Romney got so much right

Almost every day, it seems, brings a headline demonstrating how right 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was, and how wrong President Barack Obama was, on the critical issues facing America.

In 2012, Romney warned that Obama’s failure to secure an agreement to keep a residual military force in Iraq would threaten the U.S. gains made at such a high cost in American lives and treasure. “America’s ability to influence events for the better in Iraq has been undermined by the abrupt withdrawal of our entire troop presence,” Romney asserted.

The chaos in Iraq today supports Romney’s view. With no U.S. military presence to constrain Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, the Shiite politician persecuted Sunni leaders and gutted Sunni participation in government and the military. Worse, it set the stage for Sunni sympathies to turn to the fanatical Islamic State in Syria and Iraq that has conquered a significant part of the country and waged genocide against religious minorities. Obama has had to order U.S. air strikes to protect U.S. personnel in the Kurdish region and to support Kurdish militia to keep ISIS from capturing all of northern Iraq.

In the 2012 debates, Obama mocked Romney for calling Russia America’s top geopolitical foe. Today, Russia has stolen Crimea from Ukraine, funds and provides weapons and men to Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine and even threatens an invasion of the country. President Vladimir Putin meddles in the Mideast, seeks to expand Moscow’s clout in Latin America, and harbors renegade Edward Snowden.

On domestic issues, Romney in 2011 advanced the idea of giving veterans a voucher to obtain medical care they could not get at a Veterans Administration hospital. This year saw the VA scandal reveal that long waiting lists for hospital treatment were hidden. Legislation Obama signed this week allows vets to seek help outside the VA system.

Romney understood that the nation’s outdated, complex tax code encourages U.S. corporations to park assets overseas and invest in other countries. He recommended tax reform to keep that money and business in America and boost the economy. Obama does nothing about reform but demagogues as “unpatriotic” corporations pressured by the tax code to seek profits and better returns for shareholders overseas.

As governor in Massachusetts, Romney demonstrated an ability to work across party lines, and, as a business executive called upon to save the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics from scandal and financial ruin, he proved to be a problem solver.

Obama has never demonstrated a commitment to bipartisan leadership. In the opening days of his presidency in 2009 with the nation in financial crisis, Obama rejected GOP ideas for economic stimulus by telling Sen. John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, that “I won.” Obama’s re-election meant only further gridlock in Washington.

All this hasn’t been lost on the public. Polls last month showed Romney would handily win a rematch and that he would be a 2016 front-runner in New Hampshire, which hosts the first presidential primary. Even some GOP donors warmed to the idea of a 2016 Romney bid.

Romney ruled it out. Probably with good reason. Another run would require his confronting the ghosts of 2012 — his “self-deportation” immigration rhetoric, his writing off of the “47 percent,” and his failure to defend his own business record.

While Romney might have been the president the country needs today, it’s not so clear he’s the candidate of tomorrow.

The government needs to be managed? Why?

You seem to have a problem with the word "manage." The President is the head of the Executive Branch of government. He is in charge of implementing and enforcing the laws promulgated by Congress. He is the CEO of the government along with being the Commander in Chief.

And lets have a dose of reality. The United States has a population of 318 million people, the third most populous nation on Earth. We have an annual budget approaching $4 trillion and a GDP of $17 trillion. There is a federal workforce (excluding the military) of 2.7 million, which is the lowest level since 1966.

And we have an international leadership role. When the US sneezes, the rest of the world gets a cold.

If the framers thought so, then fine. Where is the job description of the president in the Constitution. And dows it state that he has to manage a government that takes above 40% of people’s income to support itself and all the programs it has invented to keep itself in business.

Article II SECTION. 1. The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.

SECTION. 2. The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States

SECTION. 3. He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient;

Where does it state in the constitution that he has to have massive managerial skills?

Article II, Section. 1. "The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America."

Manager:

person responsible for controlling or administering all or part of a company or similar organization. synonyms: executive, head of department, supervisor, principal, administrator, head, director, managing director, CEO, employer, superintendent, foreman, forewoman, overseer

Executive

relating to the job of managing or directing other people in a company or organizaton

: of, relating to, or used by the people who manage or direct a company or organization

: responsible for making sure laws are carried out and for managing the affairs of a nation

I don’t have a problem with the word manage. Did you read my original response?

No.

OK I’ll resurrect it.

George Bush was a manager and managed to get us into a lot of trouble, started the economy on a spiral, it was he who did the bail out initiative, and he got us into the Iraq deal.

Just comparing him to the call for Romney, a good manager.

And the conversation took a dive from there, pointing our that George Bush wasn’t a good enough manager.

So then the question was repeated, how good a manager does one have to be?

And my view starts with the oft heard comment on Fox News (or should we call it H! campaign HQ News?) that Hillary is tough and really knows how to fight back.

THe real question then is, does anyone consult the constitution for the job description, because being tough or being a good manager, or on the Saudi payroll, or guaranteeing birth control for the masses is not there.

Hillary can be tough against decent people, against conservatives and against Trey Gowdy or we the people, so what does being tough have to do with anything.

There is no virtue in being tough nor for that matter in being a good manager or a successful community organizer. Any Mafia Don can claim all of that on a resume.

What matters is whether the guy can read the constitution and protect and defend it. Because that is the job description.

Everything follows from there.

I have no problem with the word manager. Why would I? George Bush was a good manager. So is Obama. He manages his vacation schedule and his lies and the media into two terms.

Problem is his management is not going into the priority it should b going into.

Any guarantee, or even record that Romney wouldn’t be managing his own extraconstitutional priorities.

Check his latest stance on abortion, Obamacare, anything else.

I will guarantee you cannot quote him saying the word Constititution in the past three years since after the election.

I don’t have a problem with the word manage. Did you read my original response?

I read your original response. I disagreed with it. Then, you went off on the tangent about the Constitution and where does it say that the President should be a manager. I gave you the reference,

We need competence in the WH. We really haven't had it since Reagan. We are bankrupt. We have over a hundred trillion dollars of unfunded liabilities. We has structural unemployment affecting our young people. Our aging population is placing increasing stress on our social safety net. Our country is declining as a global power. Our entitlement programs are consuming two-thirds of our budget.

Bush was a lousy manager not much better than Obama. Neither one of them was competent as an executive.

Any guarantee, or even record that Romney wouldn’t be managing his own extraconstitutional priorities.

Another strawman. I am not supporting Romney for the WH in 2016. However, there is no question in my mind that he is a superior executive who could have addressed many of the fundamental problems with our inefficient, ineffective government. Still, he would be very limited in what he could do unless he could convince Congress to make some very hard decisions. Bush had a Rep Congress and made matters worse.

In any event, we can only go around this tree so many times. I want a real executive in the WH to address some very serious, fundamental problems that threaten our very survival as a nation. We need to have priorities. Over and out.

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