending, courtesy of the man who will get to keep his job, President Obama.