Obama wins, Romney wins, what difference will it make?

If you’re a billionaire, it’ll make an enormous difference. If Romney wins, you’ll increase your wealth twice as quickly as you would under Obama.

Similarly, if you’re an ordinary schmoe, you will see the economy remain stagnant under Romney. Indeed, it’ll go back into reverse, and unemployment will increase and wages will continue to stagnate. Obama’s policies will continue to improve the economy.

Also, for some 50 million people, Obama’s policies will mean you have health insurance. You’ll be able to afford health care if you get sick. If Romney wins, we will see an increase in the number of uninsured to around 60 million folks. Maybe more, if the economy is worse than I expect.

Obama’s tax plan will improve the lives of everyone making $250,000 or less per year.

Augie and millions of other Americans will have health care plans they can afford.

People with pre-existing conditions will all be covered. That is life-changing.

The economy will continue to grow, even if slowly.

We are already better off now than we were four years ago. Another four years will make a real difference.

It feels a little foolish, doesn’t it? To even think that we could elect a good leader.
I doubt America contains any good leaders, willing to take on the responsibility.

When we bomb Iran It’s gonna be bad for the next sitting president and that alone may bust up any agenda either of them attempt to see through.
Having said that IF congress keeps close to the same split there might not be much of a difference anyway. I’m not holding my breath. I’m tired of looking like a blueberry.

If you think either of them can solve the problems we have in only a single year, I think you are too naive to make an informed decision in the voting booth. That said, you cannot solve problems by amplifying their cause, so Romney would be a bad choice for Americans who are not in the top income brackets, who care about those who are not millionaires, who feel that government should not intrude in the bedroom or doctors office, or anybody who dislikes pathological liars (the man tells more provable lies than five normal politicians) while Obama is, at worst, only marginally effective.

So Obama it’s getting my vote.

I would concur with the analysis of @wundayatta & @marinelife, that is unless the Mitt Romney who showed up for the Presidential Debate in Colorado turns out to be the real Mitt Romney and the fellow who has been running for the office for the 18 months preceding the debate was an impostor preaching policies directly opposite of those Debate Romney claimed to favor.

My guess is Running Romney is how a President Romney would govern, and Debate Romney was a short-lived quantum state of the Etch A Sketch. If that’s true, then Real Romney plans to double down on the policies of George W. Bush with the predictable result that we’ll get the same economic crisis again, only this time we will be so deeply mired in debt from the last one that we will truly go into the abyss of another Great Depression.

@AshLeigh You know, we draw our leaders from the American people, and we the people are who put them in office. So if we keep getting something we don’t like, at some point we might want to take a look in the mirror. If you keep heading the way your are heading, some day you’re going to get where you are going.

I think the decay of respect for our leaders and our government is a self-inflicted wound born of the attitude of the Me Generation. Take whatever you want in life, and pay for it.

@Hypocrisy_Central You are absolutely right. Our country is run by empty suits and polarizes nut cases. We can make a difference by voting Independent. That’s what I’m going to do. Or, you can “waste your vote” on the others. Personally, I’ll take door number 3.

@ETpro Exactly! I would vote for Debate Romney in a heartbeat… except that I know enough of his record to know that that isn’t the real Mitt Romney. If Romney ran MA so great, why is he trailing so badly in the polls there?

Though I am still tempted to vote for Vermin Supreme.

If Romney wins most of the civilized world will laugh long & loud, sustained over many, many days.

@ucme It’s nice to know you can laugh. I guess that means that the way America is governed has little effect on the rest of the world. This is something we can only be grateful for. Of course, now we can sit back and laugh at Europe, too. Let’s see you split in two. The rich and the poor. Not that it will affect the economy of the world. Right?

If you are gay, a person of color, an immigrant, a person with any medical problems, a female or part of the middle class or a poor person, I would say that it could make a huge impact in your life.

@jerv If you think either of them can solve the problems we have in only a single year, I think you are too naive to make an informed decision in the voting booth. First off, I said I wanted to see improvement; if I waited for them to SOLVE anything I would be dead first. Informed decision? The crumbs from that loaf of bread do not lead very far. You go into the voting booth and choose Bad or Worse; and either can wear that moniker depending on which way the vessel is leaning do to the direction of the wave. I don’t follow politics like I use to because what was there to follow? Except for coming together on the JOBS ACT (maybe the single best thing this government has done in 100 years) it is one giant pissing contest with each side trying to see if they can piss the furthest, longest, and have a clearer stream with less sink on it.

@DWW25921 Our country is run by empty suits and polarizes nut cases. We can make a difference by voting Independent. It is convincing 10s of millions of others that therein lies the solution.

Obamacare. Most of the important provisions go into effect in 2014. Romney could easily sabotage implementation of the law. Its survival depends on Obama.

Tax cuts vs. spending cuts. Both Obama and Romney want to bring down the deficit. Obama wants to do it by raising taxes on rich people. Romney wants to do it by cutting spending on social programs and poor people.

The military. Romney wants to hugely increase funding for the military (which makes deficit reduction for him more difficult.)

Supreme Court Justices. Do you want more people like Kagan/Sotomoyor or more people like Scalia?

Foreign policy. Obama’s foreign policy has been relatively centrist and pragmatic. He uses force (Libya, drones.) With the exception of Afghanistan, he has hesitated to put feet on the ground or actually invade other countries. He looks for international cooperation. Romney has indicated he will continue Bush’s foreign policy. His advisors (Dan Senor, John Bolton) worked for Bush in his first term; they advocate unilaterial American military intervention in foreign countries and support invasions and occupations. Romney’s most prominent advisors here were actually sidelined by Bush in his second term because they proved to be too ideological even for W. (This is, I think, the biggest difference, since presidents have by far the most power in foreign policy).

@Hypocrisy_Central Sure is! One at a time. I’ll start knocking on doors on the east coast, you start where you’re at.

@wundayatta But we’re already split in two see, there’s the europhiles & then there’s us plucky Brits….marching on, ever upwards.

Well the biggest difference would be healthcare. The changes under Obamacare are pretty major and could make a difference for 40 million people without insurance, or pending your perspective it could kill your grandmother and bankrupt the nation.

Obama did have a resoundingly strong foreign policy (weakening Iran to levels never seen, wiping out most of Al Queda including Bin Laden, reducing the number of nukes on the planet by ⅓ with Russia, overseeing the Arab Spring [though jury is now out on that, again pending your perspective]), so you could argue that Romney will have a bad one and that could end up causing some kind of upheaval that could effect you.

There is strong reason to doubt anything major will be accomplished by either man as far as the debt/deficit goes. But if you believe either of them, the manner in which they plan to attack that problem is incredibly different. Obama wants the cuts and new taxes approach, Romney favors deep cuts and lower taxes that somehow spur more tax revenues.

Social policies are also very different, although I personally don’t think Mittens will act on the rhetoric he’s spewed while running.

@tedd That last point should be self-evident to voters. We will elect a president, not a dictator —at least, that is what we hope. With a congress divided and as bitterly partisan as it is, no president will be able to tackle major problems like the debt and deficits.

One of the main things that I’m afraid of with a Romney/Ryan win is a duplicate of Bush II. I am covinced that Bush wasn’t truly the one in charge, that Cheney was the person in charge, a backseat president, if you will.

@GracieT What I am afraid of is a return to the days when only rich, white, heterosexual, Christian Conservative men were even considered human and all others were subjugated. As bad as things seem right now, they will get far worse under Romney/Ryan. At least they won’t fire up the walk-in ovens…

I’m in favor of healthcare that is under the individual’s control and is transportable, so if you change jobs or lose a job you still have access to affordable healthcare. Mr. Romney says he’ll appeal the Affordable Care Act, but is he just giving those on the “right” what they want to hear? One thing I really like about President Obama is that his stance on issues is fairly consistent and he allows opinions to “evolve” naturally with experience. Mr. Romney seems to say anything to get voters to support him. Hence, in Mass. he took more liberal positions, and now he is the opposite. At the debate, he aimed for the middle with a different pitch. President Obama has accomplished much on his watch and I suspect he’ll continue on the same path in his next term. What Mr. Romney will try to accomplish is not at all clear to me. It’s as though someone else is pulling his strings.

@jerv, I’m sorry, but I have to say, you brought up the Holocaust and so automatically lost the debate.

@jerv I don’t think we have to worry about things going that far back if Romney wins. I just think he will very clearly put people who are rich above everyone else. Any social policies with regards to race, religion, sexual preferences, etc… will just be to placate the base of the right… and I don’t think they’re crazy enough to take us that far back in time.

@tedd Not that far back, no. Only about a century or so.

@Qingu Nobody ever wins debates anyways. Minds never get changed, facts never sway anyone, and the opinions of others are irrelevant as well, so what does it matter? That is why I went there; it’s just so fucking ridiculous that it seemed only fitting to go out on a fucking ridiculous note.

I think there would be a huge difference depending upon who will win. Look at what happened when W Bush (and the Brooks Brothers along with the Supreme Court) ‘defeated’ Gore.

Couple more unwinnable (except by the defense contractors) wars in the Middle East. Same economic policies as W. but on steroids, so we get an economic crisis on steroids. What’s not to love in a Romney presidency?

@ETpro I don’t see how Romney/Ryan will lower the deficit by lowering taxes on the wealthiest, increasing the military budget and likely starting more wars. They’re both hypocrites, and I can’t believe how many ‘conservatives’ buy their BS despite what their opinions are of Obama.

@Paradox25 Sadly, I can believe it. They still believe that Supply Side Economics works despite historical evidence to the contrary, that austerity works despite the economic catastrophes in the European nations that tried that recently, many still believe Obama is Kenyan instead of Hawaiian…

Basically, we are dealing with people to whom facts mean nothing.

@Paradox25 I think @jerv has it exactly correct. The American right is factually wrong on a whole litany of issues now, and they seem in reasingly di forced from the fact-based Universe alltogether. I hope some rational alternative emerges soon, because single party rule rapidly becomes corrupt regardless of the party leading.

@ETpro That is my only reason for tolerating the current iteration of the Republican Party. If there were a popular third-party to keep the Democrats from gaining control in the absence of Republicans, I’d have the GOP declared a terrorist organization and dealt with accordingly. But as it stands, they do perform a vital function by preventing one-party rule.

@jerv My fear is that with the level of irrationality and lying they have now hit, even great, sleeping “American People” will eventually catch on in sufficient numbers to render them impotent.

@ETpro The simplest solution would be if the actual Republicans kicked the Teabaggers, misogynists, Bible-thumpers, and morons out on their own free will and once again became a respectable alternative to the Democrats. Hell, that would earn a lot more of my respect than just caving in and being taken over by terrorists like they have been, or just running off and forming their own party (which they lack the balls to do) but I don’t see that happening.

@jerv As a small business owner, I’d roll up my sleeves and go help them do that. But real Republicans are now outnumbered by the drek, which is mostly the Dixiecrat, Neocon and Religious droppings from the old Democratic Party. Sad.

@ETpro Would kicking the South back out of the Union help? Given where most of our aid goes, I think it would at least help the federal budget immensely while allowing the Republican stronghold the freedom from the White House that they crave. Win-win!

The solid south may think it would be a win/win, but the impoverished coffers of their state governments in no way equate to “successful” give and take to get a successful category page. At least it was air committment.