Obama represents a bright future for America

To the Editor,

The campaign season is almost over and we will all go to the polls on Tuesday to cast our ballots. It's been a long and tedious campaign with mud being slung far and wide. So, my question is, after all of this, what do we know about the candidates running for President and the two political parties they lead. Let's take them one at a time.

Gov. Romney - I confess that I don't know a lot about Mr. Romney. If you followed his campaign over the last year and a half and then watched the debates, I'm sure you understand my dilemma. He stated very clearly in the debates that he didn't hold any of the positions that he had campaigned on over the last year and a half. Yet, he didn't offer a clear position to replace those. He stands for nothing. The only thing that is glaringly obvious is that he will say anything to get elected. I can't remember any candidate running a campaign completely built on falsehoods before in my lifetime. The only thing I'm quite sure of is that he himself must not believe that he is qualified for the job or he would be truthful about what he wants to do. (Don't tell me about his so called "5 Point Plan." He walked away from that in the debates.)

It's not just that his math doesn't add up. He wants to be an upside down Robin Hood and steal from the poor to give to the rich. He wants to privatize FEMA. (I wonder how the East Coast would feel about that now?) He wants to voucherize Medicare adding about $6,000 to the expenses of the poor and retired. (For many this will put healthcare out of their reach.) He wants to privatize Social Security. (How would that have worked during the economic crisis. People already lost most of their retirements in the crash. If the safety net of SSI had gone the way of their 401K's, people would have starved and been forced out onto the streets.)

Who is supporting this guy? The Tea Party and the far right Christians are a couple of groups. I don't expect much from the Tea Party. They're just the old John Birch Society with a new name. (The Republican Party of the '60s had the good sense not to get in bed with them.) I do expect a little more from the Christian right, though. They are supporting a party and a candidate that will harm the poor, the elderly and the needy. They do this knowingly and the pastors preach their support for this from the pulpit on Sunday. I have to guess that you're either misguided about your religion or faux Christians. You don't seem to believe the Bible. You just cherry pick it to support any odd philosophy you want. A feeling of "being better than" seems to have permeated your religious viewpoint. It's this hypocrisy that mocks both your religious beliefs and your political opinions. You now want to make other people believe as you do and try to govern that way. You are exactly the reason that the founding fathers formed a secular government, to protect the country from religious zealots.

President Obama - He came into office facing the worst economic crisis since the great depression. He managed to put a floor under the economic freefall and stop the slide. He negotiated a stimulus deal to kick start the economy. (No, it wasn't as effective as it should have been. Half of the stimulus was wasted in tax cuts. During hard times tax cut money doesn't go back into the economy. It gets put in the bank and stays there. We know this from other recessions and the great depression. So, the Republicans got to give the ultra wealthy another tax cut at the expense of the stimulus. President Obama got to increase manufacturing in this country while pursuing bringing the future of technology and manufacturing to our shores.) He got us out of our misguided and misbegotten war in Iraq. He decimated Al Qaeda Leadership and brought Osama bin Laden to justice. He got the Affordable Care Act passed. (If more folks got their news from reliable sources instead of networks named after animals or bloated radio talk show hosts, people would be excited about this. It really does lower the cost of health care now and into the future.) He did all of this and more in spite of only having a super majority in the Senate for 21 days for his first two years and battling an obstructive Congress for the last two. He has rehabilitated our global reputation and gotten worldwide support of harsh sanctions against Iran. He has pursued a clear plan in Afghanistan to bring the war to a close and turn their security back over to them. Finally, he has laid out a clear path to the future for the country that involves reinvestment in our infrastructure, education and technologies that will rule the future.

The difference in the two parties are just as stark. The Republicans have become the say anything party. The anti-science party. You listen to people like Todd Akin and others speak and it's an embarrassment. Akin is on the House Science Committee?!! He's one of the minds behind government investment in science and technology. We may as well throw in the towel now. You're doubtful to navigate a rocky straight with a blind man at the helm.

Congress reflects this very well. The Nancy Pelosi Congress was historical. It passed more legislation than any prior Congress. John Boehner's Congress also has set an historic record. They have been the lease productive Congress in the history of the country.

Let's look at what the current Congress spent it's time on:

*Veteran's job bill blocked

*Wall Street reform blocked

*Immigration reform blocked

*Political ad disclosure blocked twice

*Small business jobs act blocked twice

*Unemployment extension blocked

*Recovery and Reinvestment Act, attempted block

*Taxes on companies shipping jobs overseas blocked

*Healthcare for 9/11 first responders blocked

*Benefits for homeless veterans blocked

*Anti-rape amendment blocked

*Fair pay act of 2009 blocked

*Oil spill liability blocked

*Dream act blocked

*Jobs bill blocked

*Wasted time and millions of dollars to vote 33 times to repeal the Affordable Care Act

Do you really think that this "do nothing" Congress has earned its keep?

I'm hoping that people will be smart enough to stay the course with President Obama and give him a Congress that will work with him. No matter your party affiliation, vote for a Democrat. Send people to Congress that are willing to work together. Let's get back to building a bright future. We can do this. It's been done before.

David Starwalt

Poplar Bluff, Mo.