It's About Character and Honesty

There are a lot of things being bantered back and forth between both parties in this run-up to the November election.  Everyone is looking at the economy and jobs to be the focal point of this election.  Who is better at improving your condition.  Who is better at creating jobs and lowering the unemployment rate.  All of these are valuable questions and should be answered but from what we are seeing and (not) hearing from Mitt Romney and the Republicans is a repudiation of the birther issue that has dogged this president for years now.

Although this myth that Obama is not an American citizen and, thus, is not eligible to be president, has been debunked ad nauseum, it is once again coming front and center as various factions of the Republican party try to discredit Obama's citizenship.  The latest and greatest of them all is Donald Trump!  Again.  Remember when The Donald sent a team of investigators to Hawaii to dig up evidence that President Obama was not born there?  Recall that he claimed the birth certificate was missing and that his investigators had found amazing things that he would divulge at a later date?  Whatever happened Donald?  Why did we never hear or see this "evidence"?  Because there is none.

So, why is this so important?  It comes down to assessing a candidates character.  I think we can all agree that a person's character should be taken into account when we evaluate his fitness to be elected to the highest office in the country.  Now here's the thing.  Mitt Romney, instead of coming forward and repudiating the birther attacks on President Obama, has embraced Donald Trump and is actually offering a dinner with the two as a fundraiser.  Unbelievable, right?  Not for Romney.  Which brings us back to this issue of character.  Back in the 2008 election there were allegations brought forth by the McCain campaign that Barack Obama was a terrorist and a Muslim.  Remember that?  People at his rallies were all stoked with fear that Obama was an Arab terrorist.

But here's the difference.  John McCain did not allow that to stand.  John McCain stood up to boos from his supporters when he defended Obama at one of his rallies.  THAT is character.  THAT is honesty.  Mitt Romney, having embraced the birther issue, lost his John McCain moment.  Mitt Romney has demonstrated how little character he really has.  We have seen this lack of character from Mitt before.  Remember during the GOP debates when they fielded the Don't Ask Don't Tell question from the soldier in Iraq?  I do.  Remember the chorus of boos that came from the audience?  I do.  Remember how Mitt stood up for that soldier?  Remember how he blasted the audience for booing a member of our military that is over in Iraq voluntarily putting his life on the line for you and me?  Remember?  No, I don't either because it didn't happen.  It didn't happen because Mitt Romney lacks character.  Mitt Romney does not have enough of a backbone to stand up to those saying blatantly outrageous things about the president.

And it is this lack of character that makes Mitt Romney unfit to occupy the highest office in this country.  It's about character.