America Needs the Right Transformational Leader

America is going in the wrong direction and needs a transformational leader.  We need a leader who is aware of the current condition of the country and is willing to make the tough decisions needed to turn the country around.  The decision we must make on November 6 is whether we want four more years of the transformational leadership of Obama or the transformational leadership of Mitt Romney. 

In 2008, the country was seeking transformational leadership as well.  Much of the reason John McCain lost was that he was viewed by many as non –transformational or more of the same.  However, the American people made a fatal mistake by selecting a transformational leader without checking to see what kind of change he wanted to make.  This election Obama can no longer simply promise change for now we have four years of his policies to look at. 

When Obama was elected in November 2008, the unemployment rate was 6.8% and as of September 2012, it was 7.8%.  (1)  The rate when Obama took office was also 7.8% so the rate did not go up but it also did not go down.  Obama claims to have inherited the worst economy since the Great Depression and looking at the unemployment numbers, we can say that it has not improved under his watch. 

Under Obama’s watch, we have also seen a dramatic increase in people on food stamps.  As of July 2012 there were 46.7 million people on food stamps (2) (3)  up from 32 million in January 2009 when Obama took office.  (3)  We have also seen an increase in the number of people on Social Security Disability from 7,469,240 workers in February 2009 to 8,808,335 in October 2012.  (4) 

I understand that this is a lot of numbers but the numbers tell us a story.  If we are to believe Obama’s strategy to bring change in 2008 has been successful, we must conclude that the goal of the strategy was not to put people back to work but to have more people dependent on the government to take care of them.  Obama did tell Joe the Plumber that he favored the redistribution of wealth and based on these numbers it appears he has been successful.  However, I do not believe Americans were seeking this type of transformation when they elected Obama. 

Romney is also a transformational leader but unlike Obama in 2008, he does have a history as a transformational leader.  He ran Bain capital a company that took struggling companies and turned them around.  During his tenure at Bain, they were able to turn around many companies that are prominent today such as Staple and Best Buy.  Mitt Romney’s transformational leadership style was also able to rescue the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City from bankruptcy. 

As a transformational leader, Mitt Romney has a history of success.  Of course there are also failures but any effort to turn an ailing organization around runs the risk of failure.  That is the risk of being a transformational leader. 

So, this election, just like the election in 2008, the country is in need of a transformational leader.  We have the choice of Obama who now has a record that reveals the type of change he is seeking for our country; change into a European Socialist State.  Or, we can choose Mitt Romney, a successful executive with a proven track record of success turning around ailing organizations.  Mitt Romney is a transformational leader who wants to transform the United States back to the free market principles that made it great. 

I believe the choice is clear.  Do we want to continue sliding into a European Socialist State that is destined to fail like Greece or Spain, or do we want to return to what made our nation great.  Join me in returning to American greatness by voting for Romney.

1. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Databases, Tables & Calculators by Subject. data.bls.gov. [Online] United States Department of Labor Statistics. [Cited: October 27, 2012.] http://data.bls.gov/pdq/SurveyOutputServlet.

2. United States Department of Agriculture. Data & Statistics. www.fns.usda.gov. [Online] USDA. [Cited: October 27, 2012.] http://www.fns.usda.gov/fns/data.htm.

3. Agriculture, United States Department of. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. fhs.usda.gov. [Online] United States Department of Agriculture, September 28, 2012. [Cited: October 27, 2012.] http://www.fns.usda.gov/pd/34snapmonthly.htm.

4. Jeffrey, Terence P. 8,803,335: Another New Record for Disability—Up 975 Per Day Under Obama. cnsnews.com. [Online] CNS News, October 25, 2012. [Cited: October 27, 2012.] http://cnsnews.com/news/article/8803335-another-new-record-disability-975-day-under-obama.