Romney’s silent majority

Republican is more in touch with Middle America than Obama

By Brett M. Decker

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  Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama wave to the ... more >

President Obama spent a lot of time during the first presidential debate on Wednesday saying what he would do if elected to another four years in the Oval Office. He has a plan to cut spending, another plan to cut deficits and the national debt, a plan to boost employment, and all kinds of plans to strengthen Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid while somehow saving money throughout the system. He has a plan to cut taxes and another plan to raise revenue. Mr. Obama has a plan for everything. The problem is this man has been president for almost four years already and spending, deficits, debt and taxes are all going up while unemployment has been stuck above 8 percent for 43 months and entitlement programs are bankrupt. After squandering one term in the most powerful job on the planet, it would be foolhardy to give him another term to dig the hole deeper.


Voters are growing increasingly skeptical of new Obama promises because they remember all the ones he hasn’t kept over the past four years. For example, as Republican Mitt Romney pointed out in Wednesday’s debate, Mr. Obama promised during his 2008 presidential campaign that he would cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term. He has failed to deliver and deficits have been over a trillion dollars every year of his term and are projected to jump over a trillion dollars for the next four years. This runaway spending train will only continue to accelerate as Democrats push more bloated programs.
Several recent surveys expose that the president’s record is starting to push the electorate away. According to a Rasmussen Reports survey released Oct. 3, 53 percent of likely voters view the 2012 election as a referendum on Mr. Obama’s political agenda. At least half disapprove of the job Mr. Obama has done as president; 49 percent think the United States is weaker after Mr. Obama’s first term while a mere 29 percent think it is stronger. The president’s party is generically losing congressional races nationally by 4 points – the worst performance by Democrats in over three months, according to Rasmussen. Breaking it down to specific programs, 52 percent favor repeal of Obamacare, this president’s signature legislative achievement. That doesn’t leave Barack much to run on.
On Nov. 3, 1969, President Nixon gave a speech in which he appealed to the great “silent majority” of Americans for support to keep the U.S. military engaged in Vietnam fighting global communism. Zeroing in on the hippie doves holding protests and blowing up buildings for peace, he warned, “If a vocal minority, however fervent its cause, prevails over reason and the will of the majority, this nation has no future as a free society.” That ominous crossroad is where America sits now one month before the presidential election – and we’re again held hostage by a fringe minority.
Mr. Obama is the most radical left-winger to ever occupy the White House. Mainstream Americans don’t agree with his deficit spending, record debt, increased taxes, persecution of domestic energy producers, green boondoggles, anti-corporate red tape and crazy social experimentation. This government-centric ideology is out of step with the majority. According to the latest Politico Battleground poll, Mr. Romney is up 4 points over Mr. Obama in the important “toss-up” states. As November gets closer, the Republican challenger’s numbers are improving as the silent majority comes out and stands up against big government. Momentum is in Mr. Romney’s favor in the final stretch.
Brett M. Decker is editorial page editor of The Washington Times. He is coauthor of the new book “Bowing to Beijing” (Regnery, 2011).