Columnist Charles Finny – Anti-Republican bias obscures US election realities

Most New Zealanders must be very confused about what they are seeing in the US Presidential race.  Aside from those who take the time to seek some balancing of the media views on US politics by tuning into Fox, or reading the Wall Street Journal, there is an incessant anti-Republican bias to most of the news feeds being taken here.  Barack Obama has been betrayed as something of a Messiah, up against a bumbling, extreme viewed, Mormon idiot who only got the Republican nomination because he has lots of money.  Romney had no chance of becoming the 45^th President of the United States.

But what has happened?  The polls are now close, and Mitt Romney does now appear to have a chance of pulling off an upset win.

Clearly, the Romney and Ryan performances in the two Presidential, and one Vice Presidential debates has been a factor.  But there is a more significant factor at play. The Obama Administration has under-performed in the eyes of most Americans.  There have been a succession of policy blunders and the US economy remains in trouble.  Barack has not been able to lead his people out of difficult economic times.  No US President since JFK has entered office with such high expectation surrounding him.  To put it simply, Obama has yet to deliver.

So when Romney (and to an extent) Ryan were able to speak directly to the American people in these debates and demonstrate that they actually were not the Devil incarnate (as many in the liberal media have been suggesting) the political dynamic has changed.

The apparent attempted cover up of Al Qaeda involvement in the assassination of the US Ambassador to Libya has not helped Obama’s cause.  The matter was not managed well.

For the record, I still think that Obama will scrape home.  But a Romney win is not impossible.  And should he win, I don’t think the prospect of a Romney Presidency is nearly as frightening as many in the international media are suggesting.  Already, since the primaries, we have seen a big move towards the centre.  That would be even more apparent should Romney be in the White House.  Should he win, and should Fran let me, I will share my views on what a Romney-Ryan Administration would mean for New Zealand.