Within the past seventy years, no incumbent has won reelection with unemployment above 7.2%, with reported unemployment currently more than 8% less than seven months before election. Therefore, every registered voter that chooses to step into the voter's box to cast their ballot deserves to be given the most accurate and unbiased facts possible to be able to make an educated decision. When President Obama was elected, history was rewritten, and within his first term, Obama accomplished things that many set out to accomplish but failed to achieve. On the other hand Mitt Romney has set out in hopes to get a chance to accomplish what President Obama has yet to do. Even though President Obama has accomplished historic events during his first term, was it enough to secure his second term, or will Republican candidate Mitt Romney's strengths and stance on certain trending topics be enough to move him into the White House?
One thing is for sure, President Obama and Mitt Romney, both bring their own strengths to the table. However, as we all know, with the ups come the downs. Thus both candidates also bring their fair share of weaknesses.
Currently with an approval rating at less than fifty percent, many would say that President Obama has several weaknesses, but along the way we have also see his strengths exhibited by the accomplishments he has achieved while in his first term. A strength that Obama has going for him is the fact that he is well liked by women and minorities. According to a national poll, "President Barak Obama's popularity with women and minorities contribute to his 49%-42% lead over Romney," which is clearly showing how this strength is working in his favor (Hanson 1). On the other hand, remind you with an approval rating less than fifty percent, there are also his downfalls. A known weakness of the President is that many see him as an "indecisive president" consequently it creates the question of whether or not he is capable of making decisions that directly and indirectly affect us as Americans (Hanson 2).
Even though Romney trails President Obama by seven percent in approval ratings, it's still a close enough race that proves there is no clear cut winner at this point. In the same way that President Obama has several strengths and weaknesses, so does his running opponent. Mitt Romney has shown strength with his "positive ideas for long term economic growth, such as privatizing Amtrak, streamlining regulatory processes, and building new nuclear reactors" (Hanson 3). Romney's weaknesses have proven to most damning to him among the working class that are showing to be less favorable when it comes to voting for him. Just like Obama, the voters are seeing and remembering Romney's slips which include, "his failure to take the short run economic crisis seriously, in turn is likely to result in more unemployed workers and economic stagnation for years to come" (Hanson 4).
When it comes to President Obama and Mitt Romney, the only thing they agree on is their right to agree to disagree on current trending issues. Most notoriously issues like same sex marriage and our economy's future.
Currently only six states have legalized same sex marriage, they include Iowa, Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Connecticut. In addition, same sex marriage will be legal in Washington state June 7, 2012 and January 1, 2013 in Maryland. Nevertheless, Obama and Mitt Romney clearly have taken completely opposing stances on this issue.
Since 1994, when first asked his opinion, Mitt Romney has consistently opposed the issue of same sex marriage. In fact as recently as last month, Romney's view on same sex marriage hasn't changed. Romney was quoted as saying, "Domestic partnership benefits including hospital visitations rights are appropriate, but that others are not"(Friedman 1). In other words Romney is okay with hospital visitations if one partner is ill or hurt; but Romney is not okay with in the event of a death of one partner for the other partner to make decisions regarding the burial, autopsies, and disposition of remains. Mitt Romney is so strongly against same sex marriage that while he was governor of Massachusetts, he went on record stating, "I disagree with the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. Marriage is an institution between a man and a woman."
Until recently, May 9, 2012 to be exact, President Obama's stance was in support of gay rights, but stopped short of backing gay marriage. However after a year and a half of "evolving on the subject," (Fallon 1) Obama became the first president to endorse same sex marriage. However, after his endorsement, some have become worried that the change in his stance this soon before the election could have a negative impact among the likes of Independent, Democrats, and Republicans who's views are different from their party's majority. President Obama has also done more positive within the gay community by signing the bill repealing the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. Even more coincidentally, Massachusetts Representative Barney Frank, whom is openly gay, called the bill's passage, "the biggest single thing" when considering the progress of gay rights in the United States.
Due to the current economic situation, the next president of the United States, whether it be Obama or Romney, needs to be ready to implement steps to continue fixing the damage that the United States doesn't slip back into a recession. Mitt Romney is currently only the second Republican presidential candidate, "to offer a full fledged detailed economic plan when he announced a 59 point job and economic proposal" (Unknown 1). Romney introduced "Day One, Job One which has a main objective to restore America to the path of robust economic growth necessary to create jobs" (Unknown 2). President Obama on the other side is currently taking "aggressive steps to put American's back to work," and has currently "added back more than 4.2 million private sector jobs, as well as showing twenty-six straight months of job growth" (Unknown 3).
Every presidential election guarantees two things: a winner and a lot of promises. Some winners turn out being losers and some promises don't turn out quite like originally promised. Hence the reason why every voter needs to be confident in their decision to choose the best candidate that they believe will be the best choice to run the United States of America.
Within his first term, President Obama has accomplished a whole lot more than the liberals want to give him credit for. In January, the ABC News conducted a poll asking a sampling of American the following question: Obama has been president for about three years. Would you say he has accomplished a great deal during that time, a good amount, not very much, or little or nothing? The results were released on January 18 which showed that more than half of the respondents, more specifically 52%, said the president has accomplished "not very much" or "little or nothing." But on the contrary, Obama was given the most adverse circumstances imaginable, and still he has accomplished an incredible amount since taking office. Internationally, Obama has managed "the complexity of U.S. policy through the Arab Spring, killed Osama bin Laden, reset our relations with Russia, ended the combat mission in Iraq, banned the use of torture, restored respectability to the United Nations and the G-20, and until recently contained a nuclear Iran" (Horowitz 1). Not only has Obama accomplished a lot internationally, he has also accomplished a lot domestically. President Obama has "passed a historic health care legislation, restored the financial system so that it functions, set up a Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, expanded national service more than ever before, reformed the student loan program, and protected our national security" (Horowitz 2).
On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have Mitt Romney someone who we don't know is actually capable of coming through with all his promises. Now unlike Obama who has been able to show he is capable of follow through, we have to determine if possibly Romney could have a stronger follow through but the risk is much greater. Mitt Romney has pledged to initiate ten major actions on the first day of presidency, consisting of five bills and five executive orders that he plans to put in place. On day one Romney has five bills to initiate which include: (1) The American Competitiveness Act: which reduces the corporate income tax rate to 25%, (2) The Open Markets Act: which implements free trade agreements with Columbia, Panama and South Korea, (3) The Domestic Energy Act: which directs the Department of Interior to undertake the comprehensive energy review, (4) The Retraining Reform Act: which consolidates federal retraining programs and return these programs to the states, and (5) The Down Payment on Fiscal Sanity Act: which immediately cuts non-security discretionary spending by 5% or $20 billion. Now while all of this seems like a lot Romney's not done, he also wants to implement five executive orders on day one as well. These orders include the following: (1) An Order to Pave the Way to end Obamacare: which entitles the Secretary of Health and Human Services to return the maximum possible authority to the states, (2) An Order to Cut Red Tape: entails all agencies to initiate the elimination of Obama-era regulations that burden the economy or job creation, (3) An Order to Boost Domestic Energy Production: entitles the Department of Interior to implement a process for rapid issuance of drilling permits, (4) An Order to Sanction China for Unfair Trade Practice: where the Department of the Treasury would list China as a currency manipulator and the Department of Commerce to assess countervailing duties on Chinese imports, and finally (5) An Order to Empower American Businesses and Workers: which reverses the executives orders issued by President Obama that tilt the playing field in favor of organized labor. So with all being planned Mitt Romney if he ends up in the White House is going to have one hell of a first 24 hours as president.
In order for voters to make the most educated decision possible when stepping into the booth to vote, each one of them deserves to know what each candidate stands for. By providing them the most accurate, unbiased information about the candidates' strengths and weaknesses, their current position on trending issues, and what they plan to do when they take office are all valid points to help the voter vote for who they believe is best suited for the job at hand, The President of the United States. So even though President Obama has accomplished historic events during his first term, was it enough to secure his second term, or will Republican candidate Mitt Romney's strengths and stance on certain issues be enough to move him into the White House?
Works Cited
Fallows, James. "Obama, Explained." The Atlantic Monthly Group. (Mar.2012): Print. 01 May 2012.
Friedman, Emily. "Romney's View on Gay Marriage Not Evolving." ABC News. (May 9, 2012): Print. 1 June 2012.
Horowitz, Jake. "Why I'm Voting for President Obama in 2012 (And why you should too!)" PolicyMic (2012): Print. 01
May 2012.
Hanson, Andrew. "Ron Paul vs. Mitt Romney vs. President Obama: Who's Better for the Economy?" PolicyMic (2012):
Print. 01 May 2012.
"Obama and Romney's views on current stance on trending issues." 2012 Republican Presidential Candidates. (2012):
Print. 01 June 2012.