Presidential Campaign

Speechwriters for President Obama ought to have the following retort ready for the next debate. When Mitt Romney mentions all he did as governor of Massachusetts, the president should smile, look at him and ask, “How come Massachusetts is not voting for you?

Washington, D.C.’s professional point-missers are hard at work spinning Mitt Romney’s “binder of women” comment in an attempt to make him look bad. Fortunately, 50 million Americans saw the answer live, reducing the strange “binder” movement into nothing more than a funny sidebar.

Romney did what the people of America expect of a leader when faced with the challenge that he did not have enough female applicants for high-level positions when he was forming his administration in Massachusetts. He reached out to people to make recommendations.

The resulting binder full of the resumes of women allowed Gov. Romney to select from a diverse group of people to help him lead the commonwealth.

If you believe certain Republicans who have anointed Mitt Romney as the next president I have a binder full of reasons they are wrong. First, as I wrote in my last column comparing the American economic comeback under Obama in 2012 to the recovery under Reagan in 1984, America is coming back from the crash President Obama inherited from Republicans. Second, voters in Ohio largely agree with me, often credit Obama and know Mitt Romney attacked Obama's auto recovery program and would return to the policies of George W. Bush. And third, of course, female voters. Barack Obama and I support equal pay for Republican women as much as Democratic women, while Mitt Romney and Republicans oppose equal pay for both!

How many of you have awakened the morning following both presidential debates and could actually articulate how President Obama would create jobs, turn around the economy and stop the dramatic increase in healthcare premiums, a promise in which he declared that premiums would never increase under ObamaCare? Instead, all you hear is Obama blaming Romney and attacking his policies that create jobs and lower tax rates.
 
If President Obama were a contestant on “The Apprentice,” he would probably be sitting in a room with the Republican Congress trying to explain to Donald Trump why he should stay in the game as chief executive of this country. However, we as voters are lucky to be put in the position of Donald Trump in the boardroom of America. We are the ones who decide whether Obama should be given a second chance, or whether he should be fired.

Twitter exploded Tuesday night — and the airwaves were filled yesterday – with commentary about Gov. Romney’s “binder” comment, in reference to bringing more qualified women onto his gubernatorial staff. Certainly this is the latest distraction by the Obama campaign, which is desperately trying to hold onto the War on Women narrative, despite its ineffectiveness.
 
The 1950s-style image of Romney is not only disingenuous, but it also misses the far more offensive comment made during the debate (and now being repeated ad nauseam on the campaign trail) by President Obama: “I’ve got two daughters and I want to make sure that they have the same opportunities that anybody’s sons have.”

It is interesting that the Obama campaign has decided that there is a war on women, initiated by Romney and the GOP. Early on, this certainly appeared to have traction, with President Obama having a very significant double-digit lead among female voters. However, as women have gotten to know Mitt Romney, they have been able to discern that he's not a fire-breathing dragon that eats babies, as this administration would have you to believe.

The polls now show a virtual dead heat between Obama and Romney among female voters. If one dissects the issue a little more, it's easy to see that what the Obama campaign is doing is trying to paint Romney and Republicans as enemies of any voter demographic that might be able to deliver significant votes.

In September, as authorized leaks from the campaign would have it, the Romney family intervened in the campaign. Let Romney be Romney. As we Washington Caps fans would say, “Unleash the fury!”
 
Well, what we are seeing in these debates is really the same Romney we have seen since he first started running for public office — a Romney who is not comfortable being a candidate, someone who has little in common with everyday Americans.

The tiebreaker is in Florida, moderated by Bob Schieffer, and will be focused on foreign policy.

Obama got blown out in the first debate, narrowly edged out Romney in game two, and now it all comes down to this final round.

Four years is a lot of on-the-job training when it comes to foreign policy.

First, don't miss the video posted on The Hill of John Kerry exposing the dishonesty of Mitt Romney promising tax cuts for everyone during the debate, like a carnival barker, without telling the truth about the tax credits Romney would have to eliminate for his numbers to work. Then, hunt down the full podcast or YouTube clip of the Kerry segment on “Morning Joe” and watch Kerry offer major economic data about the American comeback under Obama and remind us how voters of Massachusetts, who know Romney best, trust Romney the least.

​What everyone is going to talk about is how much more negative the president was in this debate than in the last. Whereas last time he seemed bored, or like he simply didn’t want to be there, this time he seemed barely able to restrain his anger at Mitt Romney.