Day: October 23, 2012

The Discomfort Of Mitt Romney With The Outside World: A Danger For America’s Future

Ronald 5 Comments

Mitt Romney showed great discomfort and awkwardness in his performance in the Foreign Policy debate held last night in Boca Raton, Florida.

He made it clear that he does not know the geography of the Middle East, when he said Syria was Iran’s connection to the Mediterranean Sea, forgetting or not knowing that Iraq lies between Iran and Syria.

He talked of Iran as if it was Arab, when Iran is Persian, an unbelievable misunderstanding.

He has talked of military action against Iran and Syria in the past, but now backed off on that.

He has made trade threats against China, even though he has invested in Chinese trade through Bain Capital.

He has called Russia the leading geopolitical threat to America, which brings back memories of the Cold War with the Soviet Union, which ended 20 years ago.

In a poll of 21 nations, public opinion polls demonstrate that all of them massively prefer Barack Obama as America’s leader for the next four years, as they feel uneasy about the lack of knowledge and interest of Mitt Romney in their nations’ futures, Ironically, only Pakistan prefers Romney, maybe due to the raid into Pakistan that gained the end of the life of Osama Bin Laden.

The outside world knows that Barack Obama, with the assistance of Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, and others, has shown respect and concern for their nations, and has become overwhelmingly popular and respected, a great relief from the low esteem felt in other nations toward George W. Bush.

Mitt Romney only sees the outside world as a profit motive, and has never shown interest in anyplace except as one to make money, or proselytize his Mormon faith, as in France in the late 1960s, and yet it is France that has the highest support for Barack Obama of any of the 20 nations that prefer that Obama be elected to a second term.

We cannot afford an ignorant, poorly informed, and less than motivated person to become our President, as he could, too easily, be manipulated by foreign policy extremists who want new wars to advance their agenda of American dominance and promotion of corporate interests. Mitt Romney is the wrong person to be our Commander in Chief in the 21st century, and having a potential Vice President, Paul Ryan, who has no greater grasp or interest in foreign policy than he has, makes that conclusion even more powerful!

Charisma And The Presidency: The Interesting Views Of Dean Keith Simonton

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Dr . Dean Keith Simonton, Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Davis, has come up with an intriguing discussion of Charisma and the Presidency.

Having done research over a period of years on this topic, Simonton spoke on National Public Radio, and surprised listeners, including the author, by saying that early Presidents would not be considered to have charisma, as many of them hated speaking before large audiences, had a tendency to be shy and nervous in public gatherings, and would have had problems, therefore, being elected in the modern era. This would include George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison.

Only Andrew Jackson would be likely to seen as charismatic in a modern sense in the 19th century, meaning even Abraham Lincoln would not fit the image of being charismatic.

Modern Presidents who Simonton would consider charismatic would include Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton. So he would consider only SEVEN Presidents as having had charisma by his definition.

Putting Lyndon B. Johnson on the list is quite surprising, and those not put on the list include Woodrow Wilson and Barack Obama, also quite unexpected.

There is much room for thought here, with the definition of charisma itself in dispute, if Lincoln, Wilson and Obama are not judged to make the list, while LBJ is on the list.

Maybe it is because Lincoln, Wilson and Obama are all reserved, introverted types in the minds of psychologists, while Jackson, TR, FDR, JFK, LBJ, Reagan and Clinton are all, clearly, extroverts!

In any case, interesting and fascinating concept to think about and discuss!

History And Geography: Republican Presidential Candidates’ Shortcomings!

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In 2008, Senator John McCain, the Republican Presidential nominee, spoke of Czechoslovakia, even though that nation had divided into the Czech Republic and Slovakia fifteen years earlier, in 1993.

Now, in 2012, Mitt Romney, the Republican Presidential nominee, talked last night of Syria being the Iranian route to the Mediterranean Sea, even though Iraq stands between Iran and Syria.

These mistakes on history and geography by Republican Presidential nominees should be very troubling to those who think such individuals are qualified to be Commander in Chief!

Interesting How Obama Integrated Importance Of Domestic Policy Into Debate On Foreign Policy

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Barack Obama was masterful in last night’s debate, cleverly integrating the importance of domestic policy into the debate on foreign policy.

A strong America, with promotion of education, rebuilding of the infrastructure, and development of alternative energy resources, along with economic growth of the middle class, were all emphasized by Obama, and Mitt Romney was unable to come out against such assertions by the President.

So Romney, while trying to act more moderate than he has been in the past year of seeking the Republican nomination, ended up agreeing much of the time with Obama, which will not please hard line conservatives, who wanted a real alternative to Obama, and are not very happy with Romney, but realize he is the only alternative they now have.

Romney looked very uncomfortable much of the time, did not smile or smirk nearly as much, and seemed to look to the audience and his wife in the front row for sustenance, as the debate wore on, and it seemed clear that Romney was just glad the debate was over.

But had he scored a touchdown or a field goal? To most observers, the clear answer was no, as Obama recovered nicely from the first debate through to the second and third debates, while Romney had his best performance by far in the first debate, and then did worse in the second and even worse in this final debate!

Horses, Bayonets, Aircraft Carriers, Submarines, And Battleships: Barack Obama Ridicules Mitt Romney On Navy

Ronald 2 Comments

A high point of last night’s debate was when Mitt Romney insisted we needed more ships in the Navy.

Obama responded that things have changed since 1917, when we had more ships.

Obama said we do not need horses and bayonets as we did a century ago, and that aircraft carriers, submarines, and battleships are part of the modern navy, ridiculing Romney for his emphasis on the number of ships.

Romney looked very uncomfortable at that point, and the smirk was gone from his face, as he realized he had been made out to be a fool.

No one can say that Obama has not recovered from his lackluster performance in the first debate, and he came across as strong, assertive, knowledgeable, and made one wonder: Why would anyone want to replace the Commander in Chief, particularly when Romney agreed with him on so many issues and matters?

With the economy obviously in recovery, and a strong Commander in Chief, the case for Barack Obama to be reelected President surged forward last night!