Editor, Times-Union: When Governor Romney was selected to run for the presidency, I wasn’t happy but thought that he would not be too bad of an alternative to President Obama. After all, the president did not do what I thought he would do. He did not seem to change his mind but changed his priorities. I thought that Gov. Romney had worked successfully with a Democratic congress in Massachusetts. They agreed on health care, which I liked. Then I read about what really happened in Massachusetts. As governor, Romney made a record number of vetoes of bills, most of which were overridden. He and the legislators disagreed on most things. Two of the things that they agreed on raised taxes and set up Romneycare. Now, as candidate Romney, he has changed his mind about health care. He has also claimed he would never raise taxes. In fact, he appears to be chameleon like changing his comments to agree with whatever group he is talking to. Changes in attitude toward FEMA, toward climate change, toward the auto industry, toward the Tea Party, toward abortion and more seem to be indicative of candidate Romney’s basic lack of conviction. Romnesia may be less of a joke than I thought it was. All politicians change emphasis as they go from group to group, but they do not make changes in basic policy beliefs. To President Obama’s credit, he tends to be very good at making statements about topics he wants to communicate to the local voters. He has not, for example, talked about coal use in coal producing regions but there is no reason to believe he has changed his attitude toward the use of coal. So I have changed from thinking that although I prefer President Obama, candidate Romney would not be too bad. I now think that I really do not know what Gov. Romney believes nor do I know what he would recommend. All I really know is that he stands for being friendly toward business and money makers. I now believe he could be disaster as president. He would probably seem to have better dealings with the House since the bucket of Republicans whose only goal has been to keep President Obama from being elected would now work with him. However, there is no assurance that the House will be Republican or that a bucket of Democrats would not oppose Romney. I realize that this is a strong Republican county and I realize a vote for President Obama will get lost in the count. But I am still recommending a vote for President Obama. James Streator Claypool, via e-mail
