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The economy is slowly recovering from the 2008 meltdown, and the country
could suffer another recession if the wrong policies take hold. The
United States is embroiled in unstable regions that could easily explode
into full-blown disaster. An ideological assault from the right has
started to undermine the vital health reform law passed in 2010. Those
forces are eroding women’s access to health care, and their right to
control their lives. Nearly 50 years after passage of the Civil Rights
Act, all Americans’ rights are cheapened by the right wing’s
determination to deny marriage benefits to a selected group of us.
Astonishingly, even the very right to vote is being challenged.
That is the context for the Nov. 6 election, and as stark as it is, the choice is just as clear.
President Obama has shown a firm commitment to using government to help
foster growth. He has formed sensible budget policies that are not
dedicated to protecting the powerful, and has worked to save the social
safety net to protect the powerless. Mr. Obama has impressive
achievements despite the implacable wall of refusal erected by
Congressional Republicans so intent on stopping him that they risked
pushing the nation into depression, held its credit rating hostage, and
hobbled economic recovery.
Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, has gotten this far
with a guile that allows him to say whatever he thinks an audience wants
to hear. But he has tied himself to the ultraconservative forces that
control the Republican Party and embraced their policies, including
reckless budget cuts and 30-year-old, discredited trickle-down ideas.
Voters may still be confused about Mr. Romney’s true identity, but they
know the Republican Party, and a Romney administration would reflect its
agenda. Mr. Romney’s choice of Representative Paul Ryan as his running
mate says volumes about that.
We have criticized individual policy choices that Mr. Obama has made
over the last four years, and have been impatient with his unwillingness
to throw himself into the political fight. But he has shaken off the
hesitancy that cost him the first debate, and he approaches the election
clearly ready for the partisan battles that would follow his victory.
We are confident he would challenge the Republicans in the “fiscal
cliff” battle even if it meant calling their bluff, letting the Bush tax
cuts expire and forcing them to confront the budget sequester they
created. Electing Mr. Romney would eliminate any hope of deficit
reduction that included increased revenues.
In the poisonous atmosphere of this campaign, it may be easy to overlook
Mr. Obama’s many important achievements, including carrying out the
economic stimulus, saving the auto industry, improving fuel efficiency
standards, and making two very fine Supreme Court appointments.
Health Care
Mr. Obama has achieved the most sweeping health care reforms since the
passage of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965. The reform law takes a big
step toward universal health coverage, a final piece in the social
contract.
It was astonishing that Mr. Obama and the Democrats in Congress were
able to get a bill past the Republican opposition. But the Republicans’
propagandistic distortions of the new law helped them wrest back control
of the House, and they are determined now to repeal the law.
That would eliminate the many benefits the reform has already brought:
allowing children under 26 to stay on their parents’ policies; lower
drug costs for people on Medicare who are heavy users of prescription
drugs; free immunizations, mammograms and contraceptives; a ban on
lifetime limits on insurance payments. Insurance companies cannot deny
coverage to children with pre-existing conditions. Starting in 2014,
insurers must accept all applicants. Once fully in effect, the new law
would start |
Labels: International news
