George W. Bush

Presidential Empathy: The Shortcoming Of Mitt Romney’s Candidacy For President

The reality of American politics, past and present, is that most politicians have always been very wealthy, as running for and serving in public office requires assets, and the time and effort needed to be elected and to serve in office.

No one has a problem with a politician’s wealth unless it leads to a belief that he has a callous lack of concern about the lives of ordinary people, a disconnect between the politician and the people.

Therefore, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, George H. W. Bush, and George W. Bush came across as leaders who could connect to the American people at the time they were elected.

This is the problem of Mitt Romney, his inability to connect to average people, and demonstrate concern for the average American’s everyday existence.

We don’t fault a person being rich who wishes to govern us, but we do resent a person who looks down on us as the “plebeians”, who should just accept the “patricians” without any expectation of such leaders considering our needs and problems.

Barack Obama Evokes FDR: Don’t Change Horses In Mid Stream!

In 1936, Franklin D. Roosevelt was President, and the nation was in the depths of the Great Depression.

From a high of 25 percent unemployment, we had seen the unemployment rate decline to about 17 percent, in most estimates. In other words, we had seen a decline, but there was a lot of work to do on improving the economic picture. FDR chose to emphasize the progress made, and the idea why would anyone want to revert to the policies that had failed under Herbert Hoover.

He would use the concept of “Don’t Change Horses in Mid Stream” as the argument to re-elect him. It worked, as even with the high but improved unemployment rate, FDR won all but Maine and Vermont, and a total landslide in both electoral and popular votes against Kansas Governor Alf Landon in 1936.

Now in 2012, Barack Obama is using the same appeal: that with unemployment skyrocketing in 2009, and the rate raising to almost ten percent before declining, that great progress has been made in job creation, about 3.7 million jobs, with the chance of regaining ALL of the lost jobs by the time of the election, and with the rate now 8.3 percent, it could go down below 8 percent by November.

So therefore, why would one wish to return to the George W. Bush policies that failed economically, and led to the Great Recession, the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression?

The Obama strategy seems to be working, as he now has a majority of the registered voters supporting him, and meanwhile, Mitt Romney is gaining fewer voters for himself, even as he wins primaries and caucuses!

The Anti Immigrant Mentality Of Republican Party Lowering Primary-Caucus Participation: Danger For Party’s Electoral Future!

George W. Bush and John McCain, for all their shortcomings, understood something that Mitt Romney and many other Republicans refuse to acknowledge: that the image of being anti Hispanic and anti Latino is going to kill support among that growing population group for the Republican Party.

The evidence is already in, based on Florida and Nevada, that there is not much enthusiasm among Hispanics and Latinos to participate in primaries and caucuses, and that, added to general decline in participation in all of the primaries and caucuses so far by a few percentage points, only makes the job of mobilizing voters for the Republican Party this fall all the more difficult.

With the growing Hispanic and Latino population in many swing states and throughout almost all of the 50 states, the GOP may be painting itself into a corner politically, and giving the Democrats an advantage that could continue into future elections.

Presidential Empathy And Emotional Connection With The American People

There are so many talents, abilities, and skills required for a person in any occupation or field of work to have success, and the same is so for the American Presidency.

We have had Presidents who, despite many other talents, abilities and skills, were simply unable to show empathy and emotional connection with the American people. Instead, they came across as aloof, distant, plastic, and unable to relate to the “common man”!

Among those Presidents who failed to demonstrate empathy and emotional connection with the American people would be the following:

William Howard Taft
Woodrow Wilson
Warren G. Harding
Calvin Coolidge
Herbert Hoover
Lyndon B. Johnson
Richard Nixon
Jimmy Carter
George H. W. Bush
George W. Bush

Among those Presidents who had the ability to display Presidential empathy and emotional connection were the following:

Theodore Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Harry Truman
Dwight D. Eisenhower
John F. Kennedy
Gerald Ford
Ronald Reagan
Bill Clinton
Barack Obama

Does Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, or Ron Paul have these abilities? The answer is ABSOLUTELY NOT, and this will make it more difficult for any or them to serve in the Oval Office in a time of great human suffering due to the economic collapse since 2008.

Robert Gates Challenges Republican Presidential Candidates Who Call Barack Obama Weak On Defense And National Security

Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates tonight, in an interview on CNN, challenged Republican Presidential candidates who have asserted that Barack Obama is weak on defense and national security matters.

Gates, a Republican who served at the Pentagon under both George W. Bush and Obama, said that when you look at the record, Barack Obama has been very willing to use aggressive tactics against terrorists, referring to the death of Osama Bin Laden and other Al Qaeda leaders.

Gates also said that Mitt Romney’s charge that Obama promotes “Pretty Please’ tactics to adversaries has no basis, as there is nothing wrong with reaching out to enemies and hoping that one can reason with them, get them to do what we want, and utilize the military option only as a last resort. Without actually saying it, he was clear in believing that promoting confrontation is not the best tactic for a President to start off his administration, a slap at Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, and Newt Gingrich, who all seem ready to declare war on Iran on Day One in the White House.

While not willing to take a stand on GOP Presidential candidates, Gates smiled and said he has voted in the past for Democratic Presidential candidates, without specifying whom, and that he would keep his vote this November to himself, refusing to say he would back the Republican nominee because of party loyalty.

Based on earlier assessments of Obama by Gates, one would not be surprised he voted for Obama, who it is clear he has very high regard for. Gates was a tremendous help to Obama in the first two plus years of his Presidency, and will go down in history as a truly decent, caring, patriotic Republican who was willing to help a Democratic President, rather than be petty, vindictive, obstructionist, all in the name of partisan politics, rather than doing what was right for the nation as a whole!

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer: The Most Despicable Woman In Public Life!

Controversy has surrounded other woman politicians, including Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann, but neither, or any other woman, quite matches the level of despicable behavior of Arizona Governor Jan Brewer.

Brewer, who never would have been Governor without the move of Janet Napolitano to become Barack Obama’s Secretary of Homeland Security, has proved to be the most outrageous in her behavior and policy making.

Brewer re-emerged in the news this week when she confronted President Obama on the tarmac at the Phoenix Airport and pointed her finger at him in an accusatory manner, a terrible moment of disrespect, worse than anything any Republican officeholder has done before. It is an escalation of the total lack of dignity and respect on the part of Republicans toward our President, never matched in American history! If such a lack of respect had been shown toward George W. Bush by a Democratic officeholder, we would never had heard the end of it, but conservatives applauded her rudeness!

Brewer is so concerned about illegal immigration in her state, without any concern for the loss of life of many refugees who die in the Mexican and Arizona desert. She claims that the Obama Administration has done nothing on illegal immigration, when Obama has increased the number of National Guard troops on the Arizona-Mexico border dramatically.

But even worse than her lack of respect for Obama, and her demagoguery on illegal immigration, is Brewer’s lack of concern about the loss of human life of Arizona residents who need life saving transplants, and are being denied those procedures under the Medicaid program, because the governor cannot find funds to cover it, despite the realization that she has the ability to find ways to raise the money if she really cared.

This is a woman who talks the anti abortion viewpoint, but has no concern about the loss of life of people who have life threatening conditions, and should be given what they need no matter what the cost, including if necessary, god forbid, a tax increase on the very wealthy, who would not miss the small amount of extra taxes, but would be able to feel good that they had helped others to survive and prosper after a transplant.

Instead, these wealthy people are only too willing to spend money, as Sheldon Adelson of Nevada is doing, to support their favorite candidate, in this case Newt Gingrich, to promote their own selfish agendas! In fact, if Sheldon Adelson can give Gingrich $10 million for his campaign, why can’t he personally pay for the transplants of these Arizona victims?

What kind of human being could sleep at night, knowing that by her refusal to do what needs to be done for sick people, most of them young or middle age, that she is condemning them to death, as has happened in a couple of cases of a group of what is now 96 survivors who, apparently do not matter, but if they were fetuses, they would matter!

Jan Brewer is a total disgrace in more ways than one, and an embarrassment who should be repudiated by all decent people! And Sheldon Adelson should “cough” up the money for these 96 Arizonans, in what would amount to a “drop of water” in the “ocean” of his wealth! And he could also take a tax deduction for charity if he did so!

Romney Tax Cut Plan Benefits Wealthy Three Times As Much As George W. Bush’s Tax Cuts

News has come out that Mitt Romney’s Tax Cut plan would TRIPLE the benefit to the top one percent of the population, which includes Mitt Romney.

George W. Bush’s tax cuts were equivalent to one percent of Gross Domestic Product at the time, while Romney’s tax cuts would be equivalent of 3.4 percent of GDP, and cause massive cuts in domestic social programs, including Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

Romney himself would gain a 40 percent or greater tax cut, added on to his 15 percent or less tax burden now.

No wonder Romney does not wish us to see how he acquired his $250 million wealth over the years, and refuses up to now to reveal his past tax returns, even though his father, George Romney, was path breaking, in releasing 12 years of tax returns when he ran for President in 1968 as a potential Republican nominee.

So senior citizens and the poor would bear the burden of Romney’s tax cut plan, as he is very willing to enrich the “one percent” at the expense of the rest of us.

How could anyone support Romney against Barack Obama hearing the truth about the Romney tax plan? It is again an example of the tone deafness of many people, who secretly still hate that a guy who is black is our President! There is no rational explanation otherwise, sorry to say, why anyone would vote against his or her own economic interest!

Samantha Garvey: A Model For Our Nation Of Overcoming Adversity!

Samantha Garvey is a senior in high school in New York, whose family has suffered hard times due to her mother being injured and unable to work, and her father unable to pay the bills and losing their home, resulting in the family living in a homeless shelter.

Samantha is a semifinalist in an Intel Science Talent Search competition, and her story of accomplishment in the midst of tragedy and turmoil is so inspiring that she has been invited as the guest of President Barack Obama for his State of the Union address next week. She has applied for admission to Yale and Brown Universities.

This is a bright moment in the midst of tremendous economic tragedy, not just for her family, but for millions suffering from the collapse of the economy under George W. Bush, and the slow recovery occurring under Barack Obama.

Holy War In Play: Social Conservatives Against Mitt Romney, Barack Obama, And Separation Of Church And State!

Social conservatives have always been a problem for the Republican Party since the rise of Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and the Moral Majority, Christian Coalition and their associated groups, including large numbers of Tea Party Movement activists.

Insisting that separation of church and state are not the beliefs of the Founding Fathers who created our Constitution, the evangelical Right has been exasperated over the performance in office of Republican Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and George W. Bush, and discontented with the candidacies of Bob Dole in 1996 and John McCain in 2008.

So now, a large group of these social conservatives, including many religious leaders and wealthy businessmen, have met in Texas, and decided to coalesce around former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum as the best hope to stop former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney in the race for the Republican Presidential nomination.

More than two thirds of those gathered in Texas decided that Texas Governor Rick Perry and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich had too many weaknesses and shortcomings, and that Santorum, who has emphasized his opposition to gay rights and abortion rights, was their “man”!

These religious right wingers are desperate to defeat Barack Obama, but see Romney as a “Massachusetts liberal”, and many are uncomfortable with a Mormon running for the Presidency, as many of them see the Church of Latter Day Saints as a cult.

It will be interesting to see whether the Evangelical Right will be able to stop Romney from being the nominee, and stop Barack Obama from having a second term of office in the White House.

The whole idea of a Mormon candidate against a mixed race President, who is black in appearance, drives these religious fanatics crazy. The whole concept of separation of church and state, and the idea of personal freedom of individuals to control their own lives, drive these extremists to fury and anger.

Hate is the key word here, and it seems likely that the evangelical Right will lose on both counts, and America will be the better for their repudiation!

Republican Talking Points On Taxes, Regulation, Growth Of Government, Unemployment Rate, And Fighting Terrorism All Total Lies!

The Republican Party has been attacking the Obama Administration for three years, using “talking points” about taxes, regulation, growth of government, the high unemployment rate, and fighting terrorism.

According to Republican propaganda, Obama has raised taxes, when in actual fact, he has lowered payroll taxes and small business taxes multiple times.

According to Republican propaganda, Obama has increased regulations of all kinds, while in fact he has worked to get rid of unnecessary, unproductive regulation, while increasing it where needed.

According to Republican propaganda, Obama has increased the growth of government, when in actual fact, he has called for and now is initiating streamlining and unification of government agencies on trade and commerce, to save money and cut bureaucracy and unnecessary “red tape”.

According to Republican propaganda, the Obama Administration has failed to lower unemployment and create jobs, while the facts are that 3.2 million jobs have been created, restoring two thirds of the numbers unemployed due to the economic collapse in the last months of the Bush Administration and the first months of the Obama Administration. At the rate of job creation now, the entire loss of 4.7 million jobs since January 2009, mostly in the first six months of the administration as a carryover from the Bush Adminstration, will be recovered by the end of the term of office. And the high point of 9.8 percent unemployment is now down to 8.5 percent, and may go below the magic number of 8 percent that Obama pledged was his goal in the first term, with further improvement later on.

According to Republican propaganda, the Obama Administration has failed in the fight against terrorism, while in reality, our government has used the drone weapon very effectively against terrorists, both Al Qaeda and the Taliban, and has been successful in killing Osama Bin Laden, Anwar Al Awlaki, and helped NATO eliminate Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi.

EVERYTHING utilized as Republican propaganda for the past three years is based on lies, deceit, mythology, and manipulation of public opinion! Never has an administration been so wronged with all of its accomplishments, of which the above are only a selected few!

But the American people will get the message during the upcoming campaign about what REALLY happened, and who is responsible for the lack of FURTHER improvement, the Republican Party, which only cares about the one percent, and utilizes social issues to draw support from others NOT rich!

The sham is soon to be over, and Mitt Romney will not know what hit him when the campaign is in full swing! And if by some miracle, Rick Newt Gingrich or Ron Paul or Rick Santorum magically becomes the nominee, the attack will be only the stronger!