Skip to main content
CNN
Part of complete coverage from
William J. Bennett

Why you shouldn't vote for Obama

By William J. Bennett, CNN Contributor
September 27, 2012 -- Updated 1834 GMT (0234 HKT)
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, order food at a Wendy's restuarant in Richmond Heights, Ohio, on Tuesday. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, order food at a Wendy's restuarant in Richmond Heights, Ohio, on Tuesday.
HIDE CAPTION
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
From the campaign trail
<<
<
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
>
>>
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • William Bennett outlines five reasons Obama should not serve a second term
  • First, he says, Obama has not gotten the U.S. out of its dire economic straits
  • Bennett: Obamacare is a costly federal mandate that amounts to huge tax increase
  • Bennett: He has broken promises, bypassed Congress, mishandled foreign policy

Editor's note: William J. Bennett, a CNN contributor, is the author of "The Book of Man: Readings on the Path to Manhood." He was U.S. secretary of education from 1985 to 1988 and director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy under President George H.W. Bush.

(CNN) -- It has been said that a democratic republic such as ours is a do-it-yourself enterprise. People change the course of this country through conversation, debate and, eventually, consensus. As the 2012 elections near, these debates, particularly the upcoming presidential and vice presidential debates, take center stage.

In light of what has been a long and tumultuous political season, here are my strongest arguments for Mitt Romney, Rep. Paul Ryan, and fellow conservatives to explain to their fellow Americans why President Barack Obama does not deserve a second term.

William Bennett
William Bennett

Obama's handling of the economy: The U.S. is mired in the midst of the worst recovery since the Great Depression: 43 straight months of unemployment over 8%. The unemployment rate when Barack Obama took office was 7.8% and today it is 8.1%. Worse, the labor force is shrinking to record lows. People are giving up looking for work.

In August the labor force participation rate fell to 63.5%, its lowest level since September 1981. For men, the August participation rate in the labor force was 69.8%. That's the lowest ever on record. Furthermore, half of all recent college graduates are underemployed or unemployed.

Since Obama took office, median household income has declined more than $4,000. More people are on food stamps than ever before -- 46.7 million. The poverty rate is around 15%, the highest since 1993. The average retail price of gasoline has more than doubled under Obama, rising from $1.84 per gallon to more than $3.80 per gallon. In spite of this, he stopped the approval of the Keystone pipeline for further review.

Opinion: Obama on world stage -- more hope than change?

Obama inherited a bad economy, but his policies have made it even worse. The $800 billion stimulus package failed, according to the standards promised by an Obama administration economist. With Democrats in control of Congress, Obama then spent the next two years of his political capital on health care reform. Subsequently, the nation, mired in a debt crisis, underwent its first-ever credit downgrade. With our national debt exceeding $16 trillion, he has offered no credible plan for the nation's long term fiscal health. Our country is hurtling toward a fiscal cliff in January 2013.

Foreign policy: Obama ascended to the presidency promising a new era of American foreign policy. Apart from the killing of Osama bin Laden, the death of Moammar Gaddafi and and the successful expansion of drone strikes, the foreign policy record of this administration has largely been one of capitulation, indecision and weakness.

In the first true foreign policy test of his presidency, Obama failed to back the pro-democracy Green Revolution in Iran, saying he didn't want to "be seen as meddling." The uprising was crushed.

Giuliani: 'Obama is ahead' of Romney
Romney faces tough poll numbers

Tell us: Do you know who's getting your vote?

When the Arab Spring erupted, the president then decided to meddle in Egypt, calling for Hosni Mubarak to step down. Today, a country that was once a valuable Middle East ally is under the majority control of the Muslim Brotherhood. But when the Arab Spring spread to Syria, a longtime proxy of Iran, he didn't intervene, even when Bashar al-Assad began massacring his own people.

The president has given some of our enemies a pass and some of our allies the back of the hand. He was caught on open mic badmouthing Benjamin Netanyahu and hasn't visited Israel once in his presidency. He left our ally Poland out to dry by canceling the missile defense system in Europe, but was heard on an open mic assuring Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that he will have "more flexibility" after the election to deal with missile defense.

America's two most important investments in the Middle East -- Iraq and Afghanistan -- are hanging by a thread. Ignoring the recommendations of his generals, Obama pulled troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan prematurely.

Most recently, an American ambassador and three other Americans were killed in Libya. Yet, for nearly two weeks the administration blamed their deaths on a movie before finally admitting it was a terrorist attack, and took too long to make a forceful defense of the First Amendment.

Obamacare: President Obama's crowning legislative achievement, whether he likes to admit it or not, is Obamacare. Mitt Romney has promised to repeal the Affordable Care Act and he should make his argument with these reasons: First, Obamacare is not Romneycare. Romneycare was a state mandate; Obamacare was a federal mandate.

Second, Obamacare is terrible federal policy. It is a massive tax increase over the next 10 years that will fall largely on middle-class families; it steals more than $700 billion from Medicare to pay for the expanded coverage under ObamaCare; the unelected Independent Payment Advisory Board will ration and control Medicare costs and services without the say of doctors and patients; the Department of Health and Human Services is granted virtually unfettered powers, like the contraception mandate. Obamacare is bad policy. It was over 2,700 pages of complex rules and regulations passed behind closed doors with backroom deals -- exactly the opposite of what Obama promised when he campaigned in 2008.

Opinion: Can Romney get back on track?

The imperial presidency: Throughout his first term in office, the president has repeatedly ignored or gone around Congress and arrogated his own agenda through executive fiat.

He instituted his own version of the Dream Act; his administration granted waivers to welfare reform without the approval of Congress; he refused to help Arizona enforce its immigration laws; he ordered his Justice Department to stop defending the Defense of Marriage Act in court; he gave states waivers to avoid No Child Left Behind requirements; he claimed executive privilege on Operation Fast and Furious to protect the faults of his Justice Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobbaco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); and when the Senate refused to confirm his nominations to the National Labor Relations Board, he proclaimed the Senate was in recess and appointed them on his own. His own runaway EPA has waged regulatory war on coal plants resulting in the closure of six plants and possible closures of many more.

Broken promises: If you think I'm being too hard on the president, let's hold him to his own words and promises.

He promised to cut the deficit in half in his first term. He sought in Cairo in 2009 a "new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world." He promised to change the "tone" of Washington. His economic team promised that his $800 billion stimulus package would keep the unemployment rate under 8 percent. In 2008, he promised to tackle entitlement reform in his first term. Before Obamacare was passed Obama promised to "cut the cost of a typical family's premium by up to $2,500 a year" and that "If you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep your health care plan."

Americans realize the president has over-promised and under-delivered. The objective record, the multiple failures, and the unkept promises make a profound and fair case against the reelection of Barack Obama.

Follow us on Twitter @CNNOpinion.

Join us on Facebook/CNNOpinion.

The opinions in this commentary are solely those of William J. Bennett.

ADVERTISEMENT
Part of complete coverage on
Opinion on the news
June 19, 2013 -- Updated 2221 GMT (0621 HKT)
Frida Ghitis says in this era of connectivity, a little complaint can erupt into massive demonstrations.
June 19, 2013 -- Updated 1135 GMT (1935 HKT)
Yury Fedotov says progress has been made but not fast enough to help millions of trafficking victims
June 19, 2013 -- Updated 1458 GMT (2258 HKT)
Mark Quarterman says the slaughter of elephants for their tusks is at its worst in decades. As the price for ivory soars, Africa's militant groups are killing elephants to pay for arms and ammunition.
June 19, 2013 -- Updated 1129 GMT (1929 HKT)
Wendy Weiser says the Supreme Court's ruling on Arizona voting restrictions was a win for voters, but why stop there? It's time to modernize the U.S. election system.
June 19, 2013 -- Updated 1137 GMT (1937 HKT)
George Gascon, a former police chief, says immigrants are less likely to report crimes if they fear police. It's in law enforcement's interest to bring them out of shadows
June 19, 2013 -- Updated 1249 GMT (2049 HKT)
Peter Bergen says it's up to the public to decide if the terror attacks on U.S. soil prevented by NSA spying are worth giving up privacy.
June 18, 2013 -- Updated 1539 GMT (2339 HKT)
James Millward says if Chen Guangcheng's departure from NYU owes anything to Chinese pressure, his is but one, high-profile case.
June 18, 2013 -- Updated 1446 GMT (2246 HKT)
Bruce Schneier says the United States is conducting offensive cyberwar actions around the world.
June 18, 2013 -- Updated 1142 GMT (1942 HKT)
President Obama will speak in Berlin one week before the 50th anniversary of the famous speech by President Kennedy.
June 18, 2013 -- Updated 1236 GMT (2036 HKT)
CNN let readers choose the topics for the new Change the List project. The votes are in.
June 18, 2013 -- Updated 1349 GMT (2149 HKT)
Gloria Borger says the president should be leading the debate on balancing security vs. privacy.
June 18, 2013 -- Updated 1255 GMT (2055 HKT)
Alex Footman says he and a former co-worker successfully sued a movie studio over their experience as unpaid interns.
June 18, 2013 -- Updated 1044 GMT (1844 HKT)
Peter Bergen says the public record tends to cast doubt on the NSA's claim that its electronic surveillance has helped stop numerous plot.
June 17, 2013 -- Updated 1153 GMT (1953 HKT)
Fifty years ago, President Kennedy defined civil rights and equality as a moral issue. Patrick Kennedy says today's moral issue is that people with brain injuries and mental illness face stigma and inadequate treatment.
June 17, 2013 -- Updated 1947 GMT (0347 HKT)
The story of the boy bashed on social media after singing the National Anthem in mariachi costume is instructive.

Most Popular

Today's five most popular stories

Microsoft backtracks on Xbox One sharing policies

Fashion icons Dolce, Gabbana convicted in Italy of tax crime

Filmmaker asserts new evidence on crash of TWA Flight 800

Agents racing to save girl had one blurred clue

Suspect in Ohio forced labor case turns herself in

More
ADVERTISEMENT