What America Needs to Return to Normalcy

[Politico]

We need a president who will inspire confidence in Americans that we need not worry about the future. Until consumers have regained their confidence, there is not going to be a healthy economic recovery that significantly lowers unemployment (i.e., firms are not going to amp up hiring, try new and different things in attempts at growth, etc., until consumers start spending with confidence again). After nearly three years of malaise, Obama is clearly not the president to restore confidence in Americans, so clearly we need a new president instead of continuing with the incumbent. It is not complicated. It is a process the country has undergone many times in the past, most recently in 1992. Getting rid of an incumbent during a malaise is cathartic for the American consumer. Yes, you may personally like President Obama as I do (I have personally shaken hands with the man, supported him in 2008, and think he is a good guy) and you may not agree with any of Obama's opponents on everything or even most things (I certainly do not agree with Romney on everything), but surely we can all agree at this point that a change in leadership is needed. Nothing will change for the better until that happens, so should we wait until 2013 or 2017 for a change? I would choose sooner rather than later. Mr. Obama and his campaign staff might have their feelings hurt, but I am sure they will be fine.

Among the current field, it is obvious that Romney is the most presidential in every way, shape and form. I also believe he is the most likely to restore the type of confidence that has been lacking for many years now. I am really impressed by how much he has come along since first running in 2008, and I feel like this is his time and his turn. He is somebody who understands how the real economy works, and he will send clear signals to firms that he is not going to increase the level of regulations upon them nor dramatically increase taxes to fund pie-in-the-sky ideas and/or unsustainable spending levels. This will eliminate much of the current uncertainty among firms/investors that is adding to the woes we have because of pitiful consumer confidence. But again, the most important thing is restoring confidence in American consumers. It is almost everything. If we can do that and send clear signals to firms that the executive branch of the federal government is not going to get in the way of business, not try to stick its nose where it does not belong, we will see a return to normalcy. Or you can choose more of the same, but do not be surprised when America is still on the decline in 2016. I think the choice is pretty straightforward...

[Fuzzy]

Cool

[Fuzzy]

So you became an expert on this when?

[Governor Scott]

Starting to seriously consider if this is all another sofaken troll...

[SufferedMore ThanJesus]

I agree.   Romney is like the John Edwards of the GOP:  so cute and will get the women vote due to his sensitive feminine side.   And the fact that he was born filthy rich can't hurt too!   Mitt Romney is like the rich, handsome leading men you read about in those Harlequin romance novels that housewives like to read, and for that reason alone women in Middle America will vote for Romney in overwhelming numbers!    And the fact that he has conservative and liberal views on every issue means he will get both liberals and conservatives to vote for him.  GET READY FOR A REAGAN LANDSLIDE IN 2012!  GO MITT!

[Politico]

What is the alternative? Re-elect Obama and hope things change for the better? I say, "no we can't" to that.

Personally, I like a growing, confident America, not an America that is mired in malaise and decline.

But feel free to continue to delude yourself into believing that things are getting better with a president who failed to live up to promises/expectations. I have no idea how anybody does that.

[Governor Scott]

[Politico]

[Landslide Lyndon]

What America needs is to get through her thick skull that there is no such word as "normalcy".

[Politico]

What America needs is to get through her thick skull that there is no such word as "normalcy".

The word "normalcy" has been in English dictionaries since at least the mid-19th century. Normality is not rhetorically pleasing to the ear.

[Californian Tony]

We need a president who will inspire confidence in Americans that we need not worry about the future.

There is very little a politician can do for that.

[Bacon King]

Do you work for Romney's campaign? Not intending to be disparaging or anything here, just genuinely curious.

[Secretary Polnut]

I feel like I'm cheating such a tome... with such a simple response... but... bollocks.

OK...

I actually like Romney, I don't think he's out of his mind - but if you think he's Reagan 2.0 you've got another thing coming - Romney is GHW Bush 2.0.

Romney's problem is that he doesn't seem to have stable positions on anything...

If Romney were to win... watch him implement basically a re-branded version of what Obama is proposing... because he does know how economies work.

Buuuuut.... your reasoning... and your constant need to create threads basically saying the same thing over and over again (which is based on feeling and nothing more)... is still bollocks.

[NVGonzalez]

[A dog on every car, a car in every elevator]

3rd Quarter numbers just came in.

Consumers spent at an annual rate of 2.4 percent — more than triple the rate in the spring.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-500395_162-20126370/spending-lifts-economy-2.5-after-near-stall/?tag=breakingnews

[Paul Kemp]

What is the alternative? Re-elect Obama and hope things change for the better? I say, "no we can't" to that.

So your solution is to return to the policies that put us right where we are in this mess? Ok.

[pbrower2a]

What is the alternative? Re-elect Obama and hope things change for the better? I say, "no we can't" to that.

YES, WE CAN!

Personally, I like a growing, confident America, not an America that is mired in malaise and decline.

Most of the fear seems to have been generated by bureaucratic elites who serve as enforcers of tycoons. The Hard Right idea of 'good' competition is that in which working people compete to determine who will be most productive while being squeezed most. Such, if successful on its own terms, ensures 'decline' through degradation of the work force... and something nastier than any 'malaise' that we have known at any time. 

But feel free to continue to delude yourself into believing that things are getting better with a president who failed to live up to promises/expectations. I have no idea how anybody does that.

Promises? He has kept more promises. The most dangerous and destructive meltdown of the US economy since the 1930s came to an end within a couple of months of his inauguration. We have had economic growth even if most Americans haven't shared in it -- because  tycoons and corporate bureaucrats so gamed the rules of the economic system that they took it all!

After a speculative bubble fails, all that can happen is slow growth based on long-term investment. We need to change the tax laws (to more progressivity!) to foster small business that now can't compete with vertically-integrated cartels and trusts.
 

[Sibboleth]

So after finding out that Obama cannot magically make things better because, alas, he is not magical... you have concluded that Rhymney... is... magical... and will magically make everything better.

[Invisible Obama]

Politico is actually Mitt Romney himself.

[Paul Kemp]

Politico is actually Mitt Romney himself.

No, that's Winfield. Politico is his son.

[Is JCL in mushy sappy love]

The issues that effect the need for a return to normalicy are far deeper than many here understand. It will require this nation to take a really long look at herself. The United States has been in an identity crises for a generation or better. To quote President Reagan, " Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American Revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capital can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves." This goes far beyond the dichotomy of our left-right paradigm. Many of our cherished bulwarks of liberty are in such danger that no one man can lead the way back.

[Landslide Lyndon]

The issues that effect the need for a return to normalicy are far deeper than many here understand. It will require this nation to take a really long look at herself. The United States has been in an identity crises for a generation or better. To quote President Reagan, " Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American Revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capital can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves." This goes far beyond the dichotomy of our left-right paradigm. Many of our cherished bulwarks of liberty are in such danger that no one man can lead the way back.

Can you translate that in English please?

[oakvale]

We need a president who will inspire confidence in Americans that we need not worry about the future. Until consumers have regained their confidence, there is not going to be a healthy economic recovery that significantly lowers unemployment (i.e., firms are not going to amp up hiring, try new and different things in attempts at growth, etc., until consumers start spending with confidence again). After nearly three years of malaise, Obama is clearly not the president to restore confidence in Americans, so clearly we need a new president instead of continuing with the incumbent. It is not complicated. It is a process the country has undergone many times in the past, most recently in 1992. Getting rid of an incumbent during a malaise is cathartic for the American consumer. Yes, you may personally like President Obama as I do (I have personally shaken hands with the man, supported him in 2008, and think he is a good guy) and you may not agree with any of Obama's opponents on everything or even most things (I certainly do not agree with Romney on everything), but surely we can all agree at this point that a change in leadership is needed. Nothing will change for the better until that happens, so should we wait until 2013 or 2017 for a change? I would choose sooner rather than later. Mr. Obama and his campaign staff might have their feelings hurt, but I am sure they will be fine.

Among the current field, it is obvious that Romney is the most presidential in every way, shape and form. I also believe he is the most likely to restore the type of confidence that has been lacking for many years now. I am really impressed by how much he has come along since first running in 2008, and I feel like this is his time and his turn. He is somebody who understands how the real economy works, and he will send clear signals to firms that he is not going to increase the level of regulations upon them nor dramatically increase taxes to fund pie-in-the-sky ideas and/or unsustainable spending levels. This will eliminate much of the current uncertainty among firms/investors that is adding to the woes we have because of pitiful consumer confidence. But again, the most important thing is restoring confidence in American consumers. It is almost everything. If we can do that and send clear signals to firms that the executive branch of the federal government is not going to get in the way of business, not try to stick its nose where it does not belong, we will see a return to normalcy. Or you can choose more of the same, but do not be surprised when America is still on the decline in 2016. I think the choice is pretty straightforward...

EVERYONE WANTS YOU TO SHUT UP

[Simfan34]

I agree.   Romney is like the John Edwards of the GOP:  so cute and will get the women vote due to his sensitive feminine side.   And the fact that he was born filthy rich can't hurt too!   Mitt Romney is like the rich, handsome leading men you read about in those Harlequin romance novels that housewives like to read, and for that reason alone women in Middle America will vote for Romney in overwhelming numbers!    And the fact that he has conservative and liberal views on every issue means he will get both liberals and conservatives to vote for him.  GET READY FOR A REAGAN LANDSLIDE IN 2012!  GO MITT!

Do go on.

[Fuzzy]

I feel like I'm cheating such a tome... with such a simple response... but... bollocks.

OK...

I actually like Romney, I don't think he's out of his mind - but if you think he's Reagan 2.0 you've got another thing coming - Romney is GHW Bush 2.0.

You have such high standards.  Yeah, he's pretty much an arrogant douchebag/opportunist that says anything to get into office.  He wouldn't even be that effective, but I like him because he knows what he's doing.