Governor Mitt Romney: What the Presidency is Not About.

The Presidency is about service to humanity, not a profit making venture for a privileged few. 

Governor Romney has more explaining and more factual analysis to do in the next debate than the usual rigmarole that he has perfected so well over the years. Therefore, the debate must be on those issues and policies that he has enunciated and rejected, without regard to objectivity, common sense and the basic principle of leadership - trust - throughout his political life.

Mr. Romney does not stand for anything economically beneficial to the middle class and those struggling to make it in God's own country. He should explain "let Detroit go bankrupt."  From all indications, a man of the people will not go that far. The Presidency is about the people - it a service.

If I may ask, at what point in your life time do you start to empathize with the poor, the middle-class, the forgotten and the less-privileged in the society?  Must it be only when you are about to run for a political office or aspiring to become the President of the United States of America? It’s all about empathy. Mr. Romney doesn’t have it, judging from his utterances, gaffes, and conduct throughout the Republican primaries and beyond.

President Barack Obama abandoned a lucrative job opportunity in New York City and moved to Chicago to take up an assignment as a Community Organizer – helping the under-served, the less-privileged and the almost forgotten Americans in the South-Side of Chicago and beyond to organize and make a meaning out of their existence. That is empathy.  And that is Public Service that one must be very proud of.

Also, if Governor Mitt Romney is truly a job creator, he should explain to the audience why Massachusetts (during his term as Governor) was at the 47th position out of the 50 States in the country in terms of job creation. The Massachusetts experience is a true indicator of what the undecided voters should expect or should be aware of in a Governor Romney's presidency.

He told the Massachusetts electorates that he is a Business man who knows how to grow business and create jobs. They fell for it. But he went away, without completing his term or creating the jobs as he promised. That is not an attribute of a true leader we can trust and depend on. And that is not what the Presidency is about.

What is true, and in fact, according to the information in the public domain, is that he knows how to make money for himself and his investors. He would borrow largely from the Government and the Banks and inject the new money into the companies that he acquired, making himself, the management team and his investors richer - essentially on the borrowed money. Most often, he would cash-out unceremoniously leaving the companies under-capitalized and on borrowed time to contend with bankruptcy as the last resort. 

That is the ill of the over-leveraged capitalism that Mr. Romney and his management team have perfected so well. At the end, it is the employees that bear the brunt - the pink slip and the disappearance of benefits and health Insurance coverage.

In a nutshell, taking advantage of tax loopholes, filing for bankruptcy, closing down factories, and sending workers to the unemployment lines are not what the Presidency is about - that is not how to create jobs that Governor Romney often talk about. It is a service to the people. It is knowing how and when to care for the middle class.

To be candid, it is not enough to assert that you are compassionate, when your antecedents tell a different story. It is doing the right thing and serving the needs of the employees working at the companies that your acquired.

Similarly, Governor Romney had the opportunity as the Governor of a State to create jobs, but he blew it. He had the opportunity as a Business man to improve the wellbeing and living standard of workers of the companies that he acquired, but he was more interested in the bottom-line and how to make more money for himself and makes his investors richer. He sent more Americans into miserable condition of living and more American companies into the oblivion by his activities at Bain Capital.

He would tell you that he did everything right in the book. However, that is not what the Presidency is about. And that was the reason he failed so badly in Massachusetts - he couldn't replicate Bain Capital’s business model. The obsession and the craze for the bottom-line awesome numbers prevalent at Bain Capital - legal or illegal - are alien or inconsistent with purposeful governance and public service approach. So, the difference is very clear between Governor Romney and President Obama.

He should defend his positions over the years on taxes and taxation, and outsourcing of jobs to China. If he really loves this country, he should defend his Cayman Islands and offshore Banking activities. Even though operating an offshore account is not illegal, with Mr. Romney, the purpose is clear: to evade paying capital gain tax back home. The negative impact of that is very clear as well. The economy stagnates, leading to a drastic cut back in government services to the people. Now you know the genesis of his disdain for the 47 percent of you. That again is not what the Presidency is about.

This country was built on the strength of the American people. Not on perfection of tax loopholes and sending American jobs overseas as perfected by Governor Romney's business interest. Not on sending workers to the unemployment lines after borrowing hugely on their behalf and making yourself richer in the process. Not on inducing companies that you acquired into filing for bankruptcy after making yourself richer from the money that you borrowed in their names and on their behalf. The Presidency is for the people, a service and a fiduciary responsibility. Not profit and huge end-of-year bonanza for a privileged few, while a greater majority wallows in uncertainties, abject poverty and miseries.

Mr. Romney, the difference is clear; your utterances, your actions, your policies, and your goal do not comport well with the expectations of the American people. The Presidency is about service, not profit for a privileged few. It is not a get-rich-quick endeavor reputed of Bain Capital that Governor Romney helped catapult to a money making machine status at the back of the middle-class and the less-privileged.