As I said last week when the shoe was on the other foot, a lot of voters have made up their minds. If you are a liberal, you’re going to vote for President Obama; if you’re conservative, Mitt Romney is the guy for you. But where does that leave moderates and independents?
I’m glad I asked. Here are some pros and cons of the Republican challenger.
Pros:
1. Experience: On paper, Romney looks pretty strong. He has executive experience as a former governor of Massachusetts. And since he was a Republican in a liberal state, maybe he knows a little something about bipartisanship. He was a successful businessman. And he oversaw the Olympics at one point.
2. Morality: As with our current President, there is no hint of unfaithfulness in Romney’s past. It’s as if in this one area Jimmy Carter is running against Jimmy Carter, which is nice (in this one area).
Cons:
1. Tax returns: What’s up with those? Why did Romney release two years’ worth and refuse to release any more? Does it look like he’s hiding something? Of course! Was it fair for Democratic Senator Harry Reid to suggest Romney hadn’t paid taxes in 10 years? Of course not! It was dirty politics. My assumption is that Romney has taken advantage of all kinds of tax shelters over the years, and he didn’t want Democrats mocking him for it. But of course that is only speculation. Speculation is what people are left with when they don’t have answers.
2. The Latter Day Saint thing: Mormons tend to be a very conservative and moral people–like Southern Baptists, only with more bicycles and white shirts. If you do some research on the LDS’s, though, you’ll find some…exotic…things. God wanted them to engage in polygamy, they said, until they wanted statehood in Utah. Then God changed his mind, they said. The full list is kind of long.Will Romney’s Mormonism bother voters, or will they like the morality currently associated with it?
So where does this leave the voters? Both candidates and their running mates have positive and negatives. Why are you going to vote for your candidate? I’m not as interested in why people are voting against the other guy. Why are you for your guy?