A fellow contributor explains in a very passionate and eloquent manner, “Why Romney Wins.”
While I disagree with her on every point, I lack the eloquence or the wittiness to counterpoint her narrative.
Fortunately, a good and longtime friend has both the acumen and the eloquence to express my thoughts and perspective not only accurately but also poetically. He has just sent me the thoughts, the words and the reasons for “Why Romney Loses.”
What more can a fellow expect from a friend?
My friend calls his poem, “Help Me Understand” and he divides it into two parts: Domestic policy and foreign policy.
Here they are.
Help me understand — Part I
Romney, a great businessman may be,
And the Republicans say great, even yippee!
But let’s take a look at history
To see how this factor holds up to scrutiny
Now the most successful businessman President from the past
Was Herbert Hoover, but on results he was last
A laissez-faire, tax cutter from the past
He led us to the greatest Depression and for years it did last
Now the next was Carter, peanuts he sowed and did sell
But most people think, rightly or wrongly, he did not do well
Then along came Bush 2 with a business record mixed
With many failures but ending fairly well
He too was a laissez-faire, tax cutter from the past
Into a Recession he led us and it still lasts
Now Harry Truman went bust and could not a shirt sell
But as President had an economy that did very well.
In fact he’s the last President when our debt did not swell
So to me it is not a good sign
If a President has overseen a good bottom line
So Romney states his financial engineering talents abound
He claims he’ll turn this slow-improving economy around
So how does he propose to do this task?
Laissez-faire regulations and tax cutting fast!
Now that gets me thinking about the past
Has this same approach put us at the top, or last?
When asked for the specifics Romney is “clearly” obscure
I fear a return to a deeper recession we’ll have to endure
I don’t want to buy a pig in the dark
To me the choice is stark
So keep this history in mind
Don’t put us in another bind
So God Bless America and let me end on this note
Look at the facts before you vote
Help me understand — Part II
Help me understand
Romney’s foreign policy stand
Is he a Reagan, Bush One or Bush Two?
I’ll provide some background and you choose
Reagan was more a dove than a hawk
He rarely used guns, but rather talk
He was fortunate to have Gorbachev on the opposite side
Who already was letting the USSR toward more freedom slide
But I give him some credit for the Soviets’ final demise
He did negotiate and should get part of the peace prize
Some say it was Ronnie’s big military buildup that won the day
Perhaps some, but I feel it as more an internal financial decay
The Russians at the time were weak from their failed Afghanistan intervention
So Ronnie’s accomplishments were part truth and part invention
But compared to the current Neo-con’s aggressive military and nation building play
I would certainly take Reagan’s diplomatic way
One ground war in Granada that lasted a day
A million men U.S. Army against 600 was good odds to play
One air war that again took one night
And for years Qadaffi was out of sight
He did something he later regretted, in his personal diary he openly fretted
By putting Marines into Lebanon to help the Israelis
He later confessed it was a big mistake to answer their pleas
But he turned out not to be a stubborn lout
Despite the “cut and run” critics, he pulled them out
A President I did like was Bush One
While I was not too fond of his son
I would call him a tragedy
Daddy Bush’s Gulf War One was a masterpiece of strategy
With overwhelming force with even French and Arab forces on the team
The job was done quick, casualties few, for an old military man, it made me beam
He won the objective – it was a rout
Then he did not get bogged down – he got out
Not like his son and his rush “to war” call
To force Saddam to fall
The evidence did not add up at all
He even relied on made-up evidence from widely discredited “Curveball”
Now my Middle East friends did all agree
That attacking Iraq was not something we would like to see
For instead of long run success
We felt it would turn out a mess
Saddam, a Sunni, who a Shiite majority did suppress
Would cause arch enemy Iran’s Shiites on the border to be closer not less
Bush 2 and his Vice President Cheney were quite a pair
The Afghanistan War was put on hold to invade Iraq, and we’re still there
In my humble opinion Bush started off right
To focus on Al Qaeda for a fight
But once Bin Laden was forced to run
He should have tried diplomacy, like Reagan or his father, and not stick with the gun
As a lesson in policy it was a poison pill
And even today we are paying the bill
Now on foreign policy I have praised Ronnie and Bush number One
And I have criticized G. H. W.’s son
What I’ve heard from Romney’s sketchy plans is scary
I am becoming very leery
His advisors seem to number a lot of Bush 2’s old “neo-con” friends
And to me a familiar message it sends
Be tough and don’t talk
Follow me or I’ll walk
As Churchill has said before
It is better to jaw, jaw, jaw than war, war, war
You don’t have to be vitriolic
To be Patriotic
All conflicts in negotiation end
I prefer the message that Obama sends
So keep this history in mind
And don’t put us into another bind
So God Bless America and let me end on this note
Look at the facts before you vote!
CODA:
So, my friends
These are no ruses
This is why Romney loses
Note to self: Don’t give up the day job yet…
Romney Image via shutterstock.comMaria Dryfhout / Shutterstock.com
The author is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a writer.