Liberal Florida Papers Endorse Mitt Romney For President

Everyone is making a big deal about the Salt Lake City Tribune's endorsement of Barack Obama, so what, they endorsed him back in 2008, as well. That isn't much of a coup, in spite of the fact that Mitt Romney is from Utah and a Mormon.  Those 6 Utah electoral votes won't amount to much compared to Florida's 29.

Now what is a big deal is Florida's Orlando Sentinel which just endorsed Romney for president. Why? Because the OS is a progressive paper and they happened to endorse Obama in 2008. Naturally, they have pissed off their liberal base, you can tell by the comments and ratings of that particular piece, but this is big.

Two days after his lackluster first debate performance, President Barack Obama's re-election hopes got a timely boost. The government's monthly jobless report for September showed the nation's unemployment rate fell below 8 percent for the first time since he took office.

If that were the only metric that mattered, the president might credibly argue that the U.S. economy was finally on the right track. Unfortunately for him, and for the American people, he can't.

Economic growth, three years into the recovery, is anemic. Family incomes are down, poverty is up. Obama's Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, highlighted these and other hard truths in this week's second debate.

Even the September jobless numbers deserve an asterisk, because more than 4 million Americans have given up looking for work since January 2009.

And while the nation's economy is still sputtering nearly four years after Obama took office, the federal government is more than $5 trillion deeper in debt. It just racked up its fourth straight 13-figure shortfall.

We have little confidence that Obama would be more successful managing the economy and the budget in the next four years. For that reason, though we endorsed him in 2008, we are recommending Romney in this race.

Obama's defenders would argue that he inherited the worst economy since the Great Depression, and would have made more progress if not for obstruction from Republicans in Congress. But Democrats held strong majorities in the House and Senate during his first two years.

Other presidents have succeeded even with the other party controlling Capitol Hill. Democrat Bill Clinton presided over an economic boom and balanced the budget working with Republicans. Leaders find a way.

With Obama in charge, the federal government came perilously close to a default last year. Now it's lurching toward another crisis with the impending arrival of massive tax hikes and spending cuts on Jan. 1

Read the rest here.  They don't love him, but they realize how important it is that Obama not get another four years.

Romney received another endorsement from a Florida newspaper, Fort Lauderdale's Sun-Sentinel,  after also having endorsed Obama in 2008.

Brush away all the rhetoric, all the vitriol, all the divisiveness from the presidential campaign. To most Americans, only one thing matters — the economy.

Four years into Barack Obama’s presidency, economic growth is sputtering. Family incomes are down. Poverty is up. Business owners are reluctant to assume risk in the face of unending uncertainty. Many are holding on by their fingernails, desperate for signs of an economic recovery that will help them provide for themselves, their employees, their customers and their communities.

When President Obama came into office in 2009, the economy was in freefall and though untested, he inspired us with his promise of hope and change. Now, four years later, we have little reason to believe he can turn things around.

So while we endorsed Obama in 2008, we recommend voters choose Republican Mitt Romney on Nov. 6.

Yes, the jobless numbers from September showed a drop to 7.8 percent unemployed, the first time in almost four years that it’s been below 8 percent. But the numbers are deceiving because more than 4 million Americans have given up looking for work since January 2009.

[Snip}

But today, rather than articulate a compelling vision for growth, the president falls back on the tired talking point of increasing taxes for the wealthy. Americans want our tax code to be fair — and fixed; there’s no question about that. But it’s hard to see how raising taxes is going to kickstart jobs in the private sector.

The president had enormous opportunity when he took office, with Democrats controlling both houses of Congress. But he failed to focus on Job One: Jobs.

Instead, he tackled the nation’s health care system, something most people agree needs fixing. No one wants to see people with pre-existing conditions denied health coverage. Insurance costs are taking too big a bite out of family incomes. And employers want their work family to have access to health care beyond the emergency room.

Read the rest here.

They too have alienated their liberal base, but at least they have done the right thing.

Who cares if papers that endorsed Obama last time around, endorse him today. The ones that matter are those that have switched and voted for the Republican candidate because he can and will do a better job.