LETTER: Is This the Man We Want as Commander in Chief?

The following is a letter to the editor. To submit your own, email michael.ryan@patch.com

By Anne Lentz

After watching the RNC, the DNC, news, talk shows, speeches, political ads, as well as having read articles about platforms, policies, and gathering facts as well as checking facts at fact checking websites, the most profound impact on me last week,was the astonishing way in which Romney reacted to the recent crisis in Libya and Egypt. 

Before gathering facts, Romney came out with a statement saying that it was disgraceful that the Obama Administration did not condemn but sympathized with the protesters. It is astonishing to see a presidential nominee react in this knee-jerk manner.  http://factcheck.org/2012/09/romney-gets-it-backward/  Romney reacted before the protesters stormed the Embassy, and doubled down on his statement hours later.

Not only Democratic leaders, but many Republican leaders criticized Romney's timing and statement that came out before and during a horrible tragedy when there should be no politicizing! Is this the man we want as our Commander-in-Chief?  I think we all remember his critical comment to and about our allies while in England during the Olympics this summer. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/26/mitt-romney-olympics-blunder  

Another trip found him being critical of the Palestinians. These missteps should be a warning to us how a Romney presidency would fare in world affairs; however, his policies or lack of specific policies in the US should also be suspect.
Recently on Meet the Press on September 9, David Gregory pressed him many times to give specifics on his plans, and he would not.   http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48959273/ns/meet_the_press-transcripts/t/september-mitt-romney-ann-romney-julian-castro-peggy-noonan-ej-dionne-bill-bennett-chuck-todd/#.UFdf61Gnxv8  

Running mate, Paul Ryan did the same on Face the Nation when being questioned by Norah O'Donnell about specifics. Ryan said  they would give details after the election while working with Congress. The American public has a right to know what their plans are prior to the election!   http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-3460_162-57509126/face-the-nation-transcripts-september-9-2012-obama-ryan-plouffe/

President Clinton stated at the Democratic National Convention that no one, not even he would have been able to do any better than Obama has done given the economy he was handed by George Bush. In spite of being handed a mess by Bush and dealing with obstruction from Congressional Republicans, Obama has been able to create an economic recovery program that has supported at least 3.6 million jobs, saved the auto industry, passed Wall Street reform to protect American families, called for closing tax loopholes so that millionaires don't pay less taxes than the 99%, ended the war in Iraq, rid the world of Osama Bin Laden, established an end plan to the war in Afghanistan, honored those that served and their families so that they would get the help that they need, got families tax credits, signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act so that women would be paid the same as men for the same work. (Ryan voted against this act.)  Let us not forget the stimulus bill that, according to the non partisan Congressional Budget Office, increased employment between 1.4 million and 3.3 million people. http://www.factcheck.org/2010/09/did-the-stimulus-create-jobs/  

Another website to visit to weed out fact from fiction in the Clinton speech is the following: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57507626/fact-checking-7-claims-in-bill-clintons-convention-speech.

We want to leave a planet that our children and grandchildren can live in and flourish. Perhaps we need fact checkers at the debates.  http://signon.org/sign/have-fact-checkers-at?source=s.em.mt&r_by=4144372  Of course, recently, Neil Newhouse, the Republican's chief pollster said, "We're not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact-checkers."  Perhaps, that says it all.  It's unbelievable how many people in 2012 in the US still believe what people have for 5000 years, that as long as the king and his friends are rich enough,the crops will grow and everyone will have what they need. http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/greed-and-debt-the-true-story-of-mitt-romney-and-bain-capital-20120829

It seems that Romney keeps stepping in it. http://swampland.time.com/2012/09/17/video-captures-uncensored-mitt-romney-at-fundraiser/ This video lets Americans know what he really thinks. Who wants a president that does not care for 47% of the American people? You can't run a country like a corporation. You need to care for all.