Why I voted for Obama

The absolute turning point for me was Gov. Mitt Romney’s 47 percent address. There was something very demeaning and patronizing about it that grated on my nerves.

I was a productive member of the workforce until July of 2012. I was a veteran of the First Gulf War and now I was unemployed. Had it not been for the social services that my taxes help to support my new address would have been a cardboard box under the I-95 underpass.

As I came to understand Gov. Romney’s point of view, what I realized is that he doesn’t serve citizens, he serves shareholders. It must be said that I had an encounter with a good, thoughtful and hard working woman from Massachusetts who supported Romney. She noted that the state’s citizens loved him and that he was willing to reach across the aisle to get things done.

That may even have been true at one point in history. Like the John McCain who ran against George W. Bush in 2000, the Romney she knew, the Romney who created a system that became the basis for Obamacare, might have been a president worth electing.

But the problems for me were insurmountable. First was his history of vulture capitalism at Bain Capital. Did all of those people have to lose their jobs? What did Romney and his compatriots see in those people he cut: numbers or human lives? Did Bain under Romney truly create value for America, or did it just create more money for shareholders? It seems to be the case that it was the latter rather than the former. And his comment about being a member of the unemployed did not endear him to me as a reluctant member of the 7.8 percent. Second, all of his earnings are capital gains, and most of the 7.8 percent not only cannot relate to that and do not benefit from it in any way. A good chunk of his earning are not on the tax rolls earning dividends for America in the form of investments in education, defense and infrastructure. Third, that he demeaned 47 percent of the population betrays a lack of graciousness and a lack of gratitude. He is the ultimate entitlement baby because his entire campaign has been because he seems to think he is entitled to the presidency.

The American people are citizens, not shareholders. America is a country, not a corporation. If you mean to lead the country, then you must embrace the fact that the president’s constituency is not the 1 percent, or even the 53 percent: it is the 100 percent. Gratitude is a mark of nobility and the absence of gratitude is distressing. No one is entitled to the presidency, least of all Gov. Mitt Romney.

I weighted him, I measured him and I found Gov. Romney sorely wanting.