I’ll admit it.  I was in a funk at the close of the republican convention.  Laying aside the bizarre sight of my man Clint debating an empty chair, the repubs did a pretty good job.  In fact, they made Romney seem almost normal, as far as politicians go.  Yes, I know that his VP guy, Ryan, told some whoppers, but everyone expects that of pols.  I’m reminded of the old aphorism, “I’d never want to be a member of a club that would have me”.  In political speak, that translates to an equally pithy thought, “One should never vote for a politician that wants to be elected”.  Clearly, Romney wants to be elected.  Hells bells, he’s taken every position, on every issue so as to increase his appeal to everyone.

At my early morning coffee klatch, the day after the close of the convention, the conversation inevitably turned to things political, but only after we had worn out all of the regular topics…yesterday’s performance by the Texas Rangers, the weather, the price of tea in China, etc…  All, excepting me, of course, opined that this should have cinched the deal for Romney.  You should know that I am the only left-leaning, socialist abiding, liberal, Obama loving, pinko, democrat at the table. So not surprisingly, I took the contrary view.

An esteemed, and mostly well informed member of our group, turned to me and said, “surely you’re still not going to vote for Obama”.  “Tell me why you would do that in the face of his first term performance.”  My mind raced.  My heart rate picked up.  I licked my lips.  Now was the chance for me to state the case for Obama.  I moved my mouth, but nothing came out.  I mumbled something about the terrible state that George W. had left things in, but nothing else emerged.  In short, I froze up.  I clutched.  I whiffed my big chance even though the odds of creating any converts were slim and none.  It did get me thinking, however.  I know that in certain political circles, facts aren’t terribly important, but I’m gonna give it a shot anyway.  Below are only some of the fact based reasons that I’m going to vote for Obama again.  You read it here first.

1.  On the first trading day in January after Obama took office in 2009, the Dow was at 8070, the S&P was at 850, and the NASDAQ was at 1477.  At the close of trading on the 24th of August, these indicators were at 13000, 1411, and 3069 respectively.  If you’re quick with a pencil, you will note that these reflect increases of 72% for the Dow, 66% for the S&P, and 107% for the NASDAQ.  I’d think all you coupon clipping, savvy traders with big portfolios would be showering Obama with rose petals.

2.  In the last four months of W’s administration, the economy was losing jobs at the rate of about five hundred thousand per month.  In fact, for all of 2008, the last year under W, we lost two million six hundred thousand jobs…the worst performance since the great depression.  Can we all agree, at least, that Obama had nothing to do with job losses before he took office.  Well, maybe not.  The repub veep guy blamed Obama for shutting down a GM plant before he took office, so I guess anything is possible.  The reality is that under Obama, we have now had twenty two consecutive months of total job growth and twenty nine months of private sector job growth.

3.  In the face of torrid criticism from the repubs, and even some dissent from his fellow  dems, Obama took actions that saved GM, Chrysler, and their supply chains from disaster.  Then for good measure, he also made it possible for AIG to survive.  It’s really hard to put a bad face on this….unless you’re Ayn Rand.

4.  He gave hope and insurance coverage to millions who would have been denied basic health care because of pre-existing conditions.  He made it possible for older Americans to afford to continue to buy the meds they need by closing the Part D “doughnut hole”.  He made it possible for dependents under twenty six to continue be covered by their parent’s health plans rather than go without coverage.  He cracked down on fraud and waste in Medicare and Medicaid saving millions.

5.  He preserved low interest student loans (Pell Grants).  In an environment when every job is precious and unemployment is still far too high we need to recognize that education may be our only long term solution.  Today, graduates of four year colleges have an unemployment rate of 4.1%, graduates of two year programs and jucos are at about 7%, while high school grads have over 11% unemployment and high school drop-outs are at 17%.  Yet the Grand Old Party wants to make it harder for college students to pay for college.  Go figure.

6.  By executive order Obama achieved what congress could not and would  not do.  He began the reform of our broken immigrations system by providing children who had been brought into the country illegally by their parents, but had otherwise lived good, productive lives, a way out of the shadows.  He increased deportations of “undesirable” undocumented workers, and decreased the number of illegals coming into the country by beefing up security on our borders.

7.  His record on national security includes getting rid of Bin Laden and Quadaffi, while continuing to protect the US homeland against terrorist activity.  He has largely gotten all US combat forces out of Iraq, is on a path to do the same in Afganistan, but has projected US military force in other areas of the world where appropriate.  How would you like to be a Taliban leader in the border region of Pakistan when you hear a faint “droning” sound?

I realize that the health care act is a sticking point for many, but an equal number, including me, believe that it is economically and morally right for our society and government to provide for a means of obtaining basic health care services for even the least among us.  As for taxes…no one, again including me, likes to pay unnecessary taxes.  I, however, would like to see discussion on how the money is spent, rather than on tax rate.  Having said that, I’m not sure that accelerated depreciation on corporate jets does much good for the body politic, but I am sure that I’m going to get by pretty well whether my effective tax rate is 16% or 18%.

It’s ok, I guess, for one not to like Obama and not vote for him, but I’d hope that it’s for the right reasons.  To say that he hasn’t done anything for our country in his first four years is not a good reason.