Well, as it has been said, "the truth will set you free".
Albrette "Gigi" Ransom
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Tribune endorsement: Too Many Mitts | The Salt Lake Tribune
Tribune endorsement: Too Many Mitts
Obama has earned another term
Published: October 20, 2012 09:33AM
Updated: October 20, 2012 09:58AM
Nowhere has Mitt Romney's pursuit of the presidency been more
warmly welcomed or closely followed than here in Utah. The
Republican nominee's political and religious pedigrees, his adeptly
bipartisan governorship of a Democratic state, and his head for
business and the bottom line all inspire admiration and hope in our
largely Mormon, Republican, business-friendly state.
But it was Romney's singular role in rescuing Utah's organization of
the 2002 Olympics from a cesspool of scandal, and his oversight of the
most successful Winter Games on record, that make him the Beehive
State's favorite adopted son. After all, Romney managed to save the
state from ignominy, turning the extravaganza into a showcase for the
matchless landscapes, volunteerism and efficiency that told the world
what is best and most beautiful about Utah and its people.
In short, this is the Mitt Romney we knew, or thought we knew, as one of us.
Sadly, it is not the only Romney, as his campaign for the White House has made abundantly clear, first in his servile
courtship of the tea party in order to win the nomination, and now as the party's shape-shifting nominee. From his embrace
of the party's radical right wing, to subsequent portrayals of himself as a moderate champion of the middle class, Romney
has raised the most frequently asked question of the campaign: "Who is this guy, really, and what in the world does he truly
believe?"
The evidence suggests no clear answer, or at least one that would survive Romney's next speech or sound bite. Politicians
routinely tailor their words to suit an audience. Romney, though, is shameless, lavishing vastly diverse audiences with
words, any words, they would trade their votes to hear.
More troubling, Romney has repeatedly refused to share specifics of his radical plan to simultaneously reduce the debt, get
rid of Obamacare (or, as he now says, only part of it), make a voucher program of Medicare, slash taxes and spending, and
thereby create millions of new jobs. To claim, as Romney does, that he would offset his tax and spending cuts (except for
billions more for the military) by doing away with tax deductions and exemptions is utterly meaningless without identifying
which and how many would get the ax. Absent those specifics, his promise of a balanced budget simply does not pencil out.
If this portrait of a Romney willing to say anything to get elected seems harsh, we need only revisit his branding of 47
percent of Americans as freeloaders who pay no taxes, yet feel victimized and entitled to government assistance. His job, he
told a group of wealthy donors, "is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal
responsibility and care for their lives."
Where, we ask, is the pragmatic, inclusive Romney, the Massachusetts governor who left the state with a model health care
President Barack Obama speaks about the choice facing
women in the upcoming election, Friday, Oct. 19, 2012,
at a campaign event at George Mason University in
Fairfax, Va. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
plan in place, the Romney who led Utah to Olympic glory? That Romney skedaddled and is nowhere to be found.
And what of the president Romney would replace? For four years, President Barack Obama has attempted, with varying
degrees of success, to pull the nation out of its worst financial meltdown since the Great Depression, a deepening crisis he
inherited the day he took office.
In the first months of his presidency, Obama acted decisively to stimulate the economy. His leadership was essential to
passage of the badly needed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Though Republicans criticize the stimulus for
failing to create jobs, it clearly helped stop the hemorrhaging of public sector jobs. The Utah Legislature used hundreds of
millions in stimulus funds to plug holes in the state's budget.
The president also acted wisely to bail out the auto industry, which has since come roaring back. Romney, in so many
words, said the carmakers should sink if they can't swim.
Obama's most noteworthy achievement, passage of his signature Affordable Care Act, also proved, in its timing, his greatest
blunder. The set of comprehensive health insurance reforms aimed at extending health care coverage to all Americans was
signed 14 months into his term after a ferocious fight in Congress that sapped the new president's political capital and
destroyed any chance for bipartisan cooperation on the shredded economy.
Obama's foreign policy record is perhaps his strongest suit, especially compared to Romney's bellicose posture toward
Russia and China and his inflammatory rhetoric regarding Iran's nuclear weapons program. Obama's measured reliance on
tough economic embargoes to bring Iran to heel, and his equally measured disengagement from the war in Afghanistan, are
examples of a nuanced approach to international affairs. The glaring exception, still unfolding, was the administration's
failure to protect the lives of the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans, and to quickly come clean about it.
In considering which candidate to endorse, The Salt Lake Tribune editorial board had hoped that Romney would exhibit
the same talents for organization, pragmatic problem solving and inspired leadership that he displayed here more than a
decade ago. Instead, we have watched him morph into a friend of the far right, then tack toward the center with
breathtaking aplomb. Through a pair of presidential debates, Romney's domestic agenda remains bereft of detail and
worthy of mistrust.
Therefore, our endorsement must go to the incumbent, a competent leader who, against tough odds, has guided the country
through catastrophe and set a course that, while rocky, is pointing toward a brighter day. The president has earned a
second term. Romney, in whatever guise, does not deserve a first.
© 2012 The Salt Lake Tribune
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