Will the unemployed fire Obama?

The unemployment rate went up at the end of 2008 after years of deficit spending and tax cuts for the very wealthy by the Bush Administration. When Bush left office the unemployment rate was already at 7.8%. Yes it continued to rise under Obama like a snowball rolling down a hill until November 2009 when it hit 10%. Despite the Republican blockage of every proposal from the President, the rate went down to 8.1% in May 2012 and is hovering around 8.2 to 8.3% now.

Personally, I think that Obama has done a good job at keeping the unemployment rate as low as it is at the moment despite all of the stonewalling by Congress. Just think what he could have done if the Republican House had cooperated instead of doing absolutely nothing to help the situation. This strategy was decided the day after Obama's inauguration. They had no intention of cooperating with this president and wanted him to fail. They came right out and said that. So the GOP served up the American workers to the unemployment monster for the sole purpose of making Obama's policies fail. Now you tell me who's to blame. Certainly not Obama.

And now, who does the GOP put forth to "create" jobs in the U.S.? The reigning KING OF THE OUT-SOURCERS! Mitt Romney knows how to make money for himself and his investors. He knows how to create low paying jobs in China and Indonesia not the U.S.

If anyone thinks he's going to be on the side of the American worker you are sadly mistaken. All you have to do is look at his record in Massachusetts. While he was governor, we dropped from 35th to 47th in job creation AND he added over a billion dollars to our deficit.

At least Obama is moving in the right direction slowly but surely. I'm sure it would be faster if the GOP showed any kind of willingness to help instead of hinder.

I understand how you feel. We lost my cousin, who was also my godchild, to the war in Iraq. He was a U.S. Marine Pilot. As far as I'm concerned he was a brave, young American who wanted to be a Marine since he was a small child. He lost his life for nothing. His young wife lost her husband and his two boys lost their Dad. If I could say we did any good over there maybe I could at least find a reason for all the death and destruction. But, that country is still in a mess and now they're all fighting among each other.

At least Obama has gotten us out of that war.

Afghanistan is even worse. I don't believe anyone can help that country. They are savages right out of the Bronze Age. They have no respect for and place no value on life. They are barbaric in their treatment of women and if we could get out of there today we should do it. Obama has brought 33,000 troops home from Afghanistan and more are leaving every month. So, in my estimation, he's getting us out slowly but surely. Wish it was faster but at least it's going in the right direction.

Romney is already rattling a sabre at Iran and possibly Syria. Really? Is that what we want right now? I don't think so. We need to help our own people. And what does he want to do? Instead of asking the very wealthy to pay as little as 3 or 4% more in taxes, he wants to give them more of a tax break and increase taxes on the middle class. The middle class can't take that. We're hurting too much now. And we have found through experience that he trickle down theory does not work. The wealthy will hoard whatever tax break they get, put it in overseas accounts and not pump it back into business, hiring or helping the American economy. They've had over 10 years to use their tax breaks to help this country and they haven't. Enough is enough.

We need to trim some of our budgets and I would begin with the military. We can no longer afford to be the policeman of the world. Our "allies" should be protecting themselves at this point, we just can't do it any more.

What we cannot do is cut programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other programs that keep millions of people out of poverty. Romney would cut or substantially change all of those programs to the point where they would be ineffective.

Romney wants to cut education, police, fire, and lots of other services that we as a country rely on. These aren't frivolous or "extras" that we don't need. These are essential services as are the Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Drug Administration and many other agencies that Romney would cut. Is there waste? Sure. But you don't throw the baby out with the bath water! You trim with a scalpel NOT a bulldozer!

America is a large country with a large and growing population. We can't run things out of a mom & pop government. For good or for bad, we need a large governmental structure to ensure that things are run properly. If Romney is elected, we will not recognize our country after 4 years and I would predict that his policies will increase unemployment, throw millions into poverty and possibly even involve us in another war. The austerity program he wants to put into effect is the same thing they did in the European Union and it has only made things far worse for the Europeans.

So, when all is said and done, I think Obama is on the right track. If Obama had not been opposed tooth and nail for the last couple of years by the Republicans, he would have been able to do much more. I'm hoping he gets re-elected and I'm hoping that the Democrats take over some more seats in the House and Senate.

I know you have to do whatever your conscience is telling you to do but I hope that you can understand my reasons for voting for Obama again. I think it's the only way to go at this point in time. You know what they say. Slow and steady wins the race.

Yes your right, these programs should not be cut and if you look at the messengers of the 1% like Palin, which have nothing to say to the poor except "the reason why you are poor is because you are lazy" this makes the Republican Party a huge turn off. They seem to turn their back on the poor and work with only the middle class and the rich, that being said. President Obama may be a great steward of core social programs that are a great help to the poor and middle class. What I do not like about Obama is his blind trust of the Russians and his funding for their space program over NASA. We should not be using the Russians to get to space. I am for pulling out of both Afghanistan and Iraq but not downsizing the military at all. Our military has to be big and strong, the way you feel about government is the way I look at the military, no cuts. The cuts should be to immigrant programs and foreign aid, not government agencies. The social agencies you mentioned should never be cut, only modernized to work better for less money, so they are less of a tax drain. Another huge tax drain that the Democrats do not address very well is illegal immigration; they just legalized ten million illegal immigrants whose parents came here illegally jumping in front of millions of people that want to come here legally. This is a 100 billion dollar a year drain on taxes each year. You talk about Austerity in Europe, which is interesting, I guess this is a caparison to what Romney will do, higher taxes for the middle class. Europe had to do this because Germany, who is bailing these countries out, set these conditions on these government borrowers. They kept the National Pensions the same only increased the retirement age to 60, which is not and unreasonable change because the retirement age was 54. You made very interesting points, I cannot argue with any of them really. I cannot debate the job of President Obama, because I have never been the president of anything except my class in the first grade. I can only say this, whoever is president in this next round, may not want to be, because this president will decide the fate of their party. If the Republicans get in and there is this amount of unemployment in 4 years, they are screwed for a long time, if the Democrats get a second chance, unemployment will have to be there prime focus. If in debate Obama says nothing of his plan for the unemployed or has no plan for employment for at least 5 million people, then I will be critical of him. Romney on the other hand has taken companies that were almost dead and brought them back. Our economy is dead right now and needs to be brought back to life. Thank you for all your amazing commentary, they are all greatly appreciated.