Mitt Romney and Barack Obama - Closing Arguments

Political Realities ^ | 11/03/12 | LD Jackson

[LD Jackson]

In a little over 72 hours, we will have cast our vote in what can easily be argued as the most important presidential election of our lifetime. Shortly afterwards, hopefully that night, we will know the results of that election. I do not want to see it drag on for several days, with unknown results. The longer it drags on with no clear winner, the less likely it becomes that Mitt Romney will defeat Barack Obama. Republicans seem to always lose the close elections, especially if the courts become involved. But, I digress.

I find it somewhat humorous that some of the polls are still wondering what the undecided voters are going to do. Everyone wants to know how these mythical voters are going to break. I say mythical because I find it hard to believe anyone who will be casting their vote on November 6 doesn't know exactly who will get the benefit of their ballot. Then again, I am in political shock that the American people and the media are not up in arms about what has transpired in Benghazi, so I may be completely clueless about the undecided voters. But again, I digress.

Heretofore in this election, we have heard any number of charges and claims from Obama's campaign, all trying to portray Mitt Romney as an evil capitalist and a man who is only after more money. Until the debates, they were largely successful, but when it came time for Romney to be able to present his case directly to the American people, the election began swinging his direction. The media was unable to filter what he said in the debates and a large number of Americans must have liked what they saw. Not only did the race begin to tighten, it actually moved in Romney's favor.

So with a little over 72 hours left before most of us cast our vote, we now have what is widely considered an election that is in a virtual tie. No one really knows how it will go, unless they are privy to information that the rest of us do not have. The two candidates are still campaigning hard and they are now presenting their closing arguments in dueling editorials. They were originally posted on CNN and I am borrowing them from Hot Air.

We will hear first from Barack Obama.

In the closing weeks of this campaign, Governor Romney has started calling himself an agent of change. And I’ll give him one thing — offering another $5 trillion tax cut weighted towards the wealthy, $2 trillion in defense spending our military didn’t ask for, and more power for big banks and insurance companies is change, all right. But it’s not the change we need. …

Change is an America where people of every age have the skills and education that good jobs require. We took on banks that had been overcharging for student loans for decades, and made college more affordable for millions. …

Change is an America where we reduce our deficit by cutting spending where we can, and asking the wealthiest Americans to go back to the income tax rates they paid when Bill Clinton was president. I’ve worked with Republicans to cut a trillion dollars of spending, and I’ll do more. I’ll work with anyone of any party to move this country forward. …

The folks at the very top don’t need another champion in Washington.

There is nothing different in this closing argument than what Obama has said all along. More of the same, class warfare, greedy Mitt Romney, etc., etc. And his mantra of bipartisanship and saying he will work with anyone of any party? Well, that line is getting a little stale. We all know what Obama's idea of bipartisanship is. He wants the Republicans to roll over and play dead, giving him everything he wants. If they don't, then they are the ones who are accused of standing in the way of progress, of causing Washington to grind to a halt. You'll have to forgive me for calling that what it is, a bald-faced lie.

Finally, here is a portion of what Mitt Romney wrote.

America is a land of opportunity. But lately, for too many Americans, opportunity has not exactly come knocking. We’ve been mired in an economic slowdown that has left millions of our fellow citizens unemployed. …

It hasn’t always been this way. It certainly doesn’t have to be this way in the future. …

We will restore fiscal sanity to Washington by bringing an end to the federal spending and borrowing binge that in just four years has added more debt held by the public than almost all previous administrations combined. We will put America on track to a balanced budget by eliminating unnecessary programs, by sending programs back to states where they can be managed with less abuse and less cost, and by shrinking the bureaucracy of Washington. …

Nothing is ever easy in Washington, but these goals are rooted in bipartisan agreement, and I will work with members of both parties to accomplish them. As governor of a state that was overwhelmingly Democratic, I was always ready to reach across the aisle and I can proudly point to the results. I’ve learned that when we come together to solve problems in a practical spirit, we can accomplish miracles.

We could all benefit from listening to Mitt Romney's closing argument. He knows what bipartisanship really means, even if Harry Reid says he will not work with him, if he wins the election. Furthermore, he knows what America is really all about. He has worked hard to be successful and he knows the value of not waiting around to be taken care of by the federal government.

I know Mitt Romney was the first choice of the Republican candidates for most of us. I, for one, voted for Ron Paul in the primary. Even so, look and compare what we have seen out of Barack Obama for the last four years to the plan Mitt Romney has proposed for strengthening our country and pulling us out of the fiscal hole we are in. He may not be as much of a fiscal hawk as Ron Paul, but he is far higher on the ladder than the spend-happy President we now have occupying the White House. Without a second thought, I will cast my vote for Mitt Romney.

[upchuck]

Good post. Thnaks for the setoffs for the quotes.

[loveliberty2]

"Vote for love of country!"

A fitting theme for the last two days of this campaign!

The Founders of America, impassioned believers in Creator-endowed life, liberty, rights, laws to protect them, and freedom of individual enterprise and opportunity certainly would echo Mitt Romney's statement today!

After centuries of Government-over-People arrangements, whether by one, a few, or many, our Founders saw liberty as a Creator-endowed blessing (see Preamble to Constitution), and that Constitution which formed our Republic changed that arrangement to a Creator - People - Governmeent form of self-government which protected those "blessings" of liberty.

Revenge is not an emotion which is conducive to good government or successful individual lives.

Hopefully, on Tuesday, American citizens, motivated by an internal longing for more liberty and less government will have made their appeal to Divine Providence, as did the Founders, and exercise their sacred right to vote for a leader who appeals, not to their baser emotions, but to their God-given longings and desires.

Perhaps we might be inspired by listening to a tremendous modern hymn entitled, "Heal Our Land," by Orrin Hatch,, as performed by Winton Phipps.