Urban Llama

Proceed indeed Governor Romney.

Mercifully the 2012 presidential election is finally over.

After all that money was spent, and the countless speeches, it ended up being a massacre in the Electoral College, 332 votes to 206, in favor of President Barack Obama.

We all knew Ohio was the state that had to be won. But Obama taking Virginia and Florida showed how far off-center Romney and the Republicans had wandered.

Not everyone must agree with the president’s politics, but there is no doubting Obama’s sincerity in wanting to guide America to a more prosperous tomorrow.

Ultimately that was the difference in this campaign. After spending five years running for president, Mitt Romney was unable to demonstrate what he stood for.

It was all mixed messages.

In Massachusetts he was pro-choice, pro-gun control, pro-universal health care, but as a presidential candidate he reversed these positions.

Who knows what the man really believes.

The closest evidence we have is Romney’s off-the-cuff remarks caught on film at a private fundraiser in May, where the former governor argued that 47 percent of Americans were “victims” who were “dependent” on the government, and advocated that Republicans should write them off.

It’s hard to underestimate how damaging that recorded statement was. The Romney campaign never fully recovered from it because it crystallized the perception that the GOP candidate was an elitist.

Car elevators, Bain Capital, refusing to turn over his tax returns; the Obama team made sure Romney suffered through a long summer, and the 47 percent comment was the gift that kept on giving as it arrived in a commercial-ready clip that could be shown again and again with the candidate himself delivering the damaging commentary.

Romney dutifully tried to stop the bleeding in the debates by assuring watchers that he wanted to help all Americans, but it was too late.

The trustworthiness of Romney’s character had been called into question.

A case was there to be made against Obama for how slow the economic recovery had been, that unemployment remained high, and the level of deficit spending had increased.

A successful campaign could have been waged against just that set of issues, but Romney wasted months trying to explain away Bain Capital, offshore tax shelters, and why he would not release additional tax returns.

Then Romney introduced an incomplete and non-functioning health care alternative to the “Affordable Care Act,” along with a budget proposal and tax strategy that didn’t pass the accounting test. The numbers never added up and Romney steadfastly refused to provide the specifics for where cuts would come from and what deductions would be eliminated.

While these were deficient as policy proposals, the frameworks did point out Romney’s bias towards the wealthy.

As a defensive measure Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) was added to the GOP ticket, in an attempt to shore up the far right and give Romney’s conservatism some credence, but the Wisconsin congressman was put on a short leash and silenced towards the end of the campaign.

This multitude of missteps together told a story about the GOP candidate, and fed into an overall narrative about his campaign.

Romney lost his message by trying to placate the Tea Party, and neither he nor the Republicans ever established a legitimate case for why anyone should vote for them.

Without a candidate that stood for anything, their entire campaign boiled down to complaining about how awful Obama was, and a plea that the America people should vote against the president.

I could have told Romney that was a doomed strategy back in January and saved Karl Rove, the Koch Brothers and Sheldon Adelson $300 million, plus the rest of us all the pain from watching the hundreds of negative 30 second ads from both candidates.

You can’t run on nothing, and Romney was an empty suit.

There were no skewed poll numbers or liberal media bias. It wasn’t Hurricane Sandy or New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s praising of the President.

Romney was a flawed candidate, who ran a flawed campaign, and the Republicans mistakenly allowed the direction of their party to be controlled by extremist views.

As a result Romney received fewer votes than Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) in 2008.

As former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said on the Today show this week, “The president won an extraordinary victory. And the fact is, we owe him the respect of trying to understand what they did and how they did it.”

When your party is based on an ever narrowing demographic of middle-aged white males, Republicans can’t afford to alienate Latinos, African-Americans, women and young people.

I don’t want to hear how Republicans need to say things differently next time. This isn’t about pushing your KKK hoods farther back into the closet. The GOP needs to stand up to the fringes of its party on the far right and tell these knuckle draggers that this hateful mentality will not be tolerated.

Legitimate rape?

It was Republicans who made abortion such a large part of this campaign. Democrats aren’t telling anyone they must get an abortion, or use contraceptives or birth control. It’s about people having the freedom to make informed decisions. It’s about people unquestionably having the right to abort a pregnancy in cases of rape, incest, or where the life of the mother is concerned.

Republicans need to stop trying to legislate behavior for other people and restricting freedoms. It completely nullifies their base argument for wanting smaller government and limiting intrusions.

As an individual, if you want to live in a pro-life house and raise your family to that ideal – no problem, but don’t try and legislate your beliefs upon others.

Republicans went out of their way to exclude people from this election by disenfranchising voters, legislating morality, fracturing family units, discriminating against anyone not white and straight – these were all acts perpetrated by Republicans in the general election.

Binders full of women?

This is no way to set an example, nor is it any way to govern.

Republicans also seem to have this peculiarity for wanting to disregard independent evaluations, science, and data, especially when it is not convenient to their cause.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but change has arrived.

Demographically our country is rapidly shifting; economically we have gone global; our energy sources must be balanced between fossil fuels and green fuel sources; and climate change will soon force the redrawing of several state borders due to rising ocean levels.

While it is amusing to watch Republicans collectively stick their heads in the sand in an attempt to return our social, political and demographic ideals to where they were in the 1950s that is not a solution.

So much has changed about life in America over the last 30 years, and it is Democrats who are broadening their stance to embrace change and be inclusive.

Obama and his team ran an impeccable campaign. Senior Advisor David Plouffe, Senior Strategist David Axelrod, and Campaign Manager Jim Messina, ran the best campaign in American history. Their strategy and micro-targeting of precincts and counties crushed the Republicans. It was specific, long-term, unwavering, innovative and like nothing that has ever been seen before.

A special thank you goes out to Michelle Obama, Joe Biden and Bill Clinton.

That being said, there was no huge mandate won here either.

America needs jobs, and we have the ability to create them. Things like the “Affordable Care Act,” protecting personal freedoms, and funding education and research, are all items that will help create jobs and get people back to work.

While our intelligence community will be working overtime to keep America safe, we need out of Afghanistan, and must take care of our returning soldiers who are battered and weary from war.

We need to raise taxes and cut spending to decrease our deficit and balance our budget.

President Obama must step up and lead this country. His ideas are bold and they present long-term solutions.

People like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell needs to either join the fight or get left behind.

McConnell lost big in this election. He had visions of becoming Senate Majority Leader and sending Obama home as a one-term president. Not only did both of those objectives fail, but the Republicans lost an additional two seats in the Senate.

It is up to Congress to find a way to work together and repair the economy. America remains strong, but we can only be truly independent when we are not beholden to foreign influence and pay our own way.

Both parties need to realize it doesn’t matter who is responsible for getting America back on track, everyone will benefit and as a result both parties will flourish.

*     *     *     *     *

One aside from the 2012 election; of the 219 million Americans eligible to vote, only 121 million cast ballots. That is 55 percent; so 98 million Americans didn’t vote.

Please get involved and vote. The stakes have never been higher and every vote does matter.

Also a big thank you to Candy Crowley, who moderated the final presidential debate, for delivering that devastating fact check to Mitt Romney on the Benghazi affair. Poor Mitt was left a victim of the “unfair and unbalanced” reporting on Fox News.

Class was in session Monday night in Boca Raton, Fla., as President Barack Obama delivered a lesson in how to conduct foreign policy to an underachieving student in challenger Mitt Romney.

This was the third and final presidential debate, hosted at Lynn University, and focused entirely on foreign policy.

Much like the second debate, Obama came out from the beginning energized and with a game plan that was executed with authority and precision.

Romney wasn’t horrible, but he could do little more than hold on with his fingernails in answering each question.

He was like a student that crammed the night before a big test using only CliffsNotes. He provided broad outlines, but lacked a depth of knowledge required to adequately discuss these complex foreign policy matters.

From leaving reserve forces in Iraq, placing sanction against Iran for their perceived nuclear build-up, troop departures in Afghanistan, and the handling of political unrest in the Middle East – Obama demonstrated a more cogent understanding of the global implications at hand, and that the plans he executed were not only correct but also successful.

You could see the heat Romney was feeling having to be seated at a table with such a competent counterpart, and a moderator in Bob Schieffer, who refused any of Romney’s attempts to run past time deadlines or re-answer questions after Obama had bested him.

After the first 30-minutes Romney was sweating like a Tom Turkey the day before Thanksgiving. It was pouring down the sides of his face.

As it was quickly apparent how fragile his footing was in this arena against the president, it became a “me too” night for Romney. He tried to sound more hawkish on issues by contradicting the president but ultimately Romney had nothing further to offer than what the Obama administration was already doing.

Romney also put his considerable flip-flopping skills on display again as he backtracked from a position on Afghanistan he had held for the past 18 months. Previously Romney had criticized Obama for setting a hard deadline for troop withdrawal in our nation’s longest war, now two weeks before the election he magically agreed with the president.

“You said that first we should not have a timeline in Afghanistan, then you said we should, now you say maybe or it depends, which means not only were you wrong but you also were confusing and sending mixed messages both to our troops and our allies,” said President Obama. “What we need to do with respect to the Middle East is strong, steady leadership, not wrong and reckless leadership that is all over the map.”

It went like this much of the night for Romney as he tried to evolve his positions from the saber-rattling extremist views he held through the primary and into the general election, to now running hard to the moderate middle as election day draws near, in an attempt to convince soccer moms in Ohio, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Iowa that he isn’t some right-wing radical.

Meanwhile President Obama coherently and concisely explained how over the past four years he has made America safer by building up cooperative friendships throughout the world that have allowed for crippling sanctions to be placed on Iran, led to the death of Osama bin Laden, and removed dictators from power like Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi.

Admittedly, as a challenger Romney is not in a position to make foreign policy decisions, but he has traveled internationally as a candidate and embarrassed himself there. In fact every instance where Romney has tried to assert his leadership on a foreign policy matter he has been incorrect and later had to modify his position.

“I’m glad that you recognize that al-Qaeda is a threat, because a few months ago when you were asked what’s the biggest geopolitical threat facing America, you said Russia, not al-Qaeda; you said Russia,” said President Obama. “And the 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back, because the Cold War has been over for 20 years. But governor, when it comes to our foreign policy, you seem to want to import the foreign policies of the 1980s, just like the social policies of the 1950s and economic policies of the 1920s.”

Again this showed how Romney’s statements change depending upon who is in the room or what the polls show.

Any fool can talk about bombing Iran, but like with Bush and Cheney after they unilaterally elected to invade Iraq, there are long-lasting implications, financially and politically. Not to mention the lives of American soldiers would be on the line as well.

It is not beyond consideration that Romney and the Republicans might look upon Iran as an attractive target, which would reap profits for their industrial complex buddies, provide a political distraction, and delay bringing all our troops home at once, since that would necessitate finding them jobs.

Once again Obama was the only candidate that spoke about caring for our veterans after they returned home. The Republicans talk a great game about supporting the troops until they come home injured and are of no use to them anymore.

The debate turned to domestic affairs in regard to how having a strong economy and a lower debt would re-position America to be more competitive internationally.

Where Obama caught Romney was on the auto-industry bailout. There was no defense for Romney’s well-publicized position that he would have allowed Detroit to go bankrupt, without federal guarantees to keep them open. Obama infused the industry with cash, saved those jobs and now the automakers are solvent.

The president signaled that jobs, research, and education are what will allow America to prosper into the future, and keep its position as an innovative leader. That requires a commitment.

Romney has a vapid five-point plan that cannot be fulfilled. His tax and budget strategies, as best can be identified since he refuses to disclose how they would work or be funded, show a Romney administration that puts education, research and health care on the back burner, by stripping their funding.

Romney essentially played a prevent defense all night. He knew he couldn’t win this debate so he dropped back to play it safe, rarely engaging the president, in hopes of not making any huge mistakes.

Romney bluffed. He gambled that American voters pay too little attention to penalize him for vacillating on so many significant policy positions.

This becomes a character issue. I do not believe Mitt Romney, nor do I trust what he says.

It would be one thing if we had transparency with Romney. But he still will not adequately answer when he left Bain Capital. He refuses to disclose additional years of his tax returns, which would validate his explanation and let the public know how much he bets against America by investing in foreign countries or offshore tax shelters.

His tax plan and budget policies don’t work mathematically, and he will not fully detail how he plans to fund them.

He is blatantly hiding these answers and panders to special interest and the wealthy behind closed doors – infamously writing off 47 percent of Americans as “takers.”

Yes the economy still needs improvement, but it has consistently grown stronger under Obama’s stewardship.

This was a commanding performance by President Obama in showing how he has rebuilt America and has it back on a righteous path.

Romney keeps singing that same old song wealthy Republicans love – that folks at the top don’t have to play by the same rules as everyone else. In 10 days we can say to these robber barons that yes the rules do apply to them by re-electing Barack Obama.

Multiple Choice Mitt is too sketchy and too reckless.

America is better off now than it was four years ago, and President Obama deserves another four years to finish the commendable work he has already begun.

The second presidential debate, held at Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY, was like a classic middleweight boxing match, where both fighters were bloodied in frequent heavy exchanges but President Barack Obama got the better of Mitt Romney and took the bout by a unanimous decision.

Unlike their first encounter, the president appeared excited to have the chance to share the stage with his Republican challenger and discuss their policy differences. Obama came out from the start prepared to highlight his administration’s accomplishments, actively defend his record, and confront Romney on any perceived inaccuracies.

In this town hall-style debate the questions were pre-selected and audience members personally asked them to the candidates. Both men did reasonably well by all accounts, but this was a harder affair to watch than the first debate, as every answer was heavily contested.

It made for tremendous political theater, but as the finger-pointing ensued I can understand how some viewers might have tired quickly of the “he said-he said” and flipped to the baseball playoffs.

Ultimately, what we learned was that Mitt Romney’s policies can sound plausible when no one is there to refute them. But with the president on his game and an activist moderator in Candy Crowley, who refused to be run over like Jim Lehrer, Romney’s vision for governing America didn’t stand up well under the lights.

It’s not that he had an off night, it’s just that Tuesday was the first time Romney has faced such a level of scrutiny and been forced to defend his policies in real-time.

Obama ably confronted Romney on wanting to bankrupt the automobile industry, on his tax plan, immigration, women’s issues, and about how Romney wrote off 47 percent of Americans as “takers.”

The strongest part of Romney’s night came when he globally discussed the shortcomings of the Obama administration, that the economy isn’t where the president proposed it would be, that the deficit hasn’t been decreased and unemployment isn’t as low as promised.

These are legitimate criticisms. The problem for Romney is his budget and tax cut strategies have massive revenue gaps, and he steadfastly refuses to explain how he will pay for these measures.

It is inexplicable why he would propose an additional $8 trillion in tax cuts and military spending when he is running as a fiscal conservative. This is the centerpiece of his campaign. If this hypothesis is flawed, it trickles down to the rest of his candidacy.

Additionally, no responsible bipartisan organization has evaluated Romney’s plan and suggested it would be revenue neutral. Even conservative Republicans like Joe Scarborough admit there is no way Romney’s plan or the arithmetic will work as promised.

You add $8 trillion to the budget and say there will be no tax increases, the budget will be balanced and no money will be added to the deficit, with only some unspecified tax loopholes being closed – now there is some voodoo economics.

And when Obama confronted Romney with this reality it got under his skin.

“Governor Romney doesn’t have a five point plan, he has a one point plan, and that plan is to make sure that folks at the top play by a different set of rules,” said Obama.

Case in point came when Romney stumbled through his answer to a question on equal pay for women.

Obama spoke with authority in that he was raised by a single mom, his grandmother encountered the glass ceiling in her workplace, and the president pointed to his passage of the “Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act” as proof of his commitment to the equal treatment of women.

The president then deftly expanded this question to point out that by passing the “Affordable Care Act” he guaranteed working moms access to affordable health care and contraceptives, allowing them greater flexibility in employment options.

Romney had little to offer that might encourage female voters that he has their best interests at heart. As has been reported before Romney had no female senior executives at Bain Capital – so no glass ceiling, more like a glass fence.

Evidently he didn’t work closely with women politically either, because after being elected governor of Massachusetts he knew of no qualified women to nominate to his cabinet, hence he required scouting reports, or “binders full of women” to add some gender balance to his administration.

Romney insists he doesn’t believe bureaucrats or bosses should make decisions on women’s health issues or their access to contraceptives, but this is exactly what Romney advocates and this is how he conceals it.

Romney and his running mate Paul Ryan are both pro-life, with Ryan holding the extremist view that abortions should be denied even in the case of rape, incest, or life of the mother.

Romney has every intention of repealing the “Affordable Care Act” if elected, which would empower employers as to whether they would offer insurance plans that cover contraception.

Additionally, one budget item Romney specifically intends to cut is funding to Planned Parenthood. This is where millions of women turn to find affordable contraception, mammograms, and cervical cancer screenings.

These are pocketbook issues and family issues that help women have a more even playing field in the workplace where they must compete against men, and Romney wants to take that away.

Of course he would never say that but when his policies and politics are examined this is the only conclusion they present.

Romney doesn’t like taking questions about this subject because he plays by his own rules and has a different set of rules where women are concerned.

Romney will outlaw abortion and restrict access to health care and contraception for women. That is ugly and hurtful, but in the end that is what this brand of Republican politics is all about, being divisive and exclusive.

Why should Obama be re-elected?

To prevent this kind of forced social agenda from being legislated into law.

The president cut taxes for middle class and small businesses, saved the auto industry, reined in the excesses of Wall Street, got out of Iraq, killed Osama bin Laden, is drawing down troops in Afghanistan, passed the “Affordable Care Act,” and has presided over 31 consecutive months of job growth, bringing 5 million new jobs to America.

These are actual accomplishments.

Romney, having only speculation to offer in terms of improving the economy, tried to score points by politicizing the administration’s handling of the embassy attack in Libya.

This backfired horribly on Romney. Not only was he corrected by the president about this being declared an act of terror, but also by the moderator, Candy Crowley, who affirmed Romney’s incorrect insinuation.

It was not pretty and you could see Romney’s shoulders deflate – he really thought he had caught the president in some lie and was moving in for the proverbial kill, but like much of this campaign, Obama was a step ahead, and he recognized what Romney was up to and coolly said, “please proceed governor.”

Romney has bungled this Libya tragedy twice now by trying to play politics with American lives.

Who won this debate is not in doubt. Even arch-conservative Charles Krauthammer admitted on Fox News afterwards that Obama won on points.

More importantly, what I saw was the real Romney showing through. He can hide his true identity at staged campaign stops, but not when standing next to President Obama.

Romney and his “binders full of women” begin to shine ever clearer the longer they are exposed to the light of day.

The biggest revelation from Tuesday night was that Obama fought to be president for the next four years.

His performance will not completely stem the lifeline Romney gained from the first debate, but it did stop the bleeding and demonstrated why President Obama should win re-election.