Friday, September 7, 2012

Competence in Presidential Politics

The question this fall is clear: Do we want a president who cares for others but is not competent or a president who might care, if he could just show it, but has proved his competence?
President Barack Obama has had his chance. He recently gave himself the grade of incomplete. His goal: to get an extension.
All Americans should ask themselves: Does he deserve another term?
Let's review the facts:
Obama, 42 months into his term, has overseen a net loss of 300,000 jobs.
He has yet to pass a balanced budget; our debt has increased 51 percent -- from $10.6 trillion to more than $16 trillion. U.S. gross domestic product annual growth is 1.7 percent. Unemployment exceeds 8 percent. More than 17 percent of those who want to work full time are either not working at all or are working part time.
How does this compare?
When President Ronald Reagan was 42 months into his first term, 3.8 million new net jobs had been created.
Four years after the Republicans took over the House of Representatives in 1994, running on the Contract With America, GDP growth was 4 percent; unemployment was 4.2 percent; 11 million new jobs had been created; and the budget was balanced.
Americans have done it before; we can do it again.

Read more: http://townhall.com/columnists/jackiegingrichcushman/2012/09/06/competence_in_presidential_politics

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