THE NEW YORK TIMES 2012 PRESIDENTIAL ENDORSEMENT

Q JINN

2012-10-29 01:06:48 UTC

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<H6 class=3Dkicker>Editorial</H6>
<H1 class=3DarticleHeadline itemprop=3D"headline"><NYT_HEADLINE type=3D" "=

version=3D"1.0"><FONT size=3D5>Barack Obama for
Re-election</NYT_HEADLINE></FONT></H1><NYT_BYLINE></NYT_BYLINE>
<H6 class=3Ddateline>Published: October 27, 2012 <FONT size=3D4></H6>
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data-title=3D"Barack Obama for Re-election" data-description=3D"We
enthusiastically endorse President Obama, who has earned a second term;
Mitt Romney offers dangerous ideas, when he offers any."
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<P itemprop=3D"articleBody">The economy is slowly recovering from the 2008=

meltdown, and the country could suffer another recession if the wrong
policies take hold. The United States is embroiled in unstable regions
that could easily explode into full-blown disaster. An ideological
assault from the right has started to undermine the vital health reform
law passed in 2010. Those forces are eroding women's access to health
care, and their right to control their lives. Nearly 50 years after
passage of the Civil Rights Act, all Americans' rights are cheapened by
the right wing's determination to deny marriage benefits to a selected
group of us. Astonishingly, even the very right to vote is being
challenged. </P></DIV>
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<H6><A
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<P itemprop=3D"articleBody">That is the context for the Nov. 6 election,
and as stark as it is, the choice is just as clear. </P>
<P itemprop=3D"articleBody">President Obama has shown a firm commitment to=

using government to help foster growth. He has formed sensible budget
policies that are not dedicated to protecting the powerful, and has
worked to save the social safety net to protect the powerless. Mr. Obama
has impressive achievements despite the implacable wall of refusal
erected by Congressional Republicans so intent on stopping him that they
risked pushing the nation into depression, held its credit rating
hostage, and hobbled economic recovery. </P>
<P itemprop=3D"articleBody">Mitt Romney, the former governor of
Massachusetts, has gotten this far with a guile that allows him to say
whatever he thinks an audience wants to hear. But he has tied himself to
the ultraconservative forces that control the Republican Party and
embraced their policies, including reckless budget cuts and 30-year-old,
discredited trickle-down ideas. Voters may still be confused about Mr.
Romney's true identity, but they know the Republican Party, and a Romney
administration would reflect its agenda. Mr. Romney's choice of
Representative Paul Ryan as his running mate says volumes about that.
</P>
<P itemprop=3D"articleBody">We have criticized individual policy choices
that Mr. Obama has made over the last four years, and have been
impatient with his unwillingness to throw himself into the political
fight. But he has shaken off the hesitancy that cost him the first
debate, and he approaches the election clearly ready for the partisan
battles that would follow his victory. </P>
<P itemprop=3D"articleBody">We are confident he would challenge the
Republicans in the "fiscal cliff" battle even if it meant calling their
bluff, letting the Bush tax cuts expire and forcing them to confront the
budget sequester they created. Electing Mr. Romney would eliminate any
hope of deficit reduction that included increased revenues. </P>
<P itemprop=3D"articleBody">In the poisonous atmosphere of this campaign,
it may be easy to overlook Mr. Obama's many important achievements,
including carrying out the economic stimulus, saving the auto industry,
improving fuel efficiency standards, and making two very fine Supreme
Court appointments. </P>
<P itemprop=3D"articleBody">Health Care </P>
<P itemprop=3D"articleBody">Mr. Obama has achieved the most sweeping
health care reforms since the passage of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965.
The reform law takes a big step toward universal health coverage, a
final piece in the social contract. </P>
<P itemprop=3D"articleBody">It was astonishing that Mr. Obama and the
Democrats in Congress were able to get a bill past the Republican
opposition. But the Republicans' propagandistic distortions of the new
law helped them wrest back control of the House, and they are determined
now to repeal the law. </P>
<P itemprop=3D"articleBody">That would eliminate the many benefits the
reform has already brought: allowing children under 26 to stay on their
parents' policies; lower drug costs for people on Medicare who are heavy
users of prescription drugs; free immunizations, mammograms and
contraceptives; a ban on lifetime limits on insurance payments.
Insurance companies cannot deny coverage to children with pre-existing
conditions. Starting in 2014, insurers must accept all applicants. Once
fully in effect, the new law would start to control health care costs.
</P>
<P itemprop=3D"articleBody">Mr. Romney has no plan for covering the
uninsured beyond his callous assumption that they will use emergency
rooms. He wants to use voucher programs to shift more Medicare costs to
beneficiaries and block grants to shift more Medicaid costs to the
states. </P>
<P itemprop=3D"articleBody">The Economy </P>
<P itemprop=3D"articleBody">Mr. Obama prevented another Great Depression.
The economy was cratering when he took office in January 2009. By that
June it was growing, and it has been ever since (although at a rate that
disappoints everyone), thanks in large part to interventions Mr. Obama
championed, like the $840 billion stimulus bill. Republicans say it
failed, but it created and preserved 2.5 million jobs and prevented
unemployment from reaching 12 percent. Poverty would have been much
worse without the billions spent on Medicaid, food stamps and jobless
benefits. </P>
<P itemprop=3D"articleBody">Last year, Mr. Obama introduced a jobs plan
that included spending on school renovations, repair projects for roads
and bridges, aid to states, and more. It was stymied by Republicans.
Contrary to Mr. Romney's claims, Mr. Obama has done good things for
small businesses =97 like pushing through more tax write-offs for new
equipment and temporary tax cuts for hiring the unemployed. </P>
<P itemprop=3D"articleBody">The Dodd-Frank financial regulation was an
important milestone. It is still a work in progress, but it established
the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, initiated reform of the
derivatives market, and imposed higher capital requirements for banks.
Mr. Romney wants to repeal it. </P>
<P itemprop=3D"articleBody">If re-elected, Mr. Obama would be in position
to shape the "grand bargain" that could finally combine stimulus like
the jobs bill with long-term deficit reduction that includes letting the
high-end Bush-era tax cuts expire. Stimulus should come first, and
deficit reduction as the economy strengthens. Mr. Obama has not been as
aggressive as we would have liked in addressing the housing crisis, but
he has increased efforts in refinancing and loan modifications. </P>
<P itemprop=3D"articleBody">Mr. Romney's economic plan, as much as we know=

about it, is regressive, relying on big tax cuts and deregulation. That
kind of plan was not the answer after the financial crisis, and it will
not create broad prosperity. </P>
<P itemprop=3D"articleBody">Foreign Affairs </P>
<P itemprop=3D"articleBody">Mr. Obama and his administration have been
resolute in attacking Al Qaeda's leadership, including the killing of
Osama bin Laden. He has ended the war in Iraq. Mr. Romney, however, has
said he would have insisted on leaving thousands of American soldiers
there. He has surrounded himself with Bush administration neocons who
helped to engineer the Iraq war, and adopted their militaristic talk in
a way that makes a Romney administration's foreign policies a
frightening prospect. </P>
<P itemprop=3D"articleBody">Mr. Obama negotiated a much tougher regime of
multilateral economic sanctions on Iran. Mr. Romney likes to say the
president was ineffective on Iran, but at the final debate he agreed
with Mr. Obama's policies. Mr. Obama deserves credit for his handling of
the Arab Spring. The killing goes on in Syria, but the administration is
working to identify and support moderate insurgent forces there. At the
last debate, Mr. Romney talked about funneling arms through Saudi Arabia
and Qatar, which are funneling arms to jihadist groups. </P>
<P itemprop=3D"articleBody">Mr. Obama gathered international backing for
airstrikes during the Libyan uprising, and kept American military forces
in a background role. It was smart policy. </P>
<P itemprop=3D"articleBody">In the broadest terms, he introduced a measure=

of military restraint after the Bush years and helped repair America's
badly damaged reputation in many countries from the low levels to which
it had sunk by 2008. </P>
<P itemprop=3D"articleBody">The Supreme Court </P>
<P itemprop=3D"articleBody">The future of the nation's highest court hangs=

in the balance in this election =97 and along with it, reproductive
freedom for American women and voting rights for all, to name just two
issues. Whoever is president after the election will make at least one
appointment to the court, and many more to federal appeals courts and
district courts. </P>
<P itemprop=3D"articleBody">Mr. Obama, who appointed the impressive
Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, understands how severely
damaging conservative activism has been in areas like campaign spending.
He would appoint justices and judges who understand that landmarks of
equality like the Voting Rights Act must be defended against the steady
attack from the right. </P>
<P itemprop=3D"articleBody">Mr. Romney's campaign Web site says he will
"nominate judges in the mold of Chief Justice Roberts and Justices
Scalia, Thomas and Alito," among the most conservative justices in the
past 75 years. There is no doubt that he would appoint justices who
would seek to overturn Roe v. Wade. </P>
<P itemprop=3D"articleBody">Civil Rights </P>
<P itemprop=3D"articleBody">The extraordinary fact of Mr. Obama's 2008
election did not usher in a new post-racial era. In fact, the steady
undercurrent of racism in national politics is truly disturbing. Mr.
Obama, however, has reversed Bush administration policies that chipped
away at minorities' voting rights and has fought laws, like the ones in
Arizona, that seek to turn undocumented immigrants into a class of
criminals. </P>
<P itemprop=3D"articleBody">The military's odious "don't ask, don't tell"
rule was finally legislated out of existence, under the Obama
administration's leadership. There are still big hurdles to equality to
be brought down, including the Defense of Marriage Act, the outrageous
federal law that undermines the rights of gay men and lesbians, even in
states that recognize those rights. </P>
<P itemprop=3D"articleBody">Though it took Mr. Obama some time to do it,
he overcame his hesitation about same-sex marriage and declared his
support. That support has helped spur marriage-equality movements around
the country. His Justice Department has also stopped defending the
Defense of Marriage Act against constitutional challenges. </P>
<P itemprop=3D"articleBody">Mr. Romney opposes same-sex marriage and
supports the federal act, which not only denies federal benefits and
recognition to same-sex couples but allows states to ignore marriages
made in other states. His campaign declared that Mr. Romney would not
object if states also banned adoption by same-sex couples and restricted
their rights to hospital visitation and other privileges. </P>
<P itemprop=3D"articleBody">Mr. Romney has been careful to avoid the
efforts of some Republicans to criminalize abortion even in the case of
women who had been raped, including by family members. He says he is not
opposed to contraception, but he has promised to deny federal money to
Planned Parenthood, on which millions of women depend for family
planning. </P>
<P itemprop=3D"articleBody">For these and many other reasons, we
enthusiastically endorse President Barack Obama for a second term, and
express the hope that his victory will be accompanied by a new Congress
willing to work for policies that Americans need.
</P></NYT_CORRECTION_BOTTOM><NYT_UPDATE_BOTTOM></NYT_UPDATE_BOTTOM></NYT_T=
EXT></DIV></DIV>
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<DIV class=3Delement1>
<H6 class=3DmetaFootnote>A version of this editorial appeared in print on
October 28, 2012, on page <SPAN itemprop=3D"printSection">SR</SPAN><SPAN
itemprop=3D"printPage">12</SPAN> of the <SPAN itemprop=3D"printEdition">Ne=
w
York edition</SPAN> with the headline: Barack Obama for
Re-Election.</H6></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></FONT></H2></HTML>

Q JINN

2012-10-30 02:42:55 UTC

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<DIV id=3DlgPhotoCaption>President Barack Obama speaks about the choice
facing women in the upcoming election, Friday, Oct. 19, 2012, at a
campaign event at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. (AP
Photo/Carolyn Kaster)</DIV>
<DIV id=3Dheadline><FONT size=3D5><STRONG>Tribune endorsement: Too Many
Mitts </STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV id=3DsubHeadline>
<P class=3DDECK><FONT size=3D4>Obama has earned another term
</FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV id=3Ddatos>
<DIV class=3Dclear><FONT size=3D4></FONT></DIV><FONT size=3D4>First Publis=
hed
Oct 19 2012 12:13 pm =95 Last Updated Oct 24 2012 03:41 pm </FONT></DIV>
<DIV id=3DarticleBody>
<P class=3DTEXT_Editorial_Cap><FONT size=3D4>Nowhere has Mitt Romney's
pursuit of the presidency been more warmly welcomed or closely followed
than here in Utah. The Republican nominee's political and religious
pedigrees, his adeptly bipartisan governorship of a Democratic state,
and his head for business and the bottom line all inspire admiration and
hope in our largely Mormon, Republican, business-friendly
state.</FONT></P>
<P class=3DTEXT_Editorial><FONT size=3D4>But it was Romney's singular role=

in rescuing Utah's organization of the 2002 Olympics from a cesspool of
scandal, and his oversight of the most successful Winter Games on
record, that make him the Beehive State's favorite adopted son. After
all, Romney managed to save the state from ignominy, turning the
extravaganza into a showcase for the matchless landscapes, volunteerism
and efficiency that told the world what is best and most beautiful about
Utah and its people.</FONT></P>
<DIV id=3DinlineContent class=3D"left doubleWide">
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class=3DstLarge><FONT size=3D4></FONT></SPAN></A></SPAN></SPAN><FONT
size=3D4>In short, this is the Mitt Romney we knew, or thought we knew, as=

one of us.</FONT></DIV></DIV>
<P class=3DTEXT_Editorial><FONT size=3D4>Sadly, it is not the only Romney,=

as his campaign for the White House has made abundantly clear, first in
his servile courtship of the tea party in order to win the nomination,
and now as the party's shape-shifting nominee. From his embrace of the
party's radical right wing, to subsequent portrayals of himself as a
moderate champion of the middle class, Romney has raised the most
frequently asked question of the campaign: "Who is this guy, really, and
what in the world does he truly believe?"</FONT></P>
<P class=3DTEXT_Editorial><FONT size=3D4>The evidence suggests no clear
answer, or at least one that would survive Romney's next speech or sound
bite. Politicians routinely tailor their words to suit an audience.
Romney, though, is shameless, lavishing vastly diverse audiences with
words, any words, they would trade their votes to hear.</FONT></P>
<P class=3DTEXT_Editorial><FONT size=3D4>More troubling, Romney has
repeatedly refused to share specifics of his radical plan to
simultaneously reduce the debt, get rid of Obamacare (or, as he now
says, only part of it), make a voucher program of Medicare, slash taxes
and spending, and thereby create millions of new jobs. To claim, as
Romney does, that he would offset his tax and spending cuts (except for
billions more for the military) by doing away with tax deductions and
exemptions is utterly meaningless without identifying which and how many
would get the ax. Absent those specifics, his promise of a balanced
budget simply does not pencil out.</FONT></P>
<P class=3DTEXT_Editorial><FONT size=3D4>If this portrait of a Romney
willing to say anything to get elected seems harsh, we need only revisit
his branding of 47 percent of Americans as freeloaders who pay no taxes,
yet feel victimized and entitled to government assistance. His job, he
told a group of wealthy donors, "is not to worry about those people.
I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and
care for their lives."</FONT></P>
<P class=3DTEXT_Editorial><FONT size=3D4>Where, we ask, is the pragmatic,
inclusive Romney, the Massachusetts governor who left the state with a
model health care plan in place, the Romney who led Utah to Olympic
glory? That Romney skedaddled and is nowhere to be found.</FONT></P>
<P class=3DTEXT_Editorial><FONT size=3D4>And what of the president Romney
would replace? For four years, President Barack Obama has attempted,
with varying degrees of success, to pull the nation out of its worst
financial meltdown since the Great Depression, a deepening crisis he
inherited the day he took office.</FONT></P>
<P class=3DTEXT_Editorial><FONT size=3D4>In the first months of his
presidency, Obama acted decisively to stimulate the economy. His
leadership was essential to passage of the badly needed American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Though Republicans criticize the stimulus
for failing to create jobs, it clearly helped stop the hemorrhaging of
public sector jobs. The Utah Legislature used hundreds of millions in
stimulus funds to plug holes in the state's budget.</FONT></P>
<P class=3DTEXT_Editorial><FONT size=3D4>The president also acted wisely t=
o
bail out the auto industry, which has since come roaring back. Romney,
in so many words, said the carmakers should sink if they can't
swim.</FONT></P>
<P class=3DTEXT_Editorial><FONT size=3D4>Obama's most noteworthy
achievement, passage of his signature Affordable Care Act, also proved,
in its timing, his greatest blunder. The set of comprehensive health
insurance reforms aimed at extending health care coverage to all
Americans was signed 14 months into his term after a ferocious fight in
Congress that sapped the new president's political capital and destroyed
any chance for bipartisan cooperation on the shredded
economy.</FONT></P>
<P class=3DTEXT_Editorial><FONT size=3D4>Obama's foreign policy record is
perhaps his strongest suit, especially compared to Romney's bellicose
posture toward Russia and China and his inflammatory rhetoric regarding
Iran's nuclear weapons program. Obama's measured reliance on tough
economic embargoes to bring Iran to heel, and his equally measured
disengagement from the war in Afghanistan, are examples of a nuanced
approach to international affairs. The glaring exception, still
unfolding, was the administration's failure to protect the lives of the
U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans, and to quickly come
clean about it.</FONT></P>
<P class=3DTEXT_Editorial><FONT size=3D4>In considering which candidate to=

endorse, The Salt Lake Tribune editorial board had hoped that Romney
would exhibit the same talents for organization, pragmatic problem
solving and inspired leadership that he displayed here more than a
decade ago. Instead, we have watched him morph into a friend of the far
right, then tack toward the center with breathtaking aplomb. Through a
pair of presidential debates, Romney's domestic agenda remains bereft of
detail and worthy of mistrust.</FONT></P>
<P class=3DTEXT_Editorial><FONT size=3D4>Therefore, our endorsement must g=
o
to the incumbent, a competent leader who, against tough odds, has guided
the country through catastrophe and set a course that, while rocky, is
pointing toward a brighter day. The president has earned a second term.
Romney, in whatever guise, does not deserve a
first.</FONT></P></DIV></DIV> </html>