Be Bold Mr. President

The din of Democracy, which ebbs and flows according to election cycles, has calmed as most Americans now focus on their normal lives. They had witnessed a historic amount of campaign spending, about $6 billion, more than one million political ads, and seemingly endless news coverage. After all the shouting was over, and the ballots were counted, the political balance of power did not change in Washington.

Yet one could conclude that the 2012 presidential election had two outcomes. President Obama was given a second chance to fix entitlements, tax policy, the economy, deficits and immigration. The American people empowered the president to stand up to the extremes of both parties, if necessary, to come up with reasonable and balanced solutions to these daunting problems. The Tea Party wing of the Republican Party was knocked back on its heels.  So it is time for the president to be bold and use an "all hands on deck" approach in order to galvanize Congressional support around solutions. The president should also be transparent with the American people, in effect, "crowdsource" ideas, and include them in the process.

President Obama has a small window in which to act before the midterm campaign begins. He should first start building momentum by working out a balanced solution to the so-called fiscal cliff. Congress must have a budget agreement by the end of the year or the Bush tax reductions will expire and deep cuts will be made to the defense budget. It is time for a grand bargain, a compromise, that includes budget cuts AND some revenues.

Meanwhile, for Republicans, it is mourning in America. The party of Lincoln failed to recognize that the country is a melting pot with diverse voices and evolving needs. Instead, the GOP is hanging on to a Norman Rockwell vision of America.  Republican members of Congress have been unwilling to budge on tax increases for the wealthy because they fear of losing the Tea Party's support.

Now Republicans have a chance to show all Americans that they are willing to compromise.  Reaching an agreement on the fiscal cliff will be an important first step for them to reach out to all segments of the population. Republican House Speaker John Boehner said Thursday, "I think the members understand that the fiscal cliff... is unacceptable."  And earlier this week he said, "The issue here is the president wants revenue. I'm willing to put revenue on the table."  But the speaker will not agree to rate hikes for high-income earners, rather just closing loopholes and eliminating deductions.  The Democrats don't agree with his approach.

If the president and Congress do not make a deal on the fiscal cliff by the end of the year, the U.S. economy will likely spiral into another recession. With so much at stake, the stock market has been sharply lower out of concern for what Washington will do. A solution requires compromise from both parties, and compromise will send a strong message to all Americans that both parties agree their country comes first.

One final note, President Obama received 9 million fewer votes than he did in 2008, while Mitt Romney received about 2 million fewer votes than Senator John McCain did when President Obama defeated him. It is likely they were turned off by the negative campaigns waged by both candidates, their misleading claims, and the sheer magnitude of the political advertising.

Among the losers this election year were billionaires David and Charles Koch, and Sheldon Adelson, the casino magnate. They spent millions of dollars trying to defeat the president and failed.

Perhaps the biggest loser was Fox News contributor and GOP strategist Karl Rove.  His political groups, American Crossroads/Crossroads GPS, spent about $325 million of other people's money trying to elect Romney and other Republicans to office with little success. He also had an embarrassing meltdown on television when Fox News called Ohio for the president.

Rove was unapologetic about his dismal campaign results, explaining in a conference call to donors Thursday, according to one press report, that the Republican losses would have been bigger without him. No doubt his financial supporters believe him.

And no doubt Rove is laughing all the way to the bank.

Mitt-Handled

Is Mitt Romney's handling of the controversy surrounding the release of his tax returns an example of how he will lead America on even more complex matters if he is elected to the White House?  Is Romney's fumbling of the Bain Capital outsourcing issue an example of how out of touch he is with real America? 

Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican presidential candidate, has refused to release more than two years of his tax returns, even in the face of withering criticism from within his own party.  Most observers doubt that his earlier returns will show something illegal.  It is more likely that there may be something embarrassing.  Romney has admitted as much himself in an interview with the conservative National Review, "I'm simply not enthusiastic about giving them hundreds or thousands of more pages to pick through, distort and lie about."

So despite a fundraising advantage, fueled in part by the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, and a sluggish economy, Romney finds himself on the defensive.  The candidate and his supporters are now ratcheting up the negative attacks to a whole new level.   But will desperate and outlandish charges offset Romney's weaknesses?  

While campaigning in Ohio, Romney told a crowd of supporters that in the past six months President Obama has held more than 100 fundraisers and no meetings with his jobs council.  Of course, the president deals with the economy every day, and his election year fundraising efforts are not unusual--it's the American way.

Earlier in the week, Romney attacked President Obama for not understanding how the American economy works.  He stated the president said Steve Jobs didn’t create Apple, Henry Ford didn't create Ford, and Papa John's was not created by, well, Papa John. 

The president actually did say, "If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.”  His point was that there is an infrastructure in place in this country to help people become successful. 

But the comment was muddled just enough to give the Republican attack dogs something to chew on.  Romney surrogate and former New Hampshire governor John Sununu said President Obama "needs to learn how to be an American."  He later backpedaled a bit, "What I thought I said but I guess I didn't say is that the president has to learn...The American formula for creating business is not to have the government create business."

But Sununu wasn't through there.  "He has no idea how the American system functions, and we shouldn't be surprised about that, because he spent his early years in Hawaii smoking something, spent the next set of years in Indonesia, another set of years in Indonesia," he said on Fox News. 

These comments followed shortly after those spewed by America's leading conservative Republican, radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh. "I think it can now be said, without equivocation - without equivocation - that this man hates this country," Limbaugh forcefully spouted, "He is trying - Barack Obama is trying - to dismantle, brick by brick, the American Dream."  His explanation, "He was indoctrinated as a child. His father was a communist. His mother was a leftist. He was sent to prep and Ivy League schools where his contempt for the country was reinforced."  (But Romney went to prep and Ivy League schools too?)

Many Republicans continue to paint President Obama as a foreigner, a radical socialist, and Un-American.  There is still a concerted effort by some to claim the president's birth certificate is fraudulent.  For sure, all of this energizes the extreme base of the party.  But it reflects a strategy laid down by leading party members on the day President Obama was sworn in.  Block, obfuscate, denounce and delay in Congress.  In Senator McConnell's words, do whatever it takes to make Barack Obama a one-term president.

But now the Republicans are in a pickle.  They held the most divisive presidential primary in decades and a flawed candidate emerged at the top of the ticket.  Romney was for abortion before he was against it.  He was for some gun laws before he was against them.  He was a moderate Republican before he became severely conservative.  He was against negative political commercials before he used them to crush Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich.  

Down deep inside true conservatives do not know if they can trust Mitt Romney.  By not releasing his returns, Romney may seem less trustworthy to more and more undecided and independent Americans as well.  

Maybe it's time for Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul to start warming up in the bullpen?