Bill Fello, of Queenstown, criticises columnist Colin James for "drinking the Kool-Aid of liberal media outlets" on United States politics and policies.
When I read the article by Colin James (ODT, 4.9.12) denigrating the Romney-Ryan ticket and the US "Tea Party", I was struck by his ignorance of US politics. He seems to think of the Tea Party as some Neanderthal movement.
Mr James worries that a Romney-Ryan win would "drive the US economy into a stall that affects the world ... and in foreign policy heighten the tensions, especially in the Middle East, and destabilise the fragile balance Mr Obama ... has largely maintained".
He quotes as his sources for these worries the Financial Times, Economist, New York Times, and so-called "serious conservatives" such as David Brooks (the NY Times' pet pseudo conservative), Martin Wolf, of the FT (a Brit, and hardly a conservative at that), and Stephen Roach (former Morgan Stanley chairman and devotee of Barack Obama).
One wonders why he doesn't broaden his discovery to consider genuine conservatives in the US as well other news and opinion sources than the thoroughly left-leaning New York Times and the foreign bystanders at the Financial Times and Economist?
For the record - regarding his concern about Romney-Ryan driving the US economy into a stall - under President Obama:
• US unemployment has been between 8% and 10% and is going nowhere - job creation cannot even keep up with population growth.
• "Underemployment", people out of work plus those who have given up looking for full-time employment, has been consistently above 17%.
• Black unemployment is above 14%.
• Fifty percent of recent college graduates during Mr Obama's presidency cannot find professional work - many are living at home with their parents.
• The debt has increased by $US5 trillion since Mr Obama became president.
• Government spending as a percentage of GDP has gone from 20% to 25%, the highest since World War 2.
• All this is despite running the printing presses continually to provide abundant cash liquidity at near-zero interest rates.
• All this is despite a $US900 billion "stimulus" that was nothing more than a payoff to President Obama's union supporters and friendly bankers such as Morgan Stanley.
Mr James, the US economy is and has been in a stall throughout the Obama presidency. He took a bad situation and made it much worse.
Regarding President Obama's "fragile balance" in foreign affairs, especially the Middle East, I guess Mr James missed the fact that on President Obama's watch Egypt has been largely taken over by militant Islamists, Syria's war on its citizens is threatening to explode beyond its borders, and Iran and Israel are headed for a full-on war, possibly involving nuclear weapons.
Russia is rattling its sabre again, and China is threatening its neighbours by attempting to take over the South China Sea, all while President Obama "leads from behind".
Frankly, as a professional executive recruiter, I cannot think of a single thing in Mr Obama's background that qualified him to be president of the United States - he happened to be in the right place at the right time when the US voters were sick of George W.
Bush. His ineptitude puts him right up with Jimmy Carter as the most incompetent president in my lifetime.
Mr Romney, on the other hand, was born wealthy, literally gave away his wealth, started a hugely successful business (Bain Capital) that created tens of thousands of jobs, sorted out a corrupt and failing US Olympics Committee and has been a successful governor of a liberal, Democrat-dominated Massachusetts.
As for the Tea Party, it was massively responsible for the historic 63-seat takeover from the Democrats in the 2010 elections, the most seats to change hands in the history of elections in the United States.
Its members are serious minded, fiscally conservative, patriotic, ordinary citizens bent on restoring sanity to the US Government's financial ministrations.
Colin James would do well to stop drinking the Kool-Aid of the liberal media outlets and pundits he seems to follow and expose himself to the full spectrum of US political thought.
