-->
Hurricane
Sandy blew through our area last week.
Some parts of my neighborhood are still out of power. We lost power for 48 hours and it
seemed like an eternity. I can’t
imagine still being in the dark on these cold days and nights. But, even with the power outages, we
were lucky. Our house is still
standing. The strong winds didn’t
blow any trees onto our roof, through the windows, or into the yard. We were spared the severe devastation
and heaven forbid, the loss of life, which occurred within an hour and half
from our home.
Now, more
winds are blowing, but these winds are those of the election. Tomorrow, across this great country,
people will go to the polls and cast their ballot for the candidates of their
choice. My candidate is President
Barack Obama!
President
Obama took office in January of 2009 with our country teetering on the verge of
a major economic depression. We
were fighting two long wars that were aiding to the bankrupting of our nation. Our reputation around the world was in
the dirt due to the Cowboy diplomacy of the Bush administration.
As I watched
him take his oath of office on that early winter day, I was filled with hope
and pride. The awful state our
country was in was surely no match for the brilliant, compassionate man that
held his hand on the bible. My
confidence was well founded.
Through the
last four years, actually still closer to 3 ¾ at this point, I have watched
with pride as our President cautiously and mindfully navigated the rocky road
that lay before us. His stimulus
bill was an immediate help. He wanted it to be larger, but republicans started
thwarting all his efforts from day one.
Instead of their goal being to help our country get back on solid
ground, their main thought was for their political survival. Their main thought was to work against
our President, to keep the country in the toilet, so they could regain
power. How sick is that? Why did the media not call attention to
their strategy, a strategy that borders on treason?
Had the
stimulus been larger, as most economists had suggested, the turnaround would
have been swifter and more dramatic, however, the stimulus that was passed was
large enough that it stemmed our hemorrhaging of jobs, (we were losing 800,000
per month when President Obama took office). Our President offered a tax cut that gave each person some
extra pocket money. It is well
known that giving money to the middle-class is more stimulating than giving it
to the uber wealthy as the middle-class needs to spend it. They pay bills, they buy groceries, and
they go out to dinner. These small
purchases add up to a large help to the economy at large. The more you and I go out to dinner,
the more the restaurants are busy, they hire more waitresses and waiters and
they in turn then have money to buy candles or whatever…which makes the other
retail stores need to hire more people and so the economy grows.
But giving
more money to the already super wealthy?
They can already buy whatever they want so they just sock it away or
hide it overseas (like Romney).
They do NOT stimulate the economy with it and therefore the label the
republicans have given them, as “job creators” is a lie. The uber wealthy will only hire as a
last resort as they want to aid their bottom line, not lessen it. So they will only hire when there is
dire necessity. They feel no
obligation to support the economy; their only obligation is to their stockholders.
After the
stimulus was in effect, and things stabilized a bit, the President had also
been working on health insurance reform, financial regulations, ending the
wars, and restoring our country to a respectable standing around the
world. All these things he
accomplished despite a record amount of filibusters and being called every name
in the book by a disrespectful, arrogant minority party.
The
Affordable Care Act, known as ObamaCare, is a wonderful piece of legislation
that, although demonized by the right wing and fox, is a policy that respects
individual responsibility. You
have to be covered for none of us knows what the day has in store. The healthiest among us could be hit by
a bus and end up on life support by the end of the day. Risking not having health care in those
instances has caused our fellow citizens to pay for treatment as no one can be
denied care in the Emergency Room.
The ACA makes it so everyone is covered. There are no exemptions for pre-existing conditions, there
are no lifetime limits, insurance companies have to use 80% of their dollars on
CARE not bonuses to the CEO’s, and those young people 26 and under may remain
on their parents health coverage.
All of these together make life and healthcare more affordable to those
of us in the middle class. It will
enable horrific diseases to be discovered early and treated before they are out
of control, more costly, and deadly.
But, the republicans ran around screaming “Death Panels” and Government
run healthcare…of which ACA is neither.
But, facts never stopped a republican from screaming their crap. Aided by the republican propaganda
machine known as Fox News, their idiotic lies become part of the dialogue. The other news channels don’t dispute,
they just put on one person from one side and one from the other and let them
duke it out. The outcome of that
is no one knows there is a truth…but ratings are high and that’s apparently all
the mainstream media is concerned about.
The auto
industry was about to go down, GM was in big trouble. Chrysler was in dire straights. Mitt Romney said, “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt”. His thinking was that he was not
thinking. Luckily, our President
never speaks before his ideas are well thought out. President Obama knew there would be no private funds
available at that point in time with the willingness or ability to back the
auto industry. (Heck, even Bain turned it down!) So, our wonderful President bailed them out and it has paid
back a million times over.
Hundreds of thousands of jobs were saved. Today, the auto industry is back, roaring strong! All the associated industries are doing
extremely well and the loans are almost all repaid.
The Iraq war
was ended. The war in Afghanistan
is winding down. This isn’t good
to the right wing that never met a war they didn’t like. So, what do they want to do? They want to go to war with Iran! The lunacy of this is beyond anything
anyone could adequately discuss, but they don’t care. They rattle their sabers and chant about freedom and liberty…meanwhile,
they don’t send their families to fight.
Of course not. They send
the young men and women who join the military trusting that battle will be a
last resort; men and women who want and need the training of the military due
to the high cost of college. Who
will fight for their safety? Is
there a lobbyist for them? Yes
there is, thankfully, our President, President Obama IS looking out for the
military with care and diligence.
His supporting of the troops goes beyond a bumper sticker. He uses them carefully and only when
absolutely necessary. Like when he
planned and succeeded in killing our number one enemy, a man who killed 3,000
innocent Americans on September 11, 2001, a man who bush swore to get “dead or
alive” before he decided it wasn’t really that important after all. President Obama ordered the operation
that captured and killed Osama Bin Laden.
We had closure. The man
responsible was no more.
When it
comes to equal pay for women, President Obama passed that as his first
legislative priority. Don’t Ask
Don’t Tell, repealed. Our
President is for equal rights for all and marriage equality. He is a caring, intelligent, wonderful
man and he has earned and deserves a second term.
I could go
on for so many topics, each one shows the clarity of thought and understanding
of the problems we each confront every day, each one our President has excelled
at moving in the right direction, but I must spend a little time on our
President’s adversary in this race, Willard Mitt Romney.
Governor
Romney started life off as the son of a Governor, a wealthy automobile
executive. He never knew about
needing anything, he never knew what it was like to start without advantage and
he was apparently never taught compassion. As a vulture capitalist his goal was not to create jobs, it
was to maximize profit. He did
that well apparently, but at great cost to the lives of millions of
hard-working, middle-class Americans.
He would swoop in, load a company with debt, end pensions, end
environmentally sound policies that may cost a few cents more, and cut payroll
(he readily admitted he liked to fire people). His company (corporations are people, too, my friend –
he said) his company grew while the misery index of those he laid off
sky-rocketed. Then, once they were
unemployed, he went on to call them moochers, meanwhile he doesn’t pay taxes
and shelters his money overseas so as to be sure to NOT HELP the country that
gave him everything on a silver platter.
During the
Vietnam War, he was very outspoken about those who protested the war…those who
had to fight it. He was proud in
his standing up FOR the war, while he was in Paris spreading the word of Mormonism…naturally
his pretty rear-end didn’t have to be in a fox hole waiting for shots to be
fired at him, or breathing in Agent Orange…. no, he was privileged. He was eating in outdoor cafes and
writing love notes in the sand.
When running
for Governor of Massachusetts, Mr. Romney swore he would fight for a woman’s
right to choose. (Now he is adamantly pro-life). He was for health insurance reform, Romneycare, before he
was against Obamacare…(the same plan).
He is for more tax cuts for the uber wealthy, which will further add to
the deficit that he claims to care about.
He wants to end Planned Parenthood, heaven forbid poor women get the
healthcare they need. He wants to
end FEMA, to privatize it. Well,
at least he did before the winds of Hurricane Sandy blew in last week and
millions on the East Coast NEEDED FEMA.
Thankfully, FEMA worked flawlessly under the Obama administration and
Romney was left with egg on his face.
Romney’s lies
about the auto bailout, about his tax plan, and his lack of diplomatic skills
as were exemplified when he insulted the British during the Olympics and the
Italians last week, are frightening.
Romney wants
to be President. He thinks he is entitled because he has been entitled his
whole life. From holding down a
young gay man in college to bully him, to putting his sick dog on the roof of
his car, Romney shows he has no empathy for his fellow human beings or any
creatures for that matter.
Romney’s lies and the things he says behind closed doors are not only
problematic for him; they are ugly and not worthy of the office of President.
Tomorrow, my
vote will go to President Barack Obama.
He has turned our country around in a miraculous way despite the great
animosity consistently aimed at him.
(What other President was called a Liar in the middle of a State of the
Union address – none –not even Bush who WAS lying!!) He has been called a terrorist, a Marxist, a Socialist, a
Fascist, un-American etc…when what he is is a brilliant man who worked his way
up from humble beginnings to become the most powerful man in the world. He has a loving family, a strong faith,
and an even stronger love for his country and his fellow man.
I admire my
President for millions of reasons and can’t understand how anyone could even
consider voting for a return to the policies that sunk us under the Bush
administration. How can anyone
vote for a liar like Romney…a man who won’t even disclose his tax returns let
alone let us know what loopholes he plans to cut or anything about his economic
policy. A man who wants to
voucherize Medicare and end social security as we know it…why….because he will
NEVER NEED EITHER!!
The choice
tomorrow is clear. On one side we
have a proven, steadfast man who adheres to thoughtful in-depth understanding
and the other who teeters from one thought to another with no understanding, a
man who can’t see beyond the afternoon headlines.
We can vote
for an honest man, President Obama, or a liar, Myth Romney.
My vote is
for my wonderful President and four more years of a growing, prosperous economy
with equity and opportunity for all.
Obama/Biden
all the way!!
