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Think before you vote; Gerald “Duke” McCoy; Beaver County Times; October 3, 2012.
Previous editor’s notes asserted, “The writer is president of Ambridge Council.” I don’t know if Mr. McCoy still holds this office.
Mr. McCoy wrote at least 16 letters since 2006. Previous critiques of McCoy letters are here, here, and here.
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“It will soon be time to decide who will run our country for the next four years, and all we hear are negative campaign ads everywhere.
“President Obama is being blamed for the national debt being more than the last five presidents put together, but they leave out a few interesting facts. The first year of Obama’s administration the budget was the budget of the Bush administration with a $350 billion increase.”
[RWC] Let’s look at “a few interesting facts” Mr. McCoy failed to mention. Mr. Obama took office only four months into the 2009 fiscal year. There was nothing to stop Mr. Obama and the Democrat-majority Congress from cutting the alleged $350 billion, but instead he jacked up spending even more by approximately $850 billion with his so-called “stimulus” program. Mr. Obama threw in another $3 billion via “cash for clunkers.”
For the three fiscal years over which Mr. Obama had complete control, those deficits ranged from about $1.2 trillion (FY 2012 estimate) to $1.3 trillion each in FYs 2010 and 2011. Budgets submitted by Mr. Obama were so ridiculous even Democrats in Congress wouldn’t vote for them. The last two years the Democrat-majority Senate voted down President Obama’s budget proposals 99-0 and 97-0.
“Then there was a failure to mention that three of the last five presidents didn’t inherit two wars on their first day in office, plus the cost of those wars approaching $1 trillion.”
[RWC] Regarding Iraq, it was in “wind-down” mode when President Obama took office and from there he simply followed the withdrawal agreement negotiated by the Bush administration with the Iraqis. Regarding Afghanistan, President Obama increased the troop level and spending in Afghanistan even though then-Sen. Obama opposed the 2007 Iraq troop surge. In any case, you will see below Mr. Obama’s deficits can’t be blamed on “the cost of those wars.”
Here’s something else Mr. Obama inherited. The U.S. average price for unleaded, regular gasoline was $1.788/gallon for January 2009, the month of Mr. Obama’s inauguration. That price for September 2012 was $3.849/gallon, more than double what is was at Mr. Obama’s inauguration. As I’m writing, the price is $3.899/gallon at the four stations in Center Township. For diesel (on-highway), the price was $2.292/gallon for January 2009 and $4.120/gallon for September 2012, 1.8 times its January 2009 price. Diesel is the primary fuel used for transporting (train & truck) our food and its higher price accounts for a chunk of higher food prices. You may recall the press screamed bloody murder during the Bush administration when gasoline and diesel prices increased, but have been all but silent about the increases during the Obama administration.
“There has been no mention that the last Republican president increased the debt from $5 trillion to $10 trillion dollars. Now we have a Republican candidate promising to lower the deficit by $5 trillion and create millions of jobs and not raise taxes for the middle class, but has no plan on how it can be done. Think before you vote.”
[RWC] According to the Obama administration’s own data, debt accumulated during the Bush administration was $4.4 trillion. Nearly $1 trillion of which came in 2008 after the mess caused by the government’s subprime mortgage program. At the time the subprime lending mess happened, the deficit had been shrinking and was “only” about $160 billion. The Obama administration’s data also estimates debt accumulated during the Obama administration will be $6.4 trillion by the end of 2012, 45% greater than during the Bush administration in half the time. During the Obama administration, the smallest deficit so far has been $1.3 trillion. None of this absolves Mr. Bush for his contributions, but we’re not where we are because of those policies.
Mr. Romney has covered his proposals; Mr. McCoy simply has his eyes closed and his hands over his ears. Note Mr. McCoy didn’t (couldn’t?) tell us why someone should vote for Mr. Obama and didn’t tell us Mr. Obama’s plan.
Nearly four years after Mr. Obama took office, Mr. McCoy still wants to blame Mr. Bush for everything. Let’s say that’s true for the sake of argument. Since Mr. Obama has demonstrated he can’t fix the problems and hasn’t proposed a new approach, why should anyone vote to re-elect him?
“Think before you vote?” Let’s hope Mr. McCoy takes his own advice.
© 2004-2012 Robert W. Cox, all rights reserved.