If I had a dollar for every time I bet a Republican friend that President Obama was going to win the 2012 election, I wouldn’t be rich but I could sure go to a real nice restaurant for dinner. I have heard every reason why President Obama was not going to win. I am sticking to my guns. President Obama is going to be re-elected.
First, all of the Republican candidates have serious flaws. Former Massachusetts Governor Romney has had such a bad reputation as a flip flopper that during the last election cycle attendees at the CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conferece) were giving out thin, colored flip flops with his various conflicting positions written on them. They were so colorful that I made a mobile out of them.
Rick Perry comes off to the Millenial generation as a conservative who is out of touch because of his stance on a variety of social issues.
Herman Cain is the most likeable and the candidate most Republicans would like to have dinner with but his lack of government experience will trip him up.
Ron Paul will do well but not enough to get himself to the top of the ticket.
And Newt Gingrich, the smartest of all the Republicans, is going to have to raise a lot more money to get the organization he needs to snag the party's nomination.
This is going to be my fifth presdiental campaign and one thing I have learned is that people elect the candidate that they trust and behaves in a way they can relate to. President Obama is just that person.
While the Republicans have said "no" to almost all of his legislative priorities, President Obama has offered compromise. Just this week, Democrats offered to cut non-discrestionary spending (Social Security and Medicare) by three trillion dollars if there could be tax increases of one trillion on the country’s richest people. President Obama along with the other Democrats have offered that flexibilty. The GOP has said no.
Most people support the president and the Democrats on this. A party of no compromise does not sit well with the average American. President Obama is going to win re-election because he is a compromiser.
People also like to vote for someone who keeps promises. President Obama has certainly done that. He said he would enact health care and he did. By 2014, we will all have access to health care.
He said he would get us out of Iraq and that is going to happen within months.
He said he would end "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" and working with diverse and bipartisan members of Congress he did just that.
President Obama saved the auto industry and brought it back from the brink by making loans possible.
He has helped make college more affordable.
He has extended or made seventeen small business tax cuts.
He made the tough decison to raid the Usama Bin Laden compound in Pakistan.
President Obama is going to win election because he has kept his campaign promises.
The Republicans I talk to cite the economic data; no president gets re-elected with the unemployment rate as high as it is. It may be historically true but President Obama has been honest and has fought to get people to have jobs.
Our economy has grown and that has been on his watch after he inherited the worse recession since the Great Depression.
It has become a national sport to put odds on who wins 2012. I think there is no question. President Obama wins. He has done a very good job in a very rocky time and the American people will remember next November.
Ellen Ratner is Washington bureau chief for Talk Radio News Service and a Fox News contributor.