The Undecided Voter in the 2012 Presidential Election
With a presidential race so close, within 5-6%, the independent and undecided voter will play a pivotal role along with others (Hispanic, women). I have to admit, I am undecided. If I could clone the best of Romney and Obama into one candidate, that would be nice. However, I can't, hence, because I do like both candidates for a variety of reasons, I have to decide which issues are most important to me. The economy is, of course, one of them, but it is not a pivotal one. I do not believe either candidate really has the answer, only formulas based upon their own clique of economists they listen to. So far, not many have been accurate since 2009. Whether Romney can create 12 million jobs is moot because odds are they are the low end wage type in the service sector, you know, the fast food, the grocery store, the retail, where few of them earn more than $15-20 hr and most earn between $10-13. Creating 12 million of them is not going to do much, even if 25% of them were earning 50-60K a year, how much of dent is that going to make. Odds are, neither candidate can create that many jobs because for past years, there has been little growth and Europe, which buys most of our goods, are going into a recession.
Foreign policy under Obama has had few great moments and many moments where failing to lead and act has been bad for America. Obama prefers to keep the US in the background and let other nations lead. Sometimes, that is a smart move, sometimes, not. In Iran, when there were elections and mass demonstrations, Obama was moot on the whole topic and seemed afraid to fan the flames of freedom. Instead of doing everything possible to help the Iranian opposition, we did nada. Nothing. In Syria, granted, a messy situation, at least something more can be done, like granting Turkey permission to create a refugee buffer zone inside the Syrian border and corridor to Aleppo for civilians to escape. The Turks are losing patience with Obama, I can see why, Obama is reigning them in. A no-fly zone could be done despite what all the naysayers state, even if it is for a few days, it would put Assad on notice.
Because of Obama's mishandling of foreign policy, I may switch to the Republican side this time around, If I do, I am sure I will not be the only one.
