2012 Presidential Campaign Blog

The Intelligencer (PA) Endorses President Obama

The Intelligencer (PA) Endorses President Obama

KEY POINTS:

· It is amazing America is not mired in a full-fledged depression. We suggest that is due to the efforts of President Barack Obama.

· The nation was hemorrhaging jobs at a pace of 800,000 a month when Obama took office.

· For 31 straight months, there has been job growth, with more than 5 million jobs created.

· All the while, Obama has had to deal with Republicans who, from day one of his administration, made it clear they would not work with the president to get this country moving again. Their stated ambition has been to make him a one-term chief executive and return their party to power. How’s that for patriotism?

· And it’s not just the economy where he and Mitt Romney have very divergent visions. On every issue, from abortion to education and the environment to war, these two men have vastly different ideas about whose interests they represent.

· We should be under no illusion that Romney will govern in any way but what best serves corporations, the wealthy and their accompanying conservative base. Unlike most of his policy plans, he has made that abundantly clear.

· Consider the damage done by the policies of the last Republican administration.

· We can’t go there again. That’s why we endorse the re-election of President Barack Obama.

Vice President Biden To Campaign In Florida, Pennsylvania And Iowa This Week

VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN TO CAMPAIGN IN FLORIDA, PENNSYLVANIA AND IOWA THIS WEEK

CHICAGO—Obama for America announced today that Vice President Biden will travel to Florida for grassroots events on Wednesday, October 31.  On Thursday, November 1, Vice President Biden will deliver remarks at grassroots events in Iowa and Pennsylvania.

Details on the Vice President’s campaign events in Florida, Iowa and Pennsylvania are forthcoming. The Vice President’s travel is subject to change due to weather conditions.

The Scranton Times Tribune Endorses President Obama

The Scranton Times Tribune Endorses President Obama

KEY POINTS:

· In January 2009, the heart of the Great Recession and the same month that President Barack Obama took office, the economy lost 800,000 jobs after giving up 3 million over the previous six months - the most for any single month of the previous 60 years. Home foreclosure rates soared. The U.S. auto industry teetered on the edge of collapse, threatening another 3 million jobs throughout its long supply chain. The American banking system and, therefore, the global banking system, were in freefall. America was engaged in two protracted wars.

· The unemployment rate has receded below 8 percent. Housing markets generally have improved. The auto industry and banks thrive.

· Overall, Mr. Obama's record amid some of the most pressing economic challenges in U.S. history is rather good, especially considering the political constraints.

· Meanwhile, Mr. Obama ended the war in Iraq, established a definitive timetable for U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and ordered the operation that put terrorist and mass murderer Osama bin Laden in the grave.

· But Mr. Romney has not been able to identify even Mr. Romney. He seems primarily motivated by a deep-seated notion that Mitt Romney should be president. In furtherance of that goal, he spent the Republican primaries in hot pursuit of the most radical elements of the party's base.

The Wausau Daily Herald Endorses President Obama

The Wausau Daily Herald Endorses President Obama

KEY POINTS:

· We endorse President Barack Obama for a second term.

· Obama’s Race to the Top program set up incentives that encouraged states including Wisconsin to adopt a set of education reforms that we have endorsed, including new measures for school performance and new systems for evaluating teachers. The program changed the discussion, and for the better.

· We oppose the wholesale repeal of Obamacare, the president’s signature health reform law … the framework for universal care that it establishes, the consumer protections it offers and the important initiatives toward electronic medical records and cost-saving, quality-based care of the sort we have in Wisconsin all make it an important legislative achievement.

· Obama kept his promise to end the war in Iraq, and the U.S. is now set on a reasonable trajectory toward a 2014 pullout of Afghanistan. And as was evident in the third presidential debate, Romney’s foreign policy would bear many similarities to Obama’s. We give a significant advantage to Obama in this category.

· The president deserves four more years.

The Patriot-News Endorses President Obama

The Patriot-News Endorses President Obama

· From issues as varied as health care reform, abortion, global warming and illegal immigration, Romney has morphed his positions.

· He says he is not proposing a tax cut for the wealthy on the back of the middle class, but many experts say it would do just that. He also has not explained how it will create the millions of jobs he touts.

· By contrast, Obama has helped put the nation on a road toward recovery and created a successful foreign policy, many aspects of which Romney supports.

· He gets high marks for providing financial help to the auto industry, back at near full throttle.

· On foreign policy, there is no doubt the president kept his word to hunt down al-Qaida leaders. The list of terrorists who are dead today, most notably Osama bin Laden, speaks for itself. The view much of the world has of the U.S. changed for the better in the last four years.

· On social issues, which have played a prominent role in this election, Obama is right to support gay marriage and continued abortion rights in the face of many who want to end both.

· Many challenges face our nation and more undoubtedly are to come in the next four years. The person who should lead us through them is Barack Obama.

The Keene Sentinel Endorses President Obama

The Keene Sentinel Endorses President Obama

KEY POINTS:

· Romney hasn’t convinced us that the cure lies in his own unimaginative proposals, which present a return to tried and failed economic strategies that focus on cutting more from the tax burden of rich people he calls “job creators.” That’s what helped get us here in the first place.

· Try as he might to repair his numerous blunders in this regard, Romney has shown with thoughtless comments such as his belief that nearly half of Americans don’t want to take responsibility for their financial situations that he’s profoundly out of touch with how deeply damaging the divisive and reckless policies of the past have been on many people.

· Factor in his plans to increase defense spending and drastically reshape the Medicare system that provides health insurance to seniors, and a Romney presidency would put the future for more middle-class and low-income families in even greater peril.

· What’s needed going forward instead are serious bipartisan efforts to reform entitlement programs and grow revenue. The passage of the Affordable Health Care Act that Romney wants to repeal has already made a step in the right direction — the Congressional Budget Office’s latest prediction pegs savings from the law at $84 billion, lowering the $1.4 trillion federal deficit by 6 percent. It is also expected to provide health insurance coverage by 2019 to 32 million people who wouldn’t otherwise have it.

· There’s still a long way to go on the economic path to recovery and as we tread that road, America also needs a leader with a clear set of plans to make this country better for everyone. With a vision that includes better secondary education, affordable higher education and respect for people’s rights to make personal health and relationship choices, we know Obama could shape that America.

· Romney’s positions are less clear. We can’t tell if he’s the fiscally and socially conservative hawk he painted himself to be in the primary race or the more moderate and compassionate candidate he now claims to be. Honestly, we wonder whether even he knows, and therein lies danger — whether in domestic policy prescriptions, Supreme Court nominations or the conduct of foreign affairs. Do we want to elect a leader too easily persuaded to make bold statements and take decisive action in spite of his instincts?

· Strong, steady leadership brings a confidence that allows people to take risks. Barack Obama has been doing that job for the past four years and he deserves four more years to finish what he started.

http://www.sentinelsource.com/opinion/editorial/barack-obama-is-a-steady-leader-with-an-inclusive-vision/article_a77328d1-2e24-5357-b762-42b11c0e8ef1.html

The Portsmouth Herald Endorses President Obama

The Portsmouth Herald Endorses President Obama

KEY POINTS:

· In his first four years in office, President Barack Obama has pulled the country back from financial collapse, improved health care, championed civil rights for women, immigrants and same-sex couples, cut taxes, ended the war in Iraq and kept us on track to leave Afghanistan by 2014.

· He approved the Navy SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

· He has kept America safe during his first four years in office.

· For these reasons, and many more that we will enumerate below, we urge our readers to vote for President Obama on Nov. 6.

· When you cut through the Republicans' untruths, half-truths and downright lies, it becomes clear that President Obama has helped the American people in his first term despite an opposition party whose stated purpose was his destruction. Despite the Republicans' best efforts to tarnish him, the president remains well liked by the majority of Americans, while Congress has never been more reviled. Most Americans know in their guts that the president is on the side of working men and women. While the past four years have turned his hair gray, the president has kept his cool, has refused to be provoked and still truly believes America works best when we are united in a common cause.

· Since the president took office, the Dow and S&P 500 are up more than 70 percent. "Not since Dwight Eisenhower's first term has a president had such a strong run for their first term," Reuters reported in August. Those who don't own stocks are also more confident about the economy. The consumer confidence index has nearly doubled during Obama's first term.

· We've had 31 straight months of positive job growth in the country, adding 4.6 million private sector jobs. In the last year of George Bush's presidency, we lost 4.4 million private-sector jobs. And let's remember, New Hampshire's unemployment rate is far lower than the nation's at 5.7 percent, while Maine is slightly lower, at 7.6 percent.

· The Affordable Care Act, now popularly known as Obamacare, has already begun to improve our health care system, and some of its most important elements will begin in 2013 and 2014.

· Right now, as a result of Obamacare, young people can stay on their parents' health insurance until 26 and children can't be denied coverage due to pre-existing conditions. Women and Medicare recipients are receiving free health care screenings and Medicare recipients also receive a 50-percent discount on brand-name drugs in the "doughnut hole."

· President Obama stands by a woman's right to family planning, and the outrageous comments made by Republican candidates for U.S. Senate regarding rape and abortion should give every woman cause for concern about what would happen to women's health care under a Romney administration. Women who want to keep their health care decisions between themselves and their doctors should support President Obama.

· On foreign policy, the president has met his three major goals. Osama bin Laden is dead, the U.S. has ended major military operations in Iraq, and we are on track to leave Afghanistan by 2014. During the most recent debate, Mitt Romney said he agreed with the president's actions in all these areas. The president made a great choice in Hillary Clinton as secretary of state, and he has given her and the State Department his full support and confidence.

· Space does not permit us to highlight the president's accomplishments on the environment, energy, women's workplace equality, holding down the interest rates on student loans and protecting Social Security for our senior citizens.

· In the end, it comes down to trust. We trust President Obama to look out for the health, safety and well-being of all Americans. Unlike his opponent, he hasn't written off nearly half of our fellow citizens through a cynical calculation that they are dependents and moochers and therefore not his constituency. Your ears did not deceive you. Romney really said 47 percent of Americans believe they are victims and won't take personal responsibility for themselves and, given the chance to correct himself, he defended those statements. That's what he really believes.

· We trust President Obama to fight for the middle class, to continue growing jobs and educational opportunities. We trust he will work to continue increasing our energy independence while protecting the environment for future generations. We trust him to protect Medicare and Social Security and to build a health care system that expands coverage while reducing overall costs. We trust him to protect women's health choices and to appoint rational, common-sense justices to the Supreme Court. We trust his diplomatic approach to foreign policy. We trust in President Obama's integrity, decency and intelligence.

· On Nov. 6, we urge our readers to vote for President Barack Obama.

http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20121028-OPINION-210280320

The Toledo Blade Endorses President Obama

The Toledo Blade Endorses President Obama

Re-elect President Obama
Toledo Blade // Editorial

A second term for President BARACK OBAMA would be a better outcome for Ohio, Michigan, and the rest of the country — and would offer more hopeful prospects for the next four years — than would his replacement by his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney. The Blade recommends the President’s re-election.

Detroit Free Press Endorses President Obama

Detroit Free Press Endorses President Obama

Detroit Free Press Endorsement: Top reasons to re-elect Obama

Detroit Free Press // Editorial

What’s the best case Barack Obama can make for re-election? Let’s start with the stunning record of accomplishments he has compiled over the last four years:

• General Motors and Chrysler are thriving — a long, long way from the edge of insolvency, which is where Obama found them on his first day in office. Bridge loans and managed bankruptcies turned them around, and stable growth followed soon after. Is there anything more important to people here in Michigan?

• The economy has grown jobs for the past 30 months, after hemorrhaging 4.9 million in 2009. The bleeding began to stop when Obama convinced Congress to authorize $831 billion in federal stimulus funds, and employment has grown, slowly but inexorably, since the beginning of 2010.

• The Affordable Care Act, a broad set of private-sector and government reforms, is bringing millions of formerly uninsured Americans under the umbrella of reliable health care. It’s a quantum leap forward that has bested both legislative and legal challenges.

• Of the two costly wars started during the Bush administration, one is over and the other winding down. Osama bin Laden and at least 14 other al-Qaida leaders are dead, and their terrorist network is in tatters. Meanwhile, Moammar Gadhafi, responsible for the deaths of more Americans than anyone except bin Laden, was deposed with U.S. help. Not since the fall of the Berlin Wall have the nation’s geopolitical fortunes improved so markedly.

• That’s to say nothing of the president’s lower-profile victories: for women, who regained the right to seek legal redress for pay discrimination when Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law; and for the thousands of gay and lesbian Americans who won the right to serve their country without lying about who they are.

On the strength of those achievements alone, Obama’s second four-year term ought to be a no-brainer. Most two-term presidents can’t claim to have gotten as much done.

The country is safer. Its economy and its largest industry have been restored to health. And health care reform, fought out over 50 years in the U.S. Congress, has at last begun in earnest. When Republicans say pejoratively that Obama “can’t run on his record,” they’re 2peddling1 partisan nonsense and indulging a myopic fiction.

The Free Press enthusiastically endorses Barack Hussein Obama for four more years as president.

The Raleigh News & Observer Endorses President Obama

The Raleigh News & Observer Endorses President Obama

Obama, again

Raleigh News & Observer // Editorial

Ever since he electrified the 2004 Democratic National Convention with a keynote speech, Barack Obama of Chicago had been marked as a man who might be destined for the White House. Destiny was fulfilled sooner than expected. The then-Illinois senator, a first-termer, was introduced to the next convention four years later as the nominee after a brutal series of primaries that saw him overcome candidates that included Hillary Clinton, the accomplished first lady who now is his secretary of state.

...

If re-elected, there is no reason to think that he will not continue to be concerned for the middle-class and the disadvantaged, and that his domestic focus will be on helping people who need it while strengthening the country’s economic underpinnings. Combined with a successful foreign policy, the case is strong: We believe President Obama has earned another term.