Romney or Obama? Doesn't Matter

Which presidential candidate will you be voting for in November: Mitt Romney or Barack Obama?  If you have strong feelings toward one candidate or another, let me tell you right now that it does not matter who wins the election.  Both candidates will be equally as ineffective.

You might be wondering why an avid follower of politics like myself would have such an apparently ignorant outlook on the two candidates.  There are three main reasons why I believe neither candidate will change anything.  First has to do with how not liberal Obama is.  Second, candidate Romney is not as conservative as elected Romney.  Third, neither party is willing to take the kind of risk that is necessary to get at the heart of our country's problems.

 

Contrary to what the fearmonger Glenn Beck would have wanted you to believe in the Fall of 2008, President Obama is not all that liberal.  Remember guys like 96.9's Jay Severin saying he was fearful for the country if Obama was elected?  But notice how Glenn Beck no longer has the Fox show and Severin is no longer at 96.9?  I know there were other reasons for their departure, but at least some of it had to do with their audience realizing that the world hadn't come to an end.  Obama has been tougher than any modern president on deportations - already 1.5 million gone (1).  He gave the go-ahead for the strike to kill Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.  He has been responsible for a push for drone attacks in Afghanistan and other hotspots.  The New York Times reported in May of 2012 that he even has a "kill list" for these drone attacks.  He also did not shut down Guantanamo Bay where there are still 166 prisoners, something he said he would do during his campaign.  Furthermore, think about the opportunities Obama had to use his liberal tendencies to satisfy his base that elected him.  He didn't nationalize the banks when they were in trouble.  He followed his predecessor in not prosecuting the heads of the largest financial institutions responsible for the mortgage meltdown that occurred in 2008.  Even with health care, he chose to use the existing private system rather than create a Medicare for all.

Governor Romney is a pragmatist at heart, hidden beneath a well-polished facade of conservatism.  Remember the Mitt Romney that ran against Ted Kennedy for the Massachusetts senate seat in 1994?  That Romney was pro-choice regarding the abortion issue.  As Governor of Massachusetts he believed in universal health coverage that was mandated with threat of penalty.  Romney is praised for his business acumen, a skill he learned in college, then honed in the private sector.  It proved useful in governing the State of Massachusetts.  Unlike a senator whose focus is entirely legislative, a governor is like a manager who has to deal with strict budgets.  How effective would he be able to use his skills as a president, though?  Washington is a different world than local government.  A president does not have the ability to create jobs out of thin air.  So his solution would be the same old tired one of cutting taxes for businesses.  Doesn't that remind you of someone who was elected president in 2000 and 2004?  Where did those policies get us?

 

But let's indulge the candidates' with their claims during this election season.  We will ignore previous actions by President Obama and believe he really does want to make things better for the middle class and that he will accomplish this by using his liberal tendencies.  And let's give Romney the benefit of the doubt by believing his claims that cutting taxes will help boost the economy.  Can this polarized Congress where the Republicans control the House and Democrats control the Senate really permit any of their "radical" ideological policies through the legislative process?  Just look at how watered down the Affordable Care Act got after it finally passed through Congress.

The problems this country faces are not the ones the candidates are talking about.  The economy is fine.  If unemployment is so high, why do I not know anybody who is out of work?  So when you hear all the doom and gloom talk about the economy, ignore it.  The problems we face involve education, energy independence, cyber-security, and health care.  These are things that neither candidate has the guts to tackle in a truly effective way.  Romney could succeed at fixing one of these issues, but he will be so focused on getting re-elected in 2016 that he won't go after them at all.

If you're still not convinced that it doesn't matter who gets elected president this time around, do you honestly think things would be different if John McCain had won in 2008?

(1.) Tampa Bay Times. "Obama Toes Thin Line On Illegals." June 21, 2012