Bob Schieffer Fails the Hardball Test

He [Mitt Romney] has a great allergy to specifics and details

Most probably every Sunday morning political interview program wanted to be the first to interview Mitt Romney. CBS won the honor but what did they agree not to ask in the interview? Were the questions submitted in advance so that Romney had an opportunity to prepare his answers?

Mr. Schieffer threw one softball question after another. Of course Romney was able to answer the questions.

Where were questions like:

Considering that you are so wealthy how can you relate to the average American?
Specifically what will you do as president to help re-employ millions of Americans?
What are the industries that can continue to be the mainstay of the American economy?
How will you reduce the national debt without reducing Medicare and Social Security benefits?
Do we really need a military budget that is six times that of the next highest military budget in the world?
What is your plan on dealing with the 12 million illegal aliens in this country?

Instead we learned nothing except that he will use military action, if necessary, to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear capability. He sustained his same positions, offered during the GOP debates, on every issue that Bob Schieffer introduced.

I did not expect too many worthwhile answers from Romney. I did expect Schieffer to ask the hard questions.

“The time for change has come.”

Those are Barack Obama’s words in a clip from a speech that Chris Matthews plays in the introduction to his weekend program on NBC. As we all know there has been no change. Grid lock has come since the GOP won control of the House of Representatives.

Guests on Matthews’ show this past Saturday all agreed that while the president is well liked the public has grown weary of the words that have not brought a renewed economy. John Heilemann, one of the members of that panel said, “Mitt Romney is never going to be likable” but acknowledged that the public might overlook that likability to see the economy in a recovery mode. No one on the panel disagreed. This is a panel of well respected Obama supporters.

Just last night Bill Clinton was in a NYC fund raiser for Obama. He pointed out that the austerity of Europe, that is Romney’s plan, has resulted in even higher unemployment than we are experiencing in the United States. However, today’s win of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker sent the message that Americans are not buying the Democratic Party arguments.

The argument that things could be worse just doesn’t cut it for most
Americans. Desparate Americans want results. Obama has not provided what Americans want.

A new president is on the horizon. The race is Romney’s to lose.

Political Party In Power Makes No Difference

It was the late 1960s. I really didn’t start paying attention to politics until I joined the Beverly Hills Young Democrats. I didn’t join because of a party loyalty. I joined because it was a singles group with lots of attractive young women. Despite my wish to stay non-partisan that club did impact my views on a host of subjects.

In all the ensuing years from LBJ to Barack Obama the one thing that has been consistent is the promises by the candidates that things would be better for Americans if they won the office. The reality is that nothing did get better. The cost of living went sky-high from those early days, most women had to go back to work after having children to sustain their life style, and the rich became ever more wealthy. Even worse, factory jobs were sent overseas making the fight for the remaining decent jobs even harder.

So why should I care who is elected in November? We have two wealthy people who will be protecting the system we have. Ross Perot was correct when he predicted “the sucking sound” of lost jobs if NAFTA becomes law. Today most of the products you buy were made elsewhere. Today when you call for service from some of America’s biggest companies you find yourself speaking to someone in India, the Philippines, or elsewhere in the Far East.

I don’t hear either Mitt Romney or Barack Obama saying he has a plan to return those “ordinary jobs” to America. No, they simply tell us how they will make things better using generalities about how bad the opponent is and how that opponent will only make things worse.

So whether it’s Barack Obama or Mitt Romney who wins, nothing will really change.

Mitt Romney Does Not Understand American Life

If you grew up in a poor neighborhood that is the environment you understand. Likewise if you grew up in a neighborhood of the well to do that is also the world you understand. I grew up in a very middle class neighborhood and my perceptions are based upon that environment. I never missed meal and I never went without shoes in that 1250 square foot three bedroom home.

The Associated Press reports: “Mitt Romney says he learns about what it’s like to struggle in a difficult economy by sitting down to chat with regular people. But the Republican presidential candidate doesn’t want anybody to see it — and his campaign won’t say who he meets with or when the meetings occur.”

“Before I begin an event like this, I typically am able to sit down with a few people on an off-the-record kinda basis,” Romney said as he delivered his standard campaign speech Friday in Pittsburgh.

Mitt Romney’s annual yearly income is over $20 million. He has off shore accounts to minimize his income tax. I doubt anyone reading this column has any accounts outside the United States(Unless you live outside the United States). The Census Bureau says the median household income in the USA from 2006-2010 was $51,914. Arithmetic Median Definition: Median is the middle value of the given numbers or distribution in their ascending order.

Mitt Romney can hear about the issues of the average American for the rest of his life but he has never had to say “we can’t afford that” or heard your spouse asking if there is enough in the budget to pay for some new curtains or new shoes this month.

Yesterday’s issue for me was getting the lights turned on after an electrical malfunction. The initial price to do the job right was over $4,000. The final cost just to get the lights working was $352. Mr. Romney would have done the $4,000 job.

Mr. Romney’s problem is that he really doesn’t have to face the life of a typical American citizen. There is no way he can understand. Isn’t he lucky?

Things are Getting Better?

The unemployment rate decreased .1% last month. That sounds good but the cause was more people giving up on searching for a job. There weren’t even enough jobs created last month to keep up with increased population.

Today’s Bureau of Labor Statistics report included the following statement. “The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over)was essentially unchanged at 5.3 million in March. These individuals accounted for 42.5 percent of the unemployed. Since April 2010, the number of long-term unemployed has fallen by 1.4 million.”

There is the problem that neither President Obama nor Mitt Romney has addressed. American industry doesn’t need most of those long term unemployed. The reason is that technology and the export of American jobs has reduced the numbers of people required in the United States.

The president’s job plan does include the following proposals
– A $4,000 tax credit to employers for hiring long-term unemployed workers.
– Prohibiting employers from discriminating against unemployed workers when hiring.
Nice gestures that do not answer the question of who will hire these un-needed people?

I have found nothing in Mitt Romney’s proposals that even suggest any solutions. His focus is on “free market.” My question is, where were the free markets under George W. Bush when the economy was in free fall?

My solution is higher tariffs on all imported products. Neither Obama nor Romney agree with that solution. They don’t have a solution!