The Voice of Reason: The Last Appeal to Undecided Voters

You're an undecided voter.  You may lean slightly to the left or slightly to the right, but you're not sure whom you will vote for on Tuesday.

Perhaps you bought into Barack Obama's promise of Hope and Change in 2008, but are now disillusioned because you have seen many of your friends and family members lose their good-paying jobs in the last four years.  Maybe you're even out of work yourself, and don't see things turning around quickly enough.  There just aren't any good-paying jobs out there, and it worries you that your children and grandchildren will not have the opportunities you have.  In fact, if things don't turn around quickly, you may not have the same opportunities your parents had.  Maybe you're considering voting for Mitt Romney because of his experience but aren't sold on his positions on social issues, perhaps believing that he's a little too conservative. Maybe you lean to the right and don't think Romney is conservative enough.

No matter which way you're leaning, the fact is that your vote will decide this election and the future direction of this country -- not to put put any pressure on you.

As someone who is a registered Democrat who thinks more like a Republican but who votes for candidates of either party, I would like the opportunity to try to persuade you to vote for Mitt Romney.

If you're like me and millions of other Americans, you believe that the growing national debt and our stagnate economy are the two biggest issues facing our country over the next four years.  You believe as I do that if we don't get our debt under control we will pass on a credit card bill to our children and grandchildren that they will never be able to pay.  You also know as I do that this economy is dead in the water.  There aren't thousands of new, good-paying jobs being created and millions of Americans are unemployed or underemployed.

I would urge you to forget about all of the other hot button issues, such as gay marriage or abortion or birth control.  If we don't get our debt under control and our economy moving again, we may not have a country four years from now.  The other issues will not matter if we don't quickly address the two most important issues facing our country.

In order to address these and other major issues, America will need a leader who is able to reach across party lines to get things done.  In the past four years, President Obama has not been able to do this even once.  He has devoted most of his time blaming his predecessor and the Republican Party for his inability to move legislation through Congress.  But even members of his own party failed to give his proposed budgets even one vote the past two years, which should tell all of us how effectively he leads even his own party.  President Obama rarely meets with  the top four leaders of Congress and has never tried to develop a strong relationship with other key leaders of Congress, even among his own party. As a result, our President has been unable to accomplish anything of substance that has required bipartisan support.  Our President has even admitted that he would rather spend more time with his family than "schmoozing" with Congress.  I'm not sure if anyone has told him this, but a large part of the job as President is to spend that time developing relationships with members of the Legislative Branch of our government.

Republicans and Democrats have worked together before with great success, even when our country was greatly divided. President Reagan did it.  President Clinton also did it.  Each of these Presidents was a leader who realized that developing strong relationships with members of Congress was the key to getting anything done for the good of the country. President Obama hasn't done this at all and has spent little effort even trying to reach across party lines. As a result, our country is more divided than the day he took office and neither party is able to pass much-needed legislation.

In contrast, as Governor of Massachusetts, Romney worked collaboratively with his legislature, who overwhelmingly were Democrats, to pass major legislation.  He has proven that he is able to reach across party lines.  He's done it.  If you watched the debates as I did, you didn't hear President Obama mention even once that he had worked with Republicans to pass legislation, while Romney talked about this experience on numerous occasions.  Romney used this same talent as a collaborative leader to help companies prosper and to add thousands of jobs while at Bain Capital, and also as head of the Olympics. 

If our country is able to move forward and address the major issues of our growing national debt and a stagnate economy, as well as other issues, we will need a strong leader who understands how to work with members of the other party for the good of the country. Mitt Romney has proven that he can do this; President Obama has failed miserably at this.

If for no other reason than this one, undecided voter, Mitt Romney deserves your vote and President Obama does not.  It's really that simple.