Judgment Day

President Obama, How do I judge thee? Let me count the ways.

One -- Economy and Jobs: What’s more important?  It’s quite a familiar narrative by now.  Excluding last month’s job report numbers, the unemployment rate towered above 8%  since February of 2009 (Obama’s first month in office) and for  40 straight months over 3 years.  Hordes of Americans have quit looking for work.  No incumbent president has ever won re-election with a scorecard like that.  Ask Jimmy Carter! It’s 1980 all over again.   Case closed!  But it gets worse…

There are fewer Americans at work today than in April of 2000, even though the population has grown by 31 million.  More than 45 million people are on food stamps, 15% of the population compared with 7.9% from 1970-2000. More than 11 million Americans are collecting federal disability checks, half of them signing on since Obama took office.

There have been huge declines in personal net worth, much of it coming from the fall in the value of home equity.  A gallon of gas was $1.91 when Obama took office…

These numbers have been recited ad nauseam but they are unchallengeable.  How long can we blame the Bush administration?  What is the Presidents responsibility? Where is his leadership?

His speeches have been about creating divisiveness and class warfare and blaming the so-called “rich” for not paying their fare share of income taxes.  Baloney! Even the CBO states ‘The share of taxes paid by high-income groups exceeded their share of income because average tax rates rise with income”.

No mas, Senor Obama…  Adios amigo!  Our country is beginning to resemble Europe and not for its charm but its social democracy.  

As if this wasn’t enough to sink President Obama’s ship, there is a litany of additional bad policy decisions.  I’m just getting warmed up!

Two-- Obama care:  The government will take over our Health Care, an industry which equates to about 1/6 of the economy.  What could possibly go wrong? It was passed in Congress without a single Republican vote. So much for being bipartisan?

Three --The Debt: There used to be an expression coined by the late Senator Everett Dirksen when he spoke about government programs, “A billion here, a billion there and pretty soon you’re talking real money”. We now have trillions – you can add five of those trillions to the deficit since this President has been in office. “A trillion here, a trillion there… well, you get the picture.

But let’s keep funding PBS and Planned Parenthood (over 300 million each).  I realize it’s a pittance in the big scheme of things, so why subsidize them with tax dollars we have to borrow from China, as Governor Romney put it. Big Bird will do just fine leaving the nest and Planned Parenthood can surely raise funds from their donor base. After all, abortion rights are a staple of their party platform.  How proud they should be to allow the killing of unborn babies to take center stage at their convention. 

Four—Social issues: The Obama campaign also put this “War on women” trope front and center at their convention. It is a distraction, diversion and a miscalculation that could backfire among professional women. Do women only care about abortion and contraception?  It’s like the democrats are saying, “don’t worry your pretty little heads about these men’s issues – the economy and foreign policy, worry about contraception” (which has been a constitutional right for 47 years).  How patronizing and condescending!!  Don’t be fooled, ladies. Cast your vote on the more substantive issues that affect your daily life—like a strong economy, jobs/career and family.

Five—Foreign Policy: There is also no doubt we will see the President front and center this week dealing with Hurricane Sandy.  We are still waiting for him to explain what happened during the hours our embassy was being attacked in Benghazi, Libya that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.  It’s an example of shameful politics triumphing over national security interests.

 Obama and his administration went to great lengths to advance some charade that the attack was in response to an anti-Islamic Internet video? The president likely feared the reputation that his administration was ill-prepared to deal with a clear terrorist threat on the anniversary of Sept. 11.  

Outside of the success of capturing and killing Osama bin Laden, his foreign policy record lacks a strong resolve of what Reagan labeled “peace through strength”.  Mr. Romney called him out on it by accurately describing his initial trip to the Middle East (conveniently skipping our ally Israel) as an “Apology Tour” thus capturing this superficial rock star appeal that the media tends to promote.  Note his appearances on Letterman, Leno, the View and John Stewart as examples of his hip persona.

Six -- Time to Choose:  Make no mistake, citizens of America… we saw the real Obama on the Denver stage during his first debate back in early October.  It was a game changer for this election and the Romney campaign. Peggy Noonan said it best, “He came across as petulant, put upon, above it all and full of himself. He couldn’t afford to make himself look less impressive than the challenger in terms of command, grasp of facts and size. But that’s what he did”.

Hope and change was merely a slogan that didn’t work out so well the last four years… Imagine this President unrestrained in a second term with nothing politically to lose? Sound appealing? It’s our country at stake… let’s make that change!