Why I’m switching to Romney this election
By BRYNA FRANKLIN
10/29/2012 22:22
It is precisely because of my belief in the longtime ideals of the Democratic Party that I feel the responsibility to speak out now.
Romney delivers major foreign policy speech Photo: REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
I am a former chairperson of Democrats Abroad Israel, and was an official
delegate to the 1992 National Democratic Convention. In all of my 80 years, I
have never before voted for a Republican for president. But this time around, I
am not only proudly voting for Mitt Romney, but feel compelled to encourage
others to do the same.
I grew up in a Reform Jewish family in Missouri,
and came of age politically as a proud Democrat due to the inspiration of my
native-son president, Harry Truman. I have been involved in Democratic Party
politics for many years in both America and Israel, including serving as vice
chairperson of the Franklin County Democratic Central Committee in
Missouri.
It is precisely because of my belief in the longtime ideals of
the Democratic Party that I feel the responsibility to speak out
now.
Why? First, because we ask in each presidential cycle, “Are we
better off now than we were four years ago?” This year, the answer is a
resounding “NO!” But even more troubling, in so many ways, President Barack
Obama has betrayed the ideals of the great Democratic Party. He is a poor
successor to Truman’s legacy.
No Democratic president has ever been so
fiscally irresponsible. President Clinton worked together with Congress to
balance the budget and erase the deficit; President Obama has run
trillion-dollar deficits every year, and we are now $6 trillion deeper in debt
than when he was elected. Over 40 cents of every dollar we now spend is borrowed
from China.
Future generations are being saddled with this
burden.
Past Democratic administrations have records of high economic
growth and high employment. Yet, under Obama, millions more Americans are
without jobs than before he took office, and half of recent college graduates
are unable to find work. Far too many of the jobs that Obama claims to have
created or saved are in the public sector, and small businesses, the backbone of
our economy, are hurting. Property values have not rebounded, and home
foreclosures continue at a frightening pace.
On the international level,
President Obama has proven himself to be a weak leader. Where has any of his
diplomacy succeeded? Presidents Truman and Kennedy stood strong against the
tyrannies of their time; President Obama bows down to the king of Saudi Arabia,
and does not stand up to the president of Iran.
DEMOCRATS BELIEVE in
furthering human rights and promoting liberty around the world. But Obama
completely misreads the international scene. He called Syria’s Assad a
“reformer,” yet has remained silent as Assad slaughters his own people. He
abandoned president Hosni Mubarak to the Egyptian mobs. In addition, he allowed
the Muslim Brotherhood to take control, not only threatening Israel but also
terrorizing Egypt’s minorities.
Nowhere has President Obama failed to
live up to Democratic ideals more than in his relationship with democratic
Israel. From his creation of “daylight” between our countries to constant public
criticism of Israeli policy – does Obama do this to any other country? – Obama
has allowed severe deterioration of our special relationship just as Israel and
the world face extreme danger.
PRESIDENT OBAMA’S open hostility to
Israel’s prime minister, and his insulting true feelings caught on an open
microphone, indicate antipathy towards the citizens of Israel. Obama’s
administration does not even maintain symbolic gestures: at the recent opening
of the United Nations Assembly, the United States sat and listened to the
address by the president of Iran, yet Ambassador Rice was absent during the
entire presentation by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. This wasn’t
lost on the leaders of Israel’s enemies.
Coming from Missouri, I take
immense pride that President Truman had the courage, conviction and moral
compass to recognize the nascent state of Israel. By comparison, President Obama
has steered our relationship to an abysmal low.
In reviewing the above, I
see no choice but to switch sides and cast my vote for the Republican candidate
for President Mitt Romney, who better embodies our Democratic ideals. I ask you
to join me.
The writer is the former chair of Democrats Abroad Israel and
a lifelong Democrat. She is a Missouri native, and currently lives in Jerusalem.