Abandon all hope? No! Someone heed call for real leadership

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/op_ed/view/20220907abandon_all_hope_no_someone_heed_call_for_real_leadership/

To quote the late, great Peggy Lee: “Is that all there is?”

The Democrats’ message to wavering, undecided voters was summarized by Bill Clinton Wednesday night:

“No president — not me, not any of my predecessors — no one could have fully repaired all the damage that he found in just four years.”

This is as good as it gets: A crappy recovery, 8 percent unemployment as far as the eye can see, constant talk of tax hikes and chronic class envy, and another trillion dollars of debt thrown on the backs of our children each year.

That’s it? The best we can do? There were no better ideas than Barack Obama’s failed stimulus, no leader who could have gotten us better results?

Republicans are quick to point out that at least one president already did: Ronald Reagan. He inherited an economic collapse, an energy crisis, inflation around 18 percent, interest rates at 21 percent — all with the constant threat of an expanding Soviet empire looming in the background.

Four years later, America had the fastest growth and the lowest inflation in the Western industrialized world. As Louis Woodhill writes in Forbes, the number of jobs after the first three years of Reagan’s recovery jumped an astounding 8.97 percent.

During Bush 43’s recovery, jobs grew by 2.93 percent, while Clinton added 3.64 percent more jobs.

And what about the three years of Obama’s “recovery?”

A pathetic 1.72 percent more jobs. And Democrats are singing “Nobody Does It Better?”

How about “Hit the Road, Jack.”

The debate between Republican and Democratic economic policy is just another partisan debate. The real fight is over the idea that the battle for America’s future can be won at all. Are the Democrats right? Is “suck” the new normal?

The lady who cuts my hair and I were talking about the election this weekend. Instead of talking Obama vs. Romney, she just shrugged and said “None of them are gonna do anything. They’re all the same.”

Given the polarized policies of the two, I was a bit surprised to hear that. I pointed out areas of clear difference, like Medicare.

“Obama has no plan to even try to fix it. Don’t you care that it won’t be around for you?”

Her answer: “It won’t be around anyway. Nobody will do anything"

When I mentioned that Paul Ryan has a specific plan, she replied “He won’t do anything. Nobody can do anything.”

Not “nobody will.” Nobody can.

For Democrats, “defeat” is the new victory. Because Obama has failed, failure must be defended, even celebrated. That was the message of the Democratic National Convention this week as the Man from Hope and the Hero of Hope and Change each took the stage to tell America to abandon all hope.

Things are just lousy, don’t blame us, and don’t even think that somebody else can do better. Because they can’t.

I’ve never been a Mitt Romney fan.

I wish I could summon Reagan from beyond the veil to bring his optimism and vision into this battle. But if Mitt Romney can at least convince Americans to believe that our problems can be solved; if he can raise our expectations that we should be better off tomorrow than today — that would make Mitt Romney the hero of this moment.

America needs more than just a Mitt Romney win. We need to believe once again that we can win, too.

Michael Graham hosts an afternoon drive time talk show on 96.9 WTKK