Better leadership needed to boost economy and job market

By Chuck Grassley

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Presidential candidate Barack Obama told Iowans at the Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner four years ago, “I am running in this race because of what Dr. King called ‘the fierce urgency of now.' Because I believe that there's such a thing as being too late. And that hour is almost upon us.”

Today, urgency defines America's fiscal health. Under President Obama's leadership, we're in the fourth consecutive year of $1 trillion deficits. The national debt has reached an unprecedented $15 trillion.

When he campaigned for office, Obama called a $4 trillion increase in the national debt “unpatriotic,” “irresponsible” and “unacceptable.” He promised to cut spending, and when he took office, he pledged to slash the deficit in half. It seemed that the president recognized the scale of the challenges we faced as a country and was willing to go big, take political risks, and confront our problems head-on.

Unfortunately, the reality has been just the opposite. Obama's leadership in office did not live up to the hype.

Three-and-a-half years into his administration, we're left holding the bill for President Obama's broken promises. Instead of slicing the deficit in half, as he promised, the president has presided over nearly four years of trillion dollar-plus deficits.

The national debt has increased at a historic rate since Obama took office. It's risen by $5.2 trillion, more than under any president in history. The worst part of it is that the debt will be passed on to future generations, denying our children and grandchildren the same opportunities we had to prosper and grow.

The distance between the president's policies, including the negative impact they have on the economy, and his promises of four years ago, is massive. It's a gap filled with wasted opportunities and wasted tax dollars. It's time to change course for America before it's too late.

That will require new leadership that will restore our nation to solvency, instead of sentencing it to bankruptcy with more government spending. We need leadership that will strengthen the next generation, instead of preordaining its pauperization.

This election is about safeguarding the American dream. That's why I'm supporting Mitt Romney.

Romney understands that the current course of government spending is unsustainable. When he came to Iowa in May, Romney spoke about a “prairie fire of debt” that is sweeping across America. Obama later called this characterization “a cow pie of distortion.” But the facts show otherwise.

For Romney, these aren't just words. They're a way of governing. The important distinction in this election isn't the rhetoric; it's the records.

As governor of Massachusetts, Romney closed a deficit, balanced the budget, and left a considerable rainy day fund of $2 billion. He knows that reviving our broken economy begins with the private sector, not the government, and that the road to prosperity lies with economic growth, not on the backs of future generations.

Instead of President Obama's bigger government, 12.7 million unemployed Americans urgently need an economy that's growing and a leader in the White House to help make it happen.

Chuck Grassley, Republican from New Hartford, has been one of Iowa's U.S. senators since 1980. Comments: www.grassley.senate.gov/contact.cfm