Posted on 04/30/2012 10:08:43 AM PDT by sthguard
As we move into the general election campaign, with Mitt Romney facing Barack Obama in the presidential race, it’s important not to lose perspective on the very real differences between the two. That starts with the recognition that Obama has made some astonishingly ill-conceived decisions as president, and that Romney would never have done these things.
During a party’s nominating process for president – of which I was a part on the Republican side in this cycle – candidates do everything they can to differentiate themselves from each other. As the candidates focus on these differences and the media plays up the resulting conflicts, you could almost get the impression that some of us would have preferred Obama to some of our fellow Republicans.
Please!
Not only do I prefer Romney over Obama, it’s not even close. This is not to say that every proposed policy of Romney’s is exactly what I would propose. But in stepping back and looking at the big picture, you have to recognize that the next president’s task will be to fix enormous problems. You would want the new president, above all else, to be someone who would never have been so foolish as to make the decisions that a) created the problems; or b) made them worse.
Here are nine examples:
Mitt Romney would never have thrown $862 billion down a rat hole, claiming it to be “economic stimulus” that would keep unemployment from rising above 8 percent. Then, three years later when unemployment was still struggling to get back down below 8 percent, he would never be so brazen as to claim such a move had actually been successful.
Mitt Romney would never have signed ObamaCare into law. I know some think otherwise because the plan he implemented as governor of Massachusetts had some similar elements. But ObamaCare was sold to the public with blatantly dishonest numbers and hidden taxes, and rammed through Congress via a series of political giveaways that would embarrass the most shameless of con artists. Whatever your disagreements with the structure of MassCare, Romney would never have done any of that. And if an ObamaCare repeal reaches Romney’s desk, he will sign it.
Mitt Romney would never have exploded the deficit to more than $1 trillion a year, then allowed his Treasury Secretary tell the chairman of the House Budget Committee, regarding plans to fix the problem, “We don’t have a definitive solution, but we know we don’t like yours.”
Mitt Romney would not be running around claiming that businesses need to pay more in taxes. He would not try to tell CEOs what to do with their cash reserves (although he could do so much more competently than Obama, since unlike the president he actually knows a lot about business), because he knows that is not the president’s job. He understands that businesses are the ones who create jobs, and the last thing we need when the economy is struggling to create jobs is to increase the tax burden on businesses.
Mitt Romney would not attack people for being successful. He would not encourage the middle class to resent successful people, but instead would encourage them to learn from those who have been successful, and to seek opportunities from them.
Mitt Romney would never have promised the Russians he would give them what they want on missile defense as soon as he didn’t have to worry about those pesky voters anymore.
Mitt Romney would never have stonewalled efforts to make crucial energy supplies available to Americans, as Obama has done on everything from the Keystone XL pipeline to the opening of domestic oil supplies in offshore locations and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Mitt Romney would never have let Congress get away with not passing a budget at all for three years, while running up the nation’s credit card at unprecedented levels through a series of continuing resolutions that escape the light of public scrutiny.
Mitt Romney would never have blamed someone else for the continued impact of problems he was elected to fix – as Obama does endlessly.
This list could go on, but these nine are the some of the biggest things – and the big things matter most of all. Everyone involved with a primary campaign hopes their party will nominate the absolute perfect candidate, and when your guy doesn’t make it (or for some of us like me, when you don’t make it), you can fall into thinking that all is lost. There are actually people running around saying there is no difference between Romney and Obama.
People. Get a grip. The differences are huge. And it starts with understanding how many truly horrendous decisions Barack Obama has made since he took office, and recognizing that Mitt Romney is a man with solid experience and good judgment – and that he would never have made any of them.
That alone offers a compelling argument for sending President Obama an invitation – to the inauguration of Mitt Romney on January 20, 2013. I trust he will attend.
Romney supporters may say the words, when it's convenient, but their actions speak so loud I can't hear anything they say.
Tagline ...
Well Tom, maybe someday America’s Party will be strong enough to control seats in Congress, state legislatures, governors’ mansions, local governments, and lots and lots of money. But in the meantime, the Republican Party is our only real shot at putting conservatives in positions of power.
Romney is not one of us. He knows it, we know it, and just about everyone else knows it. But he is the Republican nominee, and I believe voting for him is necessary to stave off another four years of Obama AND to ensure funding/support for down-ticket conservatives. So yeah, the next four years are going to suck either way. But that’s not enough to get me to stay home.
Let me get this straight, as per your logic:
#1: A few hundred FReepers voted for Romney, so that why Gingrich, et al lost.
#2: If Obama wins, it’s the fault of people who voted for Romney, not the Conservatives who might stay home on election day.
#3: Romeny and Obama are the same in the issues, so it’s ok if Obama wins again....
Wow, that crazy and you can still type....
Wow !
By the way, since you think Romney and Obama are the same, did you by chance read the basic article here, or just start helping Obama without reading it?
Yep, you got it.
That's such a dishonest meme.
I'm not staying home, and neither is anyone I am politically associated with in all fifty states.
We're just not voting for pro-choice democrats like Obama or Romney.
By the way, in case you debate the validity of the basic post, it was written by a rather conservative gentleman by the name of Herman Cain.
Of course, I forgot, to you, Cain is one of those establishment liberal DC GOPers.....
Yep, I so want BHO to continue to be president........yep I want the end of the USA..........
Good lord........it has been demonstrated dozens or even hundreds of times why Romney and BHO are the same politically...if you are not interested in these facts/issues its not on me.
Romney is a liberal, I am not voting for liberals.
The ascendency of Mitt Romney isn't going to produce actual conservatives in the Republican Party. It is going to produce more Romney Republicans. This is a no-brainer.
Another lying meme.
Romney Republicans are dishonest.
Just following their leader, I guess.
Never once did I say I was staying home, plenty of state and local issues to decide......I am not voting for the R candidate if its Romney and hell no am I voting BHO.
To this post, you have know idea who I am or what I think, please do not presume anything, try not to mind read.
Know this - I do not vote liberals any longer, I do not care what the Republican establishment says.
By the way, that’s one of the all-time great taglines you have there!
The Party has been sending a message since the end of the 2 010 primary season that real conservatives were not welcome.
:-)
If he were elected, at least he would not leave the country to run for some other job as he did when he was our Governor. So at least we have that going for us.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.