Mitt Romney. I never thought a guy with a name like
"Mitt" and with a son named "Tagg" would ever be president.
Not in this day and age. I’ve always had this theory with presidents and names.
The theory is the president has to have a very common, everyday sounding name.
Now before you get argumentative on me, I do have 2 exceptions to this rule: 1-
War heroes need not worry about names which is how a dude named Eisenhower got
in and 2- If your name is so unusual it’s downright cool, then you can get in
too. This applies to President Barack Obama. Not only is his name so
unconventionally cool, he also made history becoming our first black president,
so that only adds to the coolness. Coolness often supersedes practicality in
the realm of public opinion… don’t believe me? Ask any high schooler, they’ll
tell you. Now if you go back, especially into the 20th century and
look at the names of the elected presidents, you’ll see a lot of vanilla
sounding names… Clinton,
Bush, Reagan, Nixon, Carter, Kennedy, Johnson, etc. If you go all the way back
to Herbert Hoover, that might be the last funky name that got in without
falling under one of my 2 exceptions. Herbert Hoover is not a common name,
although probably more common in those times, and it’s certainly not cool. So Hoover got in and what
happened? That’s right! We went into the Great Depression. Lesson learned America. Or was
it?
Look at the list of people who tried to win the Presidency
with funky names… Michael Dukakis anyone? He was blown out. Sometimes a candidate
cannot even win their party’s nomination because of their funky name… 2008
& 2012 GOP challenger Mike Huckabee anyone? No thanks. So with my name
theory now entrenched in your thought process how could a guy named Mitt win? With
names like those, the Romneys do not sound representative of America. They
sound like rich white elitists who do not represent the common person's
interests. Perhaps I’m lazily stereotyping him but am I wrong? Of course if you
need a more substantial reason he shouldn’t be president I will oblige.
How about all of the lies, misconceptions, half-truths and
complete bullshit? Has there ever been a more dishonest political figure? He
learned his lesson when he lost the nomination to John McCain in 2008 and
portrayed a much more conservative candidate during the Republican primaries in
order to get past Rick Perry, Crazy Eyes Bachmann, Huckabee, Santorum and Newt
Gingrich (another guy who would never have a shot due to his name). Once
nominated, Romney went back towards the center and portrayed himself as more of
a moderate. Good thing most people in America no longer possess long term
memory. He did what he had to do to get himself to the party but it can’t look
good to portray yourself one way and then a few months later go in a different
direction. It looks dishonest and spineless. Who is this guy anyway?
As for the issues, he constantly chides Obama for trying to
get the economy going again by repeatedly stating that government doesn't
create jobs while out of the other side of his mouth is promising to create 12
million as president, which is the amount forecasted for the immediate future anyway
based on our current growth, regardless of who is president. I guess that is
dishonest on 2 levels. He wants to give tax breaks across the board, including
to the rich, even though the super rich are enjoying more wealth than ever,
which is staggering considering the difficult financial times this country and
most of the world is experiencing now. He also wants to continue this obsession
with greed err... trickle down economics which doesn't surprise me as he has
engaged in trickle down politics during this campaign. He's literally been
pissing all over the truth every chance he gets, sometimes downright defiant in
his lies. He has pissed on our collective intelligence wagering that a slight
majority of us are so hopelessly lacking long-term memory that we can't
remember every lie, every gaffe and most of all that we've forgotten how we've
gotten into this mess we're in and who's fault it was. Now I'd like to think
Americans are smarter than that but before I smile reassuringly I am reminded
that this country elected and re-elected George W. Bush in the not-so-recent
past. You can deceive the people and it’s easier to do than you think. That
makes me nervous and not so confident of Americans collectively. He wants to
increase military spending when no one is asking for it, cut “entitlement”
programs at a time when so many need them and let’s not even get into how he
wants to serve Big Bird to his family and friends for Thanksgiving.
I could also get into the attacks and stances on women’s
rights, marriage equality, immigration, the environment, social programs, medical
insurance, infrastructure and so much more but those of you reading this
probably already know. The bottom line is I don't want some shady, wishy-washy,
two-faced salesman/businessman as president. That’s what he really is. He’s a
salesman who is quick to pass blame elsewhere. Blame the product, blame the
producers, blame the consumers but hey, he's just the salesman. If he were
elected and his policies sent things back to how terribly they were in
2007/2008, he'd just point the finger at Obama for leaving him a terrible mess
and he'd blame the poor, the middle class and maybe the victims (the 47%?) for
not doing enough to boost the economy. He doesn’t get it and he never will. I
used to think he was an evil man who intentionally lied and was duplicitous in
spite of the facts but I realize now the world he lives in is not the one you
and I live in. He drives with his dog on the top of the car and has an elevator
for his cars in his house! Who does that kind of stuff? Mitt Romney, that’s
who.
So let’s talk money. He always represents the interests of
the rich and the “job creators”. He and most of his party have been saying this
since Reagan was president but the simple truth is that the rich are not job
creators. Since 1980 wealth in this country has basically doubled. Where did
all that money go? The super-rich of course. Wages haven't increased much over
that time and what people take home against the cost of living certainly hasn't
doubled. It’s barely moved. I thought trickle down economics was supposed to
build this country up from the top down? The rich will have so much that
they'll share their gains with everyone else by creating jobs and passing along
the good fortune. How naive were Americans back then? How naive are they now?
All trickle down economics have done is make the mega-rich richer and given
them more power and more influence to relax market regulations and lower tax
rates commensurate with their greed. It’s widened the gap between the haves and
have nots and it has shrunk the middle class which is why we are in this mess. What
we have most certainly learned during this time is that the middle class drives
the economy. A large, strong and diverse middle class creates significantly
more purchasing power and they create higher demand for products and services,
which... wait for it... in turn, really creates jobs. When people want more
stuff, someone’s got to produce it. People stashing money in offshore banks
doesn't create anything but less tax revenue at a time when we desperately need
it. So to summarize, sorry but I don't want a salesman and mouthpiece for the uber-rich
in the White House.
I want someone with backbone. I want a good man. I want
someone who legitimately cares about others, someone that tries to bring us
together, not someone who wants it to be every person for themselves and drive
us further apart. I prefer community over survival of the fittest. Obama's not
perfect. He's not a perfect candidate but he’s a damn good one and even though
people think he's done basically nothing the last 4 years that simply isn't
true (see the link at the end of this blog). He's done more than you think and
would have done a lot more if the Republican controlled Congress didn't think
to sabotage his presidency in some desperate attempt to brainwash people in
thinking that everything that has gone wrong is his fault and that he hasn't
gotten anything done. Well, you know what? Some people buy it. Hopefully there
are still enough people out there who won’t buy what this salesman has been
pushing. America
doesn’t need a businessman, it needs a president and we already have one, a
good one. Now that things are turning around for the better and we aren’t as
financially hamstrung by recessions and wars, let’s see what he can really do.
Forward.
