Obama vs. Romney in 2012 & What's Broken in American Politics in 2026: A Rapper's Honest Retrospective
*A note before you read: I'm not sure this post ever made it online back in 2012, but I found it in my archives and it felt worth publishing — with some honest reflection added:
If you or I are to make the appropriate voting decision, a candid view of both candidates is necessary. Personally, I look at the presidential candidates the same way I look at any person, which is by viewing them as the aggregate of their actions in line with their ideals. There are many issues to consider, but I will simply focus on three: honesty, intention, and track record.
President Obama hasn't been perfect, but then again, no one ever is. I am personally not pleased with the continuation of Guantanamo Bay, although it is worth noting that he did not implement the program, and none of us really have to worry about national security. The fact is, the Middle East is still unstable, and Guantanamo Bay may be a necessary evil. The continued bailout of the banks didn't make middle-class Americans (like me) happy, but it was still a continuation of previous decisions. If he didn't bail out the banks, there could have been an economic catastrophe that--for all intents and purposes--was averted.
The fact is that Obama came into office with an economy in shambles! He has had to make some very tough decisions in terms of economic investments, which have gone both ways (e.g., bailing out the car companies vs. Solyndra). In all honesty, this first term has shown that President Obama is a great leader, an honest family man, and has the best interests of America at heart.
The fact of the matter is, he has tried every measure to get this country back on track after it has been undermined and sabotaged by previous administrations. Much more would have been accomplished if it weren't for a Congress that repeatedly stood in his way on job creation. He is trying to make the economy thrive with little or no help from congressional constituents. Many like to complain about the unemployment rate but fail to recognize their role in the problem and their apathy in the situation.
To be fair, Mitt Romney seems like a guy it would be fun to have a drink with and watch a football game... but then again, so did George Bush. On the surface, he looks like he means well, but his record and rhetoric say otherwise. Just like his math, his actions and claimed intentions just don't match. There are plenty of reports on the news and the internet that show Romney taking one stance and then later taking the complete opposite. The fact is, he is saying anything to placate voters and win the election.
He is against gays in the military, women's access to healthcare, and reproductive needs, and looks upon the American public--well, at least 47% of us--as lazy free-loaders who aren't worth healthcare. He wants to dismantle Obamacare (which was modeled on his own healthcare plan in Massachusetts) turn it into a voucher system, and thinks (as he has exclaimed clearly on at least one occasion) that citizens should be denied coverage for pre-existing conditions.
The blunt truth is that Romney is untested, a habitual liar, has an awful track record, and little experience. There is absolutely no reason to trust the man and even less reason to believe he has the interests of the American people at heart! ...especially the middle class. He is a "businessman" whose practices include borrowing money to disenfranchise and break down companies, burdening them with debt, and leaving the workers jobless while he profits!
To compound the mania that is Mitt Romney, he has continually pointed to his business experience as a positive and desirable trait that he wishes to bring to America as its president. The fact is that wealth stratification in this country has never been greater, and electing a man who embodies failed, outdated, and (frankly) lunatic ideas, ideals, and policies is absurd, at best. The fact is that Romney's candidacy for president is a joke, and it'd be a funny... if it wasn't so tragic!
Obama came into office with a broken economy, the Iraq War debt, and unpaid programs from the previous administration. If Congress hadn't rejected so many/all of Obama's jobs bill proposals, unemployment would be lower. As Bill Clinton said, no one could have fixed the economy in 4 years. The fact is, Obama has been honest with himself, his constituents, and the public. He is a proven leader, a far superior candidate, and deserves a second term!
A few of my positions have evolved since writing this, so let me be straight about it.
On Guantanamo Bay — I no longer believe it's a necessary evil. It should be closed, full stop. On the bank bailouts, what I was really getting at is that Bush's deregulation essentially cornered Obama into continuing them. But my position now is more radical: let it crash. The people who would have lost everything were the wealthiest Americans — the same people who faced zero accountability, lobbied to gut Dodd-Frank and Glass-Steagall, and handed hedge funds the green light to speculate recklessly all over again. They learned that their actions have no consequences. So yes, it will happen again.
As of 2022, I am firmly anti-Republican — not as an identity, but based on the voting record. Republicans have consistently voted against affordable healthcare, education, and childcare, even as Romney himself championed a healthcare mandate before walking away from his own legacy. The party has drifted so far from governance that it now operates almost entirely on manufactured fear and disinformation. Fox News has built an audience that doesn't just reject inconvenient facts — they've constructed an alternate reality. The irony of calling things "Trump Derangement Syndrome" while genuinely believing the 2020 election was stolen is a level of projection that would be funny if the consequences weren't so serious. Research consistently shows conservatives tend to have a more reactive amygdala — the brain's fear center — and the Republican Party has weaponized that biology for decades.
I'll also be honest about something more personal: I've noticed that when I'm in a mentally unwell period, my politics shift right. I became more drawn to guns, religion, and authoritarian certainty, which would explain the Guantanamo perspective, as I was hospitalized for the first time in August of 2012. That self-awareness matters to me, because I think a lot of what passes for conservative conviction is actually fear dressed up as principle — a retreat from complexity rather than an engagement with it.
My generation and those younger don't believe in American exceptionalism, and honestly, why would they? Millennials and Gen Z consistently rank among the least patriotic generations in polling history — not out of nihilism, but out of clear-eyed observation. Boomers inherited the most prosperous economic moment in American history, extracted everything they could, and pulled the ladder up behind them. I go deep on this in Farming Humans — you can find it at FarmingHumans.com.
The throughline of nearly every major American crisis right now is a Republican Party that cannot acknowledge reality or accept accountability — from the 2020 election to January 6th to the con man currently in office. And I'm tired of the "both sides" argument from people who've never actually looked at how each party votes. When you examine the record, it's not both sides. Republicans have voted, repeatedly and systematically, in favor of oligarchy and against the material interests of ordinary Americans.
Militant ignorance is expensive. An underfunded education system, gutted public health infrastructure, and a media ecosystem built on outrage have made us a failing state — not just in our own eyes, but in the eyes of our children. When kids are dying from preventable diseases and medical debt, the consolation prize of "owning the libs" isn't going to feel like much.
If you disagree — or just want to own another lib — drop it in the comments.
Comments
Post a Comment