After actively paying attention to maybe the last five presidents, I am thinking a seasoned businessperson in the White House might help. Really. It would be nice to get someone in the Oval Office who knows how to run our country which is really a big business, isn’t it?
Who has been in charge? We have had a junior senator without much experience, we’ve had good ol’ boys from
I don’t know whom I would vote for this year, but I think we need some new ideas because the “hope” campaign that has been going on for the past three-plus years has not worked.
Do we keep on hoping?
Obama will certainly get credit for the murder of Osama Bin Laden and the recent, daring Team 6 Navy Seals rescue. But we also have dismally high unemployment and a record number of people on food stamps and other aid programs. The one thing I never understood about Obama is his appearances on many TV shows—Oprah, The View, Jay Leno, Letterman Shouldn’t he be running the country and not appearing as a celebrity, hobnobbing with other celebrities? I also realize that you can’t fix the country after four years of mismanagement, but did he improve anything?
Newt Gingrich has found religion after cheating on two past wives and after two divorces. Dating your geometry teacher and then marrying at 19 is quite the gossip fodder for presidential candidacy. But people seem to like his rhetoric thus far, and his personal record is not an issue. It’s wonderful to forgive people for cheating on their spouses, but has his character changed too?
Honesty, integrity and fidelity are important to me as a voter. I heard him say he wants to put a station on the moon within the next four years. We have a severe homeless problem and people are out of work, but we are going to set up housing on the moon? What about helping millions of homeless people and the mentally ill here on earth? They need help!
Mitt Romney finally released his income tax records after hedging about publicizing them, but he only did so after trailing Gingrich in the
Romney’s wealth was the talk of the water-cooler crowd as well as every media outlet after the release. Yes, he is wealthy. Yes, he paid less then 15% in income tax but his tax return is 100% compliant with the law and all 500 pages were in order. Most of his income is from capital gains and investments and not “earned” wages, thus the low tax bracket.
But take a step back before you judge Romney. This is the
He gave $4.3 million to the Mormon Church over two years and many more millions to other charities. He graduated cum laude from the Harvard MBA/JD program, one of only 15 in that class in 1969. He has been married to the same woman for 38 years and stood by her during a bout with cancer and she has MS. (I believe Gingrich left wives #1 and #2 while they had comparable illnesses. Just sayin’).
I’m sure Romney is not without fault, but I cannot fault him for being intelligent and earning money because that is what the
I can fault Gingrich on his poor choices, being dishonest and choosing to put funding on the moon. Obama cannot win an election on his youth, oratorical skills and his continued hoping. I remember early on in his presidency he wanted to accomplish so much and he always talked about it, but there were no solid plans. So, he needs to specify his scope of promises this time into solid concepts and explain how they will occur.
Everyone has a chance, and I hope I can really get excited about a candidate even if I have to switch parties. I cannot blindly vote based on my partisanship to a party.
One election year, I skipped voting altogether because I had severe apathy for the candidates. I felt guilty, but how can you vote if you don’t want any of them elected?
Well, we have several more months of candidate debates, televised commercials showing energetic hand pumping and scripted sincerity, so there’s still time to choose that special person to run our country.
Here’s hoping something improves by November to give me a clue.
