Monday, July 16, 2012

Must the President Have Business Experience?

This Presidential race gets curiouser and curiouser with each passing day. Obama and his people keep harping on Romney's Bain Capital tenure as a reason not to vote for him. Romney and his peeps keep harping on Obama not having a business tenure, except for working at a law firm. When one looks at history, some of the worst Presidents had a barn full of business experience and flat lined as the Commander in Chief. So, what is it we should be looking at, where these two gentlemen are concerned, as to help in deciding whom to vote for?

First, I believe we all should look at Obama's record as President. Forget everything else prior to his election. Those things doen't matter at this point. What has he actually done FOR the country? Well, he gave the order to kill Osama Bin Laden and was successful. Put a positive check there. He went ahead with the surge of troops in Afghanistan, when most of his party was against it, and now our troops will be coming home ahead of schedule since the Taliban has been reduced to a few sociopaths living in spider holes and quaking in their boots. Put a positive check there. Iraq has reached a stage where they can either hold things together on their own or fall down on their own, and the troops assigned to that God forsaken country can start to come home. Put a positive check there. I don't believe that anyone on either side of the aisle can argue with those points.

The liberals are ecstatic over the Health Care Law that the Supreme Court upheld, even though the majority of Americans were against it. I believe that is a polarizing accomplishment for Obama. He gets no credit for this signature legislation when it comes to the vote. Many will vote for him because of it, and many will vote against him because of it. The same holds true for his stance on gay marriage, 'amnesty' for illegal aliens in this country, and his lawsuits against Arizona, Texas and Florida over immigration control and voter ID laws. The Fast and Furious scandal will work in the same way, with votes going along partisan lines.

Secondly, we should look at what Obama has done that NEGATIVELY affects the common citizen. It is a foregone and factual conclusion that he has done nothing for the black voter in this country where jobs are concerned. Currently, the black community of our country has a jobless rate of 14.4%. Put a negative mark there. It is a foregone and factual conclusion that the new Health Care Law will raise taxes...as the Supreme Court has advised, along with many doctors and other experts in the health care industry. Put a negative mark there. Tens of millions of dollars have been thrown to green energy projects through his stimulus program that has resulted in disaster. Plus, the only companies that received such funds were owned and operated by those who contributed largely to Obama's election. This is factual. Such monies could have been used in a myriad of other ways instead of going to useless 'green' expirements and ending up in the pockets of his cronies as a reimbursement for their political support. Put a negative mark there. The Keystone Pipeline project, which would have created more than 100,000 jobs directly related to it, plus tens of thousands more indirect jobs (hotel, travel, food, etc) has been refused by his administration.  Put a negative mark there. Obama is fighting the extension of the Bush Tax Cuts, which will raise taxes again. Put a negative mark there. Plus, we can't discount the affect of foreign policy on the common U.S. citizen. His foreign policy has been a dismal failure on all fronts. He backed away from Hosni Mubarak who was one of the most stabilizing forces in the Middle East and a staunch ally of the United States who had helped keep the peace between Israel and the other Arab Nations surrounding her. Granted, he was a despot and a dictator over whom the people of Egypt needed to overthrow, but the U.S. has a very poor record of not throwing our allies under the bus and Obama only kept that record intact. Put a negative mark there. His handling of the Iranian nuclear situation and resultant talks with the Russians have ended miserably. Put a negative mark there. He continues to anger the Chinese who hold a three trillion dollar economic nuclear bomb over our heads instead of taking the Kissinger route to keep us working together. Put a negative mark there. Our military is being cut to a size so small that even the army during the Revoluationary War will look big compared to it. Put a HUGE negative mark there. Then, there are the personal quirks that need to be looked at with intense scrutiny. His refusal to place a hand over his heart during the National Anthem and Pledge of Allegiance. His 'bowing' before the King of Saudi Arabia. His tour around the world to apologize for the past actions of the U.S. His propensity to hob nob with the rich elite of Hollywood, and then attack Wall Street. His take on the 'stupidity' of police when they arrested a good friend of his before he had all the facts in the case. His assassinations of American Citizens without due process. His orders to have drones flying over U.S. soil to spy on its own citizens. His order to remove access and support from the Border Patrol in Arizona when the Supreme Court decided against supporting him and his administration in their suit against the State. Put many negative marks there. He is very much pro-gun control. A nasty negative mark there.

Then, we have Mitt Romney. Former Governor of Massachusetts. He set up a State-run health care system there that included an individual mandate to purchase insurance. Put a negative mark for that one. The combined State and local tax burden in Massachussetts increased under Romney, but stayed below the national average throughout his tenure. Put a postive mark there. The State's income tax fell from 5.3% to 5.0% under his leadership. Put a positive mark there. He increased fees and adopted new fees, with reduced spending that helped to eliminate a 1.5 billion dollar deficit. Put a positive mark there. When he took office, the State's unemployment rate was 5.6%. When he left office, it was 4.6%. Put a postive mark there. He made great strides in State education and was a champion for teachers, implementing bonuses of as much as 15,000 dollars for the top performers. Put a positive mark there. He is for stricter gun control. Put a nasty negative mark there. He is somewhat pro-death penalty, so put a positive mark there. He was tough on repeat drunk driving offenders. Put a positive mark there. There was an increase in crime rates during his tenure. So, put a negative mark there. He is proven to be tough on criminals, having never; as Governor of Massachussetts, granted a pardon or commutation of sentence out of 272 requests for same. A positive mark goes there. He is extremely pro-military as evidenced by seeing to it that any Massachussetts National Guard member killed in the line of duty; their family would receive a death benefit increase from five-thousand dollars to one-hundred thousand dollars. Put a big positive mark there. Romney is very much anti-illegal immigration. Put a positive mark there.

 For Romney, the score is 10 positives and 3 negatives, by my scoring rules, as concerns his record as a leader in political office.

For Obama, we have 3 positives and 10+ negatives as concerns his record as President.

I dont' think the President, or someone running for President has to have ANY business experience to be a leader. But I do believe that if either candidate has a record, it should be evaluated by every voter with an open mind. I don't believe that a man should be voted for or against simply based on his race or his religion. Unfortunately, there will be many blacks and many Evangelical Christians that will do just that. And that is one of the major things that is wrong with this country. It's citizens vote for many stupid reasons that have no reflection on what the candidate can truly bring to the table. God help us all.

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