Presidential Campaign

In 2008, when Americans went to the polls, our nation was in dire straits. Unemployment was high. The housing market had collapsed. Our national debt was swelling. 

Like a great locomotive, our nation was off the rails, teetering on the edge of a precipice. With great hopes for the future, voters cast their ballots looking forward to the change a new conductor promised.

But three and a half years later, our situation is no less precarious.

It is interesting that in spite of the attacks four years ago and since on Barrack Obama’s inexperience that Governor Romney gets a free pass in spite of having the least amount of relevant experience of any major party nominee since corporate lawyer Wendell Willkie in 1940. In making this judgment I rely on analysis of experience of all past presidents with special note of what set the top performing presidents apart from the less successful according to the three most recent polls of presidential historians (conducted by Siena College, C-SPAN and the University of London) developed as part of a larger research I am conducting. Those results highlight, in addition to total years of relevant experience, the following experience in declining order of significance: prior foreign or national security policy experience, total years as a legislator (state and national), years of senior Washington experience (executive and legislative) and having served as a governor.

It seems that anytime lately that anyone quotes a number or a percentage or offers an opinion relating to the ‘third rail’ topics in Washington, the two sides of the current political scene explode with derisive comments and volumes of statistics. No wonder most of us find ourselves befuddled and confused.

Hopefully, an objective and accurate statement of the facts might help.

Ohio is the birthplace of seven American presidents, second only to Virginia which has produced eight. And if one were to split hairs, you could argue that while William Henry Harrison was born in Charles County, Virginia he actually spent most of his life in Ohio.

Even when Ohio is not putting forth one of its native sons for election to our nation’s highest office, its Electoral College votes and its role as a “swing state” routinely place it at the center of the political world every four years—which is something we Ohioans are used to.

Are you better off now than you were four years ago?

It’s a question that we’ve heard a lot over the past several months. But when talking to people back home, it’s become clear that the real question is “Do you think your kids and grandkids will be better off than you are?”

Unfortunately, the answer is often “no”.

What should be done starting in January to boost a recovery that by anyone’s measure is still anemic. In truth, neither campaign has put forth a credible plan. Not even the President’s Jobs Act would be enough, if he could get it passed.

At the Republican convention, Romney produced the predictable set of Republican bromides: cut taxes on corporations and the already rich, cut government spending (mainly on the lower-middle class and the poor), and gut business regulations. Read more...

At this point in the presidential campaign, most Americans have heard plenty about the ugly outlook for the federal budget. Various public, quasi-public and private groups have studied the dilemma, and they’ve all reached the same conclusion: Unless we change course, we’re headed for a deep financial chasm.

President Barack Obama campaigned in Florida this weekend and, by pure chance, we learned the Commander in Chief does not know how to use an iPhone. Reporters commented the president looked "befuddled" trying to make a simple call. Is this a big deal? Yes, and what it says about this President is eerily similar to what happened twenty years ago to another candidate seeking re-election to the nation's highest office.

I remember in 1996 when Bill Richardson, making the media rounds at that year’s Democratic National Convention, said the Latino vote would be key to reelecting Bill Clinton. 

In 2008, I endorsed Mitt Romney for president during the Republican primary because I believed that he had the right experience and temperament to be a great leader of the party and of the country.