President Obama’s decision to bailout General Motors was not only politically astute—but may turn out to be a major factor if he’s re-elected.
[Speaking Truth To Power: Election 2012]
Closing Deal With 171,000 New Jobs Last Month
Tuesday, Americans will decide whether former Governor Mitt Romney should be elected president or if President Barack Obama should remain in the White House for a second term.
On the eve of the 2012 Elections, the question is: will the American electorate gamble by putting another tax-break-for-the-rich Republican in the White House?
Oftentimes, in presidential politics we’ve heard politicians say this election is critical to the nation. Oftentimes, that sentiment is overblown.
Not this time.
The last four years Americans faced the worst financial catastrophe since the Great Depression. President Obama, despite unprecedented political obstruction from Republicans has maneuvered America away from economic destruction. But those gains are now in jeopardy because Governor Romney is proposing precisely the same reckless policies that created the mess.
When President Obama came into office, America was losing over 800,000 jobs a month. Without help from Republicans, who made a pact not to cooperate with him, the president enacted an $800 billion stimulus package creating 5.2 million jobs and stabilized the public sector.
Republicans now pretentiously complain about current unemployment numbers but they’ve refused to facilitate the president’s jobs bill to put millions to work repairing the nation’s crumbling infrastructure—an action that takes on added relevance given the billions in damage left in the wake of Hurricane Sandy’s devastation.
Governor Romney’s “small government” polices in regard to FEMA would’ve made the current crisis in New York and the Tri-State area worse. He spoke of letting the states handle disasters or even handing this life-and-death task to the private sector.
To help prevent Wall Street from engaging in the same kind of practices that led to the 2008 financial meltdown, President Obama and Democrats introduced the Dodd-Frank Bill to strengthen lax regulatory practices. Stunningly, Governor Romney and his Republican cronies criticize this legislation, because, they say it hampers Wall Street unfairly.
Another reason President Obama is a superior pick to Governor Romney is his stance on women’s issues—including signing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, shrinking the pay inequality gap for women.
During the Hofstra University debate, the difference was on display when Governor Romney didn’t answer the fair pay for women question. Instead of saying yes to this simple question, the governor danced around it and mangled the answer with his now infamous “binders of women” comment.
As I said then, Mr. Romney’s policies will be a “binder of women” if he’s elected to the White House. Along with his regressive Republican friends, they’ve made clear their intent: the death of Roe v Wade, Planned Parenthood, contraceptives and so forth.
These phony proponents of “small government” think it’s appropriate for government to be the final “decider,” to borrow from George W. Bush, of what people do with their bodies.
President Obama’s decision to bailout General Motors was not only politically astute—but may turn out to be a major factor if he’s re-elected. Presently, the president’s solid hold on Ohio can, largely, be attributed to his decision. By doing this, the president preserved tens of thousands of jobs not only in Michigan but also in Ohio.
Given the fact Mr. Romney was born in Michigan—where his dad became rich because of the state’s automobile industry—one would think he would’ve had more insight than President Obama who refused to let the industry go belly-up. Instead, Governor Romney penned a New York Times op-ed article entitled “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt.” How many more jobs would’ve been lost if the president had listened to Governor Romney’s bad advice?
Then there is the landmark legislation of President Obama’s first term: the Affordable Health Care for America Act (HR 3962). This historic legislation allows more Americans to obtain affordable healthcare, restricts insurers from denying coverage to those with “pre-existing conditions,” pays the portions of medication for the elderly –the doughnut hole– currently not covered, and revamps Medicaid and Medicare by reducing waste, among other benefits.
Ironically, the president patterned this bill after Governor Romney’s Massachusetts healthcare bill—which in turn is based on a blueprint from the conservative Heritage Foundation. President Obama also made education loans cheaper by cutting out greedy banks who were fleecing students.
In the foreign policy arena, the president has repaired some of the damage done by the unilateral, isolationist, foreign policy approach of President Bush—and did what Bush failed to do: eliminate Osama bin Laden the reported mastermind of 911.
Now, let’s address those “progressives” who claim voting for President Obama is no different that voting for Governor Romney. This notion is dangerously absurd.
As a proponent of progressive politics, I agree President Obama can’t create the society progressives want. Unfortunately, many of us assumed, when we voted for then Senator Obama, that he would turn America into a utopia.
Why did we think Obama could transform Washington’s cesspool into paradise in one term—especially, when big money has perverted the political process for so many decades?
Progressives complain President Obama hasn’t done enough with things like the healthcare bill. Do progressives in this category really believe that a single-payer bill had any chance of success given the struggle over what ultimately passed? Sadly, progressive intellectuals don’t want to accept this reality: average Americans aren’t that progressive. If they were, wouldn’t we’ve been further ahead as a nation?
Progressive intellectuals must start stimulating and elevating America’s mindset so a mass movement of like minds can be mobilized. Only then can the corrupt corporate-dominated policies on Capitol Hill be changed. Do progressives really think President Obama is as bad as Romney?
Let’s address the issue of racism.
From the very beginning, racist venom has been the main impediment facing President Obama. Republicans decided from the start to obstruct him at all costs.
At secret high-level meetings, in December 2008 and January 2009, Republicans like GOP Whip Eric Cantor and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell decided on a scorched-earth policy to cripple the Obama Presidency. In fact, Senator McConnell said Republicans’ main goal was to make President Obama a “one-term president.”
Why did they think this strategy was wise? Clearly, Republicans calculated that fostering racial animus against the nation’s first African-American president would play well with their base—and also resonate with some Democrats and others. They were correct.
Besides the proliferation of racist cartoons—showing the president as a pimp, monkey, cannibal or rapist of Lady Liberty—we witnessed increases in right wing militia groups, unprecedented assassination threats and prejudicial provocateurs like John Sununu and Donald Trump the main Birther advocate.
Isn’t the challenge to President Obama’s citizenship a transparently preposterous racist sentiment? Those saying they “want their country back” are afraid of the new America; a changed demographically diverse America. Bigoted folks can’t accept such change.
Finally, here are a few more things to remember about Governor Romney: he’s refused to show us his tax returns; he outsourced jobs at Bain Capital; Massachusetts was 47 in job creation when he left office; and, unprompted, he said 47 percent of Americans are unworthy of his interest.
Moreover, Former Secretary of State Colin Powell doesn’t trust Governor Romney’s leadership.
America should re-elect President Obama.
“Speaking Truth To Empower.”
