During the Republican National Convention every democrat, including myself, got an odd present in the moments before Mitt Romney introduced himself to the American Public. We watched an American icon loose it as he spoke to an empty chair on a national stage. The headlines in the paper the next day were more interested in Clint Eastwood’s monologue than Mitt Romney’s speech, and an internet sensation of people talking to empty chairs broke out. Little did any democrat know that on October 3, 2012 Clint Eastwood’s conversation with an empty chair would become a prophecy. As the New Yorker’s October 15, 2012 cover illustrates, Governor Romney was debating an empty chair.
It is time for the president to fill the seat. In the last few months I have forgotten what the President stands for. I know I don’t want Mitt Romney in office. The Obama campaign has made his short comings very clear. I know I don’t want a Medicare system that defeats the purpose of Medicare. Medicare was created because private insurance companies did not want to cover the elderly because it was too expensive. A voucher system would make it impossible for middle class and lower class elderly people to afford health insurance. I know I don’t want tax cuts for the wealthy and I support increasing revenue in the tax code. In the 1990s the United States was on track to finally pay off its national debt, and with the Bush Tax Cuts and two wars we watched our hopes of paying off our debt vanish and instead of having reserve money to bust us out of this recession we had to continue deficit spending to prime the pump of the American economy. I know I don’t want Mitt Romney, but why should I want Barack Obama?
We used to know what President Obama Stood for. When then Senator Barack Obama ran in 2008 we had a pretty good idea of what he was going to do as president. We knew he was going to pass a healthcare reform bill. We knew he was going to expand financial aid for students. We knew he was going to support green energy. We knew he wanted to close Guantanamo bay. We knew he wanted to provide a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, especially to the children who came here out of no choice of their own and wanted to serve this country either by pursuing a higher education or serving in our military. But as was clearly evidenced in the first presidential debate, it does not seem that even the President knows what he wants to do on January 20th, 2013 should he win a second term.
The President needs to show us what a second term would look like. And the best part is, he doesn’t have to come up with new ideas. It’s time he start reminding the American public of all his great ideas the tea party congress shot down in the last few years. In September of 2011 President Obama addressed congress in an urgent plea to pass the American Jobs Act. This act would provide massive tax cuts to the middle class and small businesses so they can start spending again and start hiring new people. It provided tax cuts for those who hired our heroes in the military, and provided states with funds to hire new teachers for the next generation of job creators. It would have provided a tax cut for businesses who hire the long term unemployed. It would have created an infrastructure bank that would focus on rebuilding our countries crumbling roads, bridges and electricity grid and help restore the middle class construction jobs that were lost in the recession. He wanted to retrofit our buildings to be more energy efficient and he wanted to invest in new technologies to reduce our dependency on foreign oil.
We need the President Obama of 2011 back. That president had ideas. That president had a plan to fix the American economy and reinvest in the future. I knew what that president could accomplish if we did not have a tea party congress holding this country hostage. It’s time for the president to stop running against Governor Romney and for him to start running for another four years in office. This president had a plan, and it’s time for him to start reminding us of what it was.
It is time for the president to fill the seat. In the last few months I have forgotten what the President stands for. I know I don’t want Mitt Romney in office. The Obama campaign has made his short comings very clear. I know I don’t want a Medicare system that defeats the purpose of Medicare. Medicare was created because private insurance companies did not want to cover the elderly because it was too expensive. A voucher system would make it impossible for middle class and lower class elderly people to afford health insurance. I know I don’t want tax cuts for the wealthy and I support increasing revenue in the tax code. In the 1990s the United States was on track to finally pay off its national debt, and with the Bush Tax Cuts and two wars we watched our hopes of paying off our debt vanish and instead of having reserve money to bust us out of this recession we had to continue deficit spending to prime the pump of the American economy. I know I don’t want Mitt Romney, but why should I want Barack Obama?
We used to know what President Obama Stood for. When then Senator Barack Obama ran in 2008 we had a pretty good idea of what he was going to do as president. We knew he was going to pass a healthcare reform bill. We knew he was going to expand financial aid for students. We knew he was going to support green energy. We knew he wanted to close Guantanamo bay. We knew he wanted to provide a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, especially to the children who came here out of no choice of their own and wanted to serve this country either by pursuing a higher education or serving in our military. But as was clearly evidenced in the first presidential debate, it does not seem that even the President knows what he wants to do on January 20th, 2013 should he win a second term.
The President needs to show us what a second term would look like. And the best part is, he doesn’t have to come up with new ideas. It’s time he start reminding the American public of all his great ideas the tea party congress shot down in the last few years. In September of 2011 President Obama addressed congress in an urgent plea to pass the American Jobs Act. This act would provide massive tax cuts to the middle class and small businesses so they can start spending again and start hiring new people. It provided tax cuts for those who hired our heroes in the military, and provided states with funds to hire new teachers for the next generation of job creators. It would have provided a tax cut for businesses who hire the long term unemployed. It would have created an infrastructure bank that would focus on rebuilding our countries crumbling roads, bridges and electricity grid and help restore the middle class construction jobs that were lost in the recession. He wanted to retrofit our buildings to be more energy efficient and he wanted to invest in new technologies to reduce our dependency on foreign oil.
We need the President Obama of 2011 back. That president had ideas. That president had a plan to fix the American economy and reinvest in the future. I knew what that president could accomplish if we did not have a tea party congress holding this country hostage. It’s time for the president to stop running against Governor Romney and for him to start running for another four years in office. This president had a plan, and it’s time for him to start reminding us of what it was.
Word Sforz. Word.
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