But the events of the past few days have reignited my determination to play whatever role I can---regardless of how small---in making sure that this president is granted only one term.
In recent weeks, the tone of the presidential campaign has taken a nasty and unsettling turn. Things have become shockingly personal and the accusations that are flying make most observers question how it is only July and yet, it feels like it could be the first week of November.
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| Image from Northwestern Business Review |
The attacks are vicious and unrelenting and at this point, it is difficult to tell who is winning.
One thing is becoming increasingly clear, the president and his team see that the only way they can win is if they can successfully annihilate their opponent Mitt Romney. It is kind of an ironic switch for a president who once ran on a message of "hope" with calls for a greater civil tone from our leaders.
With a weakening economy, dismal jobs numbers, unemployment staying above 8% for the 41st straight month, and an ever deepening deficit, the president has very little to boast about. How many of his campaign ads are tooting his own horn?
Living in the swing state of Colorado, I can assure you that most of the ads that end with the words, "I am Barack Obama and I approve this message," have very little to do with anything he has accomplished while in office. Most of his ads attack Mitt Romney's exemplary business record at Bain or try to paint the illusion that Romney's ability to shrink Massachusetts' unemployment numbers down from 5.6% to 4.6% in just four years is somehow not praiseworthy. (Source Bureau of Labor Statistics).
The Obama team is desperate to discredit Romney's record and they are having a hard time given his, to quote President Clinton, "sterling" business record. A few days ago, however, things just went too far. Stephanie Cutter, deputy campaign manager and strategist for Obama made the baseless and shameful charge that Mitt Romney is possibly guilty of a criminal behavior. She said, "Either Mitt Romney through his own words and his own signature was misrepresenting his position at Bain to the SEC, which is a felony."
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| Image from The Washington Times |
The Obama camp is trying to tie Mitt Romney to the outsourcing that took place after he left Bain Capital to run the Olympics. Multiple sources from Bain Capital have independently confirmed with The Washington Post and multiple reports from CNN and even David Gergen, have overwhelming supported the fact that Mitt Romney did not play a role of any kind in the decisions that were made after he left Bain Capital.
Yet, here we are days later and the Obama camp refuses to back down and offer an apology for such a defamatory accusation.
Mitt Romney is naturally furious that the president would participate in this type of distortion and called on Obama and his campaign to apologize. Despite multiple sources discrediting these charges, they refuse to take back what they said. Stephanie Cutter even told CBS, "He (Romney) is not getting an apology."
Former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel took things even further and went as far as to say to Romney, "Stop whining."
Stop whining? Stop whining? This is shameful campaigning and the American people should demand more from our president.
In many ways, I sort of feel like the "Stop whining" message is exactly what this president is telling us to do whenever we try to hold him accountable for the dismal economy that he promised he could fix. He doesn't want to be reminded that he promised his astronomically expensive stimulus bill would take unemployment below 8%. It didn't. He doesn't want to hear that his policies have failed. He doesn't seem to be learning from his mistakes. And his plan for the next four years appears to be simply a reflection of what he has already tried.
Well, I am one American who is not going to stop whining. Yes, this president inherited a fiscal mess, but he ran on the promise that he could fix it. He hasn't.
I saw this image yesterday and it made me laugh.
The reason why I support Mitt Romney is because in Mitt's lifetime, in multiple situations, he too, was hired to fix a mess that he inherited. In 1999, he was hired to fix the Olympics. The Olympic preparations in Utah were a mess. Scandal, bribery, misuse of funds, rescinding sponsorships and warnings that the International Olympic committee was preparing to pull the games from Salt Lake City. Romney inherited a mess. But I cannot think of one interview where Romney complained that his job was hard because of the mess he inherited.
Can we imagine if four years into his job, if he had failed to save the games and only blamed his predecessors for the mess they left him? Had he not "fixed" the mess he inherited, he would have been fired---and rightly so.
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| Image from NBC News |
Romney didn't blame. He fixed. He saved the Olympics and was praised for one of the most successful games in Olympic history.
He inherited a mess, but he knew how to fix it. Can we say the same for our president?
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The polls remain virtually tied. The president and his team are desperately searching for the tipping point that will tip things in the president's favor. They are clearly hoping that the tipping point is to annihilate Romney even if it means using false and defamatory accusations.
I however, would argue that the tipping point needs to be the economy. The tipping point needs to be that things are not better. The tipping point needs to be that Obama's efforts have not worked.
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| Image from Business Week |
The tipping point is that we have a remarkable individual with an exemplary record of fixing broken companies, guiding the bankrupt to become profitable and fiscally running a state government without borrowing money or raising taxes.
The tipping point for our economic future is Mitt Romney.
Go Mitt.
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