In response to the Sept. 9 letter “Obama doesn’t deserve praise”: The author complained of President Barack Obama placing blame on others: Obama is right in doing this. The economy collapsed under President George W. Bush and the Republican-led policies of deregulation, and intentional non-enforcement of Wall Street regulations over the previous 10 years.

The author declares that “we at least know who Mitt Romney is.” Really? He’s running for president and hiding his taxes for the years during the economic collapse from 2007 on. I guess we can’t really expect this author to scream for the same transparency fervor displayed by [some of] his fellow righties on Obama’s birth certificate, as this isn’t consistent with normal right-wing hypocrisy.

Finally, Romney’s deceptions deepen by his speaking only in platitudes with no detailed plan to help this country — specifically, not stating how he’ll increase military spending, grant huge tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, and still balance the budget. Most economists believe he’ll have to raise taxes on the middle class and eliminate all social safety nets for the poor and elderly, including Medicare and Social Security. Is this far-fetched? His running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, has laid out a budgetary plan that I believe would kill these programs.

I trust Obama as the man I already know who kept the economy from completely falling into another great depression, with a plan in place that is already growing the economy as the Dow has almost doubled under his watch. Now, if Congress would pass his American Jobs Act, the economic growth would be exponential.

Master Sgt. Jim Makela (retired)

Osan Air Base, South Korea

Migrated