Wiseacre
Retired USAF Chief
Someone else wrote a thread about why Obama has earned another term in office, but I disagree. And this is why:
The primary reason why Obama should not be re-elected is his weak performance on the economy and jobs. The GDP number for the 3rd qtr of 2012 is 2%, a large chunk of which is gov't spending rather than growth in the private sector. That 2% number means GDP growth thus far for FY2012 is at 1.7%, which is less than the 1.8% we had in FY2011 and that was less than the 2.4% we had in 2010. IOW, we ain't getting better, we're getting worse. I know the president inherited an economic mess when he entered into office, but his policies and attitudes have not spurred the kind of growth we should expect to see.
Hand in hand with that is the lack of reasonable job creation. We've had some 3 and a half years where the UE rate has been over 8%, even though we've been spending (or wasting) over 3.5 trillion dollars each year. This past month (Sept) saw the rate drop to 7.8%, which is likely an anomaly that will be adjusted back to 8%. And it's much worse for minorities and young people, damned if I know why they're still supporting this guy. And there's no reason to think that Obama's policies will do much better in a 2nd term, with the rest of the world slowing down and a looming taxmageddon coming on Jan 1st. Many economists are forecasting another recession if taxes are raised in 2013.
There's a lot of other stuff we can discuss, debt/deficits, energy, foreign policy; but I'll close this post talking about leadership. We were promised a change in the way Washington does business when Obama was elected in 2008. Didn't happen, in fact manhy think it has gotten worse. Some blame for that can be laid at the feet of the republicans, fair enough. But a president is supposed to lead, he's supposed to be able to reach across the aisle to the other side. Every other president has been able to do that, but this one has not. Obama allowed Pelosi and Reid to run roughshod over the GOP in 2009 and 2010, engendering a lot of ill will that bore fruit after the 2010 midterms. There was no attempt at cooperation or compromise then, nor is there any now. Obama's lack of leadership then has come back to bite him and us all in the ass now. I don't understnad how anyone can possibly want 4 more years of what we've been through the last 4. Barack Obama has not earned another term in office; we need to try someone else.
The primary reason why Obama should not be re-elected is his weak performance on the economy and jobs. The GDP number for the 3rd qtr of 2012 is 2%, a large chunk of which is gov't spending rather than growth in the private sector. That 2% number means GDP growth thus far for FY2012 is at 1.7%, which is less than the 1.8% we had in FY2011 and that was less than the 2.4% we had in 2010. IOW, we ain't getting better, we're getting worse. I know the president inherited an economic mess when he entered into office, but his policies and attitudes have not spurred the kind of growth we should expect to see.
Hand in hand with that is the lack of reasonable job creation. We've had some 3 and a half years where the UE rate has been over 8%, even though we've been spending (or wasting) over 3.5 trillion dollars each year. This past month (Sept) saw the rate drop to 7.8%, which is likely an anomaly that will be adjusted back to 8%. And it's much worse for minorities and young people, damned if I know why they're still supporting this guy. And there's no reason to think that Obama's policies will do much better in a 2nd term, with the rest of the world slowing down and a looming taxmageddon coming on Jan 1st. Many economists are forecasting another recession if taxes are raised in 2013.
There's a lot of other stuff we can discuss, debt/deficits, energy, foreign policy; but I'll close this post talking about leadership. We were promised a change in the way Washington does business when Obama was elected in 2008. Didn't happen, in fact manhy think it has gotten worse. Some blame for that can be laid at the feet of the republicans, fair enough. But a president is supposed to lead, he's supposed to be able to reach across the aisle to the other side. Every other president has been able to do that, but this one has not. Obama allowed Pelosi and Reid to run roughshod over the GOP in 2009 and 2010, engendering a lot of ill will that bore fruit after the 2010 midterms. There was no attempt at cooperation or compromise then, nor is there any now. Obama's lack of leadership then has come back to bite him and us all in the ass now. I don't understnad how anyone can possibly want 4 more years of what we've been through the last 4. Barack Obama has not earned another term in office; we need to try someone else.