The view from my scooter - Obama v Romney

From all reports Kentucky will vote overwhelmingly for Mitt Romney and so it doesn’t matter much who I will vote for. I enjoy the issue debate but not the advertisements and hatchet jobs.  Living in Northern Kentucky, with the Cincinnati Media, I have been receiving phone calls, watching TV spots and listening to radio advertisements all year. Facebook is full of opinions. People ask me about it. I’m sick of it.  I wish I could vote tomorrow and get it over with.  I have no valid excuse to obtain an absentee ballot so I will wait for another month and exercise my constitutional duty.

Here is my take.  The President came into office four years ago on the tidal wave of hope and change.  Four years later I do not observe the much in the way of change and hope depends on whether you see the glass is half empty or half full.  I see the world through optimistic eyes and always have the hope that things will get better.  Therefore, I’m not a very good judge on the hope meter.  On the change meter, however, the indicator has not moved much.

Despite having a democratic majority in the senate, where Federal Judge appointments are confirmed, the President has not filled open seats on the Courts of Appeal and the United States District Courts.  The size of the Federal government has grown to the point of being obnoxious.  It seems that the IRS is one of our region’s, and perhaps the country’s, largest employers, and that frightens me.  Federal agencies, not Congress, still make most of the law in this country, applies it and interprets it.  That is not the system of government that the founding fathers intended, in my opinion.

Brave American soldiers are still on the ground in Afghanistan, waging war and being killed.  In my opinion, enough is enough.  The President is not bringing them home fast enough for me.  Perhaps they’re not being brought home with all due haste because there are no jobs for them here and at least, while on the Federal payroll, the soldiers have an income.  How many millions of dollars per day of our money is being spent to support these brave people?  There is a readily identifiable budget cut.

The dialogue in our capitol is as partisan as ever. The country is divided. There still is a culture of finger-pointing and name calling.

I am a big Michele Obama fan. She, however, was not elected. She leads by action and example. Her husband should follow her lead.

If this President is re-elected, the senate remains in democratic control and house in republican control, I see 4 more years of the same old same old.  That is not good enough for me.
The alternative, Mr. Romney, is not an exciting candidate from a traditional point of view.  I believe he is more of a moderate than a conservative and that is OK with me.  I view myself as a moderate republican.  Campaigns are largely about rhetoric.  I believe firmly that actions speak louder than words.  Romney has been successful in almost every endeavor he got involved with.  He was a successful republican governor in a Teddy Kennedy democratic state.  He rescued the Olympics. He had a successful business career.  Largely, his career has been quietly affective.
Romney has a track record of success.  It is easy to predict that he will be successful in future endeavors.  To the contrary, the President had almost no track record before taking office and, in my humble opinion, still doesn’t have much of a positive track record.  We gave him 4 years for hope and change. I am not confident in his ability to lead this country through its current economic woes to a prosperous future.  I am willing to give Mr. Romney the same four years the country gave the President.  If he doesn’t do any better than the President has done, I will keep looking and try somebody else.

I will vote, whether it counts or not. That’s the view from the seat of my Pride Mobility Victory 4-wheeled scooter.