The Party of Doom and Gloom

There are none so blind as those who will not see

Panic-stricken Republican pundits blanket the media as we close in on November 6th.  They continue to vigorously manufacture an alternate universe that is reminiscent of the vision created by Director Robert Zemeckis in Back to the Future II.  This is an image of a parallel time warp depicting neighborhoods strewn with litter, populated with graffiti-covered homes and a ubiquity of security bars. Republicans wish to implant this representation into the minds of whomever is gullible enough to believe them.

They root for America to fail as an attempt to power-grab, in hopes that their Party will regain dominance so as to protect the interests of the ultra wealthy and to continue their desired path of income inequality.

On Sunday's This Week with George Stephanopoulos, George’s roundtable guest, Republican pundit Peggy Noonan said “People don’t think things are getting better economically.”  That statement compelled me to write this blog.  In fact, just the opposite is true.  “Consumer Confidence in U.S. Rises to a Seven-Month High,” is the headline of a Bloomberg News article authored by Alex Kowalski dated September 25th.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-25/consumer-confidence-in-u-s-increases-to-a-seven-month-high.html

Below is an excerpt of a poll from right-leaning Rasmussen, covering the past two months.  It reveals a ten point upward swing of improved confidence in the direction America is moving.

DATE	RIGHT DIRECTION	WRONG TRACK
SEP 24-30	37%	55%
SEP 17-23	36%	58%
SEP 10-16	35%	58%
SEP 3-9	37%	57%
AUG 27- SEP 2	31%	62%
AUG 20-26	28%	63%
AUG 13-19	29%	63%
AUG 6-12	29%	63%
JUL 30-AUG 5	27%	66%

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/mood_of_america/right_direction_or_wrong_track

Alarm permiates the Republican air as their pundits and politicians realize how unlikely it is that Mitt Romney will be offering anything other than a consolation speech on the evening of November 6^th.  This fact-free Party continues its feeble attempt to project onto the American public that they and they alone can protect us from an otherwise certain Armageddon.

Americans are smarter than that.  We have witnessed the destruction that, to borrow a phrase from Newt Gingrich, “right-wing social engineering” has cost our nation.  No, this time we have history to counsel us.  To quote another prominent Republican, “Fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again.”

Chameleon Romney

As our Presidential election nears, it becomes increasingly clear that we will be inviting Barack Obama back into our living rooms through 2016.  Mitt Romney is not only a deeply flawed candidate but he cowers and capitulates to a Republican party that has evolved into radicalism.

Given his chameleon-like ability to project onto his audience what he presumes they wish to hear, any credibility he once enjoyed has all but vanished.  Mr. Romney unabashedly adorns a secretive cloak of mystery, to which he feels his status gives him title.  A book he authored called “No Apologies” speaks to that arrogance.  He stubbornly ignores ongoing appeals to do what every presidential candidate has done over the past number of decades; release several years of tax returns.  Many of these cries come from his own party.

Mr. Romney has released only two years of returns, both of which were skillfully crafted after he knew of his presidential ambitions.  In his 2011 returns, he reverse engineered his shameful 14.1% federal income tax rate as a ruse in an attempt to fool the American public.  This was done by not claiming more than $2 million in legitimate tax deductible donations, presumably to his church. His actual tax rate is closer to 10%.  It is almost certain that he will recoup this short-term loan to the IRS by amending his return in 2013, albeit delayed for political trickery.

On the other hand, Mr. Obama has his own set of problems, beginning with an economy that continues to struggle.  He is tasked with having to balance politics, policy and his campaign while at the same time leading our nation.  In actuality, our President has performed remarkably well under the conditions he inherited.

He helped prevent a global depression by making certain that a sufficient amount of stimulus was injected into our free market system.  Moreover, he saved our auto industry by assigning federal funds to serve as a bridge loan to GM and Chrysler until they became financially stable.  As a nation of diminishing production, we could have ill afforded to lose our automakers!

Let us not forget where our 401Ks and IRAs were nearly 4 years ago.  The stock market has doubled in value since the start of the great recession.  Imagine how viscous the attacks from the right would be if the Dow Jones hadn't recovered.

Mr. Obama also deserves credit for enacting health care reform, which is already saving lives and protecting assets when catastrophic illness occurs.  He accomplished all of these feats with little public support, and hostile obstruction from the radical right.

Perhaps I am overly confident in thinking that Paul Ryan will return to congress this fall, while Mitt Romney slithers into obscurity as most chameleons do. Nevertheless, the outcome of this election is far from certain.  It would behoove us all to turn out on election day to cast our votes, that is if you have proper ID!