And though there is much in Mitt Romney's résumé to suggest he is a capable problem-solver, the Republican nominee has not presented himself as a leader who will bring his party closer to the center at a time when that is what this country needs.
His comments on the 47 percent of Americans who refuse to "take personal responsibility and care for their lives" were a telling insight into his views and a low point of the campaign.
Obama, on the other hand, has shown throughout his term that he is a steady leader who keeps the interests of a broad array of Americans in mind.
We urge Coloradans to re-elect him to a second term.
Colorado is considered one of a handful of "battleground" states this election.
The paper is way off the mark boasting of Obama's disastrous education "reform" efforts.
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A damning editorial endorsement from the Salt Lake Tribune which says there are simply "too many Mitts" to endorse the GOP nominee:
In short, this is the Mitt Romney we knew, or thought we knew, as one of us._____
Sadly, it is not the only Romney, as his campaign for the White House has made abundantly clear, first in his servile courtship of the tea party in order to win the nomination, and now as the party’s shape-shifting nominee. From his embrace of the party’s radical right wing, to subsequent portrayals of himself as a moderate champion of the middle class, Romney has raised the most frequently asked question of the campaign: "Who is this guy, really, and what in the world does he truly believe?"
The evidence suggests no clear answer, or at least one that would survive Romney’s next speech or sound bite. Politicians routinely tailor their words to suit an audience. Romney, though, is shameless, lavishing vastly diverse audiences with words, any words, they would trade their votes to hear.
More troubling, Romney has repeatedly refused to share specifics of his radical plan to simultaneously reduce the debt, get rid of Obamacare (or, as he now says, only part of it), make a voucher program of Medicare, slash taxes and spending, and thereby create millions of new jobs. To claim, as Romney does, that he would offset his tax and spending cuts (except for billions more for the military) by doing away with tax deductions and exemptions, is utterly meaningless without identifying which and how many would get the ax. Absent those specifics, his promise of a balanced budget simply does not pencil out.
The Tampa Bay Times endorses another term for Obama:
Four years ago, Barack Obama offered an inspiring message of hope and change to an uneasy nation bogged down in two wars and facing economic collapse. The rosy idealism quickly gave way to the harsh realities of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. The recovery has proven more difficult than anyone imagined. But conditions would be far worse without the president's steady leadership. This is not the time to reverse course and return to the failed policies of the past. Without hesitation, the Tampa Bay Times recommends Barack Obama for re-election as president._____
By many measures, the economy is improving steadily even if growth remains painfully slow. There have been 31 straight months of job growth, and more than 5 million private sector jobs have been created. The unemployment rate is down to 7.8 percent — not great, but the same as when Obama took office. The stock market has come back, new housing starts are the highest in four years and housing prices in Tampa Bay and other areas are rising. The financial industry is stable, interest rates remain low and corporate profits are healthy. There is still too much economic pain, but America is better off than most of the rest of the industrialized world.
The Daily Astorian:
The biggest question to ask about Mitt Romney is: Which Romney would we be electing? Is it the Romney who favors giving tax breaks to the very wealthy or is it the Romney of the first presidential debate, who moved to the center. Is it the Mitt Romney who authored a health care plan as Massachusetts’ governor or is it the Romney who flees from that accomplishment and derides Obama’s health care legislation, which was modeled in part on what Romney had already accomplished?
The Republican ticket’s attitude toward women seems quite clear. The vice presidential nominee, Congressman Paul Ryan, embraced Congressman Todd Akin’s stone-age view toward rape when he co-sponsored Akin’s legislation. It is safe to say that the Romney-Ryan administration would roll back the clock on women’s ability to control their bodies. Electing a president is always about the Supreme Court, and a Romney-Ryan ticket would reliably stock the court with Antonin Scalia clones.
Obama has governed as a center-left Republican. The scare tactic that Obama is a socialist is looney-tunes. On environmental issues, Obama rates a D. He is remiss in holding relatively few press conferences.
I'd argue he is fully a right-wing Republican, even to the right of his idol Ronald Reagan.
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The Muskegon Chronicle says this country needs another four years of Obama:
The American people must demand leadership from the president on down. It must demand that elected officials reach out to each other and create solutions to our problems that will help all Americans, not just the 1 percent or the 47 percent._____
Hoping for change is not enough. Flip-flopping on issues in an effort to get elected is not enough. Following the tenets of political parties is not enough.
Action is what we need. Now.
The Aurora Sentinel argues the middle class needs Obama:
Sadly, we are so impatient and so easily led astray by a media-infused world focusing on sound bites that we are unwilling to do the hard work, back the hard decisions and implement the hard changes to right our wayward nation. Following a misguided Romney vision, we hand over the reigns of the world to China, India and the European Union._____
We cannot go back, Aurora. The Internet, global warming, outsourced jobs and obsolete industries have changed the world, and we must change with it.
Obama’s plan continues to call for those changes that won’t be easy, nor will they be popular for some time. But unless we make fundamental changes in the economy, health care, in research, in public education, and in civil rights, we will become powerless over the future.
The Montclair Times has this to say:
In a new term, Barack Obama must provide front-and-center leadership on national and international issues. Obama must be the point man on matters of national interest. This past Tuesday, Obama’s debate with Romney displayed the president’s quality of leadership.
And, in either Obama’s second term or Romney’s first, our political leaders — and we residents of the United States — must work together.
We must transcend this era of anger. Our focus must be on pragmatism, not polemics. Issues, not insults. Substance, not spite. We must share the goal of improving the United States.
Fat chance that will happen.
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