Not to sound mean spirited, but I do have to wonder if Mitt Romney, as a child of both wealth and political privilege, has ever had to take real risks or worry about financial burdens and serious discrimination. Yes, he's Mormon and has had to face anti-Mormon bigotry and he's had to deal with his wife's illness. But those pesky problems of keeping a roof over one's head, paying the grocery bills and living pay check to pay check that most of us have to worry about are likely an unknown concept to Romney. And in terms of political risk, Romney has likewise never exhibited any real daring and instead seems to have typically pivoted to what he thought was expected either by his church or his perceived constituency. In short, Romney has rarely been challenged and always played it safe based on his cultural/religious perspective. Barack Obama, as a mixed race individual form modest means has been forced to live a very different life path. And now that vastly different journey seems to be showing as Obama steps out on the limb on gay rights and immigration while Romney takes the "safe" short term approach. Then of course, there is also Romney's almost pathological lying about Obama "spending like a drunken sailor" which is an utter lie as the chart below confirms. Here are highlights from a Washington Post article that looks at the divergent approaches of Obama with Obama showing daring and leadership while Romney remains a follower:
There’s not much President Barack Obama can do to boost the economy in the next five months, and that alone might cost him the November election. But on a range of social issues, Obama is bypassing Congress and aggressively using his executive powers to make it easier for gays to marry, women to obtain birth control, and, now, young illegal immigrants to avoid deportation.
It’s a political gamble that might fire up conservatives, many of whom remain cool to Republican candidate Mitt Romney. Democrats think it’s more likely to inspire enthusiasm among groups that were crucial to Obama’s 2008 victory — young voters, women and Hispanics.
Romney is the play-it-safe candidate, rarely straying from his jobs-and-economy talking points and sharply limiting encounters with national reporters. Romney took six hours Friday to offer a short and carefully worded comment that criticized Obama’s new immigration policy for not providing “a long-term solution.”
Romney didn’t say whether he would overturn it if elected. But by noting “it can be reversed by subsequent presidents,” he might have sown doubts in the minds of some young illegal immigrants studying the policy.
Obama looks like the bigger risk-taker. He doesn’t have many options. He is constrained by a complex, interrelated and frail global economy, and by a Republican-run House. Together, they severely limit his ability to influence the struggling U.S. economy . . .
Democrats enjoy a hefty edge among Hispanic voters, and some GOP strategists fear Romney is widening the gap. In the primaries, Romney criticized one rival, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, for granting in-state college tuition to illegal immigrants. The former Massachusetts governor also distanced himself from opponent Newt Gingrich’s call for making it clear the United States will not deport illegal immigrants who have led stable, crime-free lives in the United States for many years.
Sidestepping Congress, where immigration proposals have languished for years, Obama acted to make illegal immigrants immune from deportation if they were brought to the U.S. before they turned 16 and are younger than 30, have been in the country for at least five continuous years, have no criminal history, graduated from a U.S. high school or earned a GED diploma or certificate, or served in the military.
With significant economic gains so hard to achieve, a possible route is to be seen as expanding or protecting the rights of gays and lesbians, young Hispanics and young women.
Republican consultant Mike McKenna said Obama’s advisers “have obviously made a decision that they are going to win this election by energizing the base. Between this decision and the gay marriage emphasis, they have doubled down on their core and moved away from where most registered voters are.”
But Democratic campaign veteran Doug Thornell sees more gains than risks in Obama’s immigration decision. “The Republican base is pretty inspired to beat Obama already,” Thornell said. For persuadable voters, he said, “this is in keeping with a president who does big and bold things.” Romney, he said, is “pretty vanilla.”
Nothing offends me more that liars - especially liars who claim to be religious and wrap themselves in the mantle of religiosity while betraying the Gospel message. Mitt Romney is such a liar in my opinion.
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