Countdown To the Third and Last Debate and the Unending Governor Romney's Deceptions: A Way Out!
When he saw Peter and John about
to enter, he asked them for money. Peter looked straight at him, as did John.
Then Peter said, “Look at us!” So the man gave them his attention, expecting to
get something from them. Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but
what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” Act 3:3-6. New International Version
As political events unfold, it is
becoming more and more apparent that Governor Romney is not waging a clear-cut campaign.
He has become brazenly deceptive and exuberantly irresolute - abandoning one
policy position after another with impunity and deploying every shady and
diabolical tactic unknown in modern Presidential campaigns. There is no harm in
being pragmatic, but at least, a true leader, especially one who is campaigning
to become the Presidential of the only surviving superpower on earth must be
highly principled and steadfast in his core beliefs given the enormity of the responsibilities
and challenges inherent to the Oval Office that he is laboring to occupy. Governor Romney is not being pragmatic; he wants to be all things at the same time. His grand scheme is obvious: First, you must attack and
trivialize your fellow competitor/opponent's position with dubious claims, then
convert most of his ideas as yours where possible, and finally, try and sway
the electorates into believing that you have great ideas/knows how to create
jobs, without actually supporting your claims with ascertainable facts and
figures/no evidence and no record of job creation. It is called
"DECEPTION." It is called LIE. It is vintage Mr. Romney and his
campaign team. And it is un-Presidential.
The second debate came, and as
expected, President Obama won convincingly. However, on the question of who
Americans trust to do a better job on the economy, according to the poll results taken immediately after the second debate among the undecided voters, Governor Romney won. A few days earlier, or before the debate, the reverse was the case - the President
was on top in every category. The question then remains: what policy statement,
specifically on the economy, did Governor Romney develop or initiate to engender
the confidence; to wit, did he know how to create jobs? None, okay, absolutely none. He did not develop or
craft any policy statement during the debate to elicit or warrant the alleged
confidence on the job question. He was simply being Mr. Romney: brazenly devious and on a fraudulent mission intellectually.
On the issue of the 'Auto
Industry Bail Out,' he told the audience that President Obama did exactly what
he, Governor Romney, proposed. In other words, President Obama stole his
bankruptcy idea and saved the auto industry in the process - a calculated lie and blatant misrepresentation of facts. Unfortunately, there was no rebuttal from the President in the debate. Adding to
that, the President did not make the distinction: for the avoidance of doubt, “Let Detroit Go
Bankrupt” (a total close down approach reminiscence of Bain Capital/Romney’s
model) enunciated and openly canvassed by Governor Romney in an op-Ed piece in the New
York Times is, with all intents and purposes, different from the systematic and steady (staying alive while continuing funding) approach
adopted by President Obama and his administration that ultimately resurrected
the auto industry. Making such a distinction in the first debate and in the second debate would have been very helpful to the President and his campaign.
Adding to that, Governor Romney repeated ad
infinitum, albeit rather deceitfully throughout the first and second debates, that he knows how to create jobs. Sadly, the President did not provide a rebuttal or
refute the Governor’s job creation hogwash. The truth is that, while Mr. Romney
was the Governor of Massachusetts, the Commonwealth was at the periphery in job creation. By simply declaring ad nauseam the job
creation lies, he succeeded to a certain degree in convincing more people that
he is a better candidate to manage the economy than the President. That's what is sustaining Governor
Romney right now in the campaign - unfounded assumption of ability he does not possess. Therefore, the outcome of this election now depends on the ability of President Obama and his campaign to manage and put an end to that open lie. And it won't be his last. As we said in a previous piece, once a liar, always a liar.
What is true and in fact
verifiable is that, while he was at Bain Capital, he sent more companies into
bankruptcy and more workers into unemployment lines, contrary to what one would
reasonably expect of a CEO or a Presidential candidate who professes a spirit of compassion and
philanthropy. In addition, that the state of
Massachusetts ranked 47th in job creation out of the 50 states during Governor
Romney's era is no longer a secret. But for the unwillingness of the President to
go the distance with him on the job creation claim and "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt" declaration during the debates and refute the lies instantly, and to his face, Governor Romney would have been history by now politically.
Our opinion here is not an
afterthought or a recent development. We said so in June. And last Tuesday, October 16, 2012 (the
morning before the second debate), we had this to say in an article, titled
“Governor Mitt Romney: What the Presidency is Not About”, posted on this Blog and
also posted on my Facebook Timeline for everyone.
“Also, if Governor Mitt Romney is
truly a job creator, he should explain to the audience why Massachusetts
(during his term as Governor) was in 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
electorate that he is a businessman who knows how to 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-capitalised 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.”
Going through the transcript of
the second debate, the President only alluded to the issue covered in the last
two paragraphs - something the New York Times headed "Corporate raiding" the morning after the second debate. But Mr. President completely left out the first two paragraphs dealing with the
Massachusetts job lies. We are not here to pass blame, but to set the record straight - why the President is performing below expectations in the debate and what he must do to overcome the Governor's surge.
Be that as it may, to the extent
that the President is seemingly loath to go for the killer punch each time
occasion calls for it, Governor Romney will not lose steam. We hope and pray
that President Obama will take care of business in the third debate and make Governor Romney laughable.
From all indications, Mr. Romney has nothing substantively beneficial to offer the electorate; he wants you to elect him President, because the name of the incumbent is Barack
Obama. There is no way to reasonably explain his shameless inconsistencies, vagueness and intellectual dishonesty over the past five months and hope that he will be the next President of the United States.
CONCLUSION
Given that the debate is only
about 90 minutes, you can successfully emasculate your opponent by deploying
calculated lies and frivolous statistics as long as viewers take you for being
assertive. That, my friends, is the reason Governor Romney is gaining steam.
And that is his modus operandi in the ongoing debates and campaign. Therefore, President Obama and his campaign team should concentrate on Governor
Romney's answers and dubious claims, and rebut and refute them as
appropriate and decisively.
We anticipate a dirty campaign and
vilification of the President by the vast coalition network of the Republican
Party and the numerous PACs of Karl Rove. Also, we were very apprehensive of the
fact that most influential Democrats, pundits and opinion leaders were intent,
and in fact, about burying the President and his campaign team alive politically
in May and June. Thus, our involvement was
clear and simple: To provide Democrats and the Presidential Campaign Team
a framework for attack and defence, reminding them that they have achieved a
lot, in spite of the Right Wing intransigence that they should be proud of. Also, that Bain Capital, Let Detroit Go Bankrupt, Big
Business, or Wall Street are part of the game and that the President and his
Campaign Team cannot, contrary to the views of pundits and opinion leaders,
adequately define Governor Romney without integrating them into the equation.
And it works. But what we did not
anticipate during the first debate was that the President would resort to lecturing rather than confronting his opponent with facts and bullets, and repeat concisely the usual lines that
worked effectively in the past. In addition, we never in our wildest
imagination expected that Governor Romney would descend so low as to abandon his
extreme ideological position and lay claim to principles and ideas once alien
to his core beliefs. It is a gamble that Mr. Romney
cannot win.
So, Mr. President, Governor
Romney is not a job creator. He simply made Americans believe he is.
Massachusetts and Bain Capital tell different stories. It is your
responsibility to tell the World about his exploit at Bain Capital (bankruptcy
unlimited and the fact that Massachusetts ranked 47th in job creation during
Governor Romney's time). Granted that Republicans and Governor Romney’s
campaign team would be reading this, but let your words be against his. It is
that simple. Leaving him completely
unchallenged in his bogus mudslinging is catastrophic, to put it mildly. He killed jobs as CEO OF Bain Capital. He
bankrupted companies as the CEO of Bain Capital - it was a no-mercy business dealing. He has no inkling of American reality. He did not support the Auto bailout. He wants DETRIOT TO GO BANKRUPT. He said so. He does not know how to create jobs. He did not create a job anywhere. Most importantly, he is never consistent. It is about trust. He doesn't have it. Mr. President, put an end to all his lies right now and walk away taller. Any job worth doing is worth doing right. Good luck in the third debate and in the election.
