He’s Not Obama!

The 2012 presidential election is shaping up to be a very interesting study in why people vote for someone to be President of the United States.  Mitt Romney claims his experience in the private business sector is the main reason he should be elected President.  He appears to try to avoid his experience as an executive in government.  Admittedly, his major accomplishment as Governor of Massachusetts was the healthcare legislation he signed into law while governor.  One could claim that “Romneycare” served as a model for the Affordable Care Act, derisively called “Obamacare”.  Romney also avoids the comparison of his business experience to the business experience of the last republican President, George W. Bush.  Considering the economic mess that resulted from actions taken by the Bush administration, it is understandable why Romney would try to acvid any comparisons.  All of that not withstanding, listening to many republican “talking heads” including many who were competing with Romney for the republican nomination, the greatest asset voiced most frequently in behalf of the Romney presidency is Romney is not Obama.  In as much as many of his policies mirror the policies of Bush 43, no one can say definitely that the outcome would be different.  Tax cuts and deregulation, the republican national anthem, while all evidence points to the failure of these policies, remains in the forefront of republican talking points.  But even more than tax cuts and deregulation, the loudest voices keep repeating that Romney is not Obama.  They claim the policies of Obama have failed, but in doing do, they discount the creation of over 4.5 million private sector jobs.  In calling the Obama policies failures, the republicans fail to acknowledge the record setting corporate profits and record setting business executive compensation under the Obama administration.  Also not mentioned in the “he’s not Obama” arguments is the 5000 point growth in the stock market since the inauguration of Obama.  While it is true “he’s not Obama” when it comes to policies of Mitt Romney it is more likely one should say “he’s George Bush”!