I'm now past the point where I'm more enthusiastic about voting for Romney than I ever was about votng for McCain.
I can't ignore the devastation of the past 4 years in forming that opinion. But I think Romney is simply a better candidate, better leader, better conservative, and will make a better President - than John McCain could've ever been.
I can scarcely imagine McCain fecklessly flailing away at the myriad crises we face. Somehow I can imagine Romney in the same position, and leading effectively.
Hopefully I'll get a chance for my gut feeling to be tested.
I think Romney will probably make fewer mistakes than McCain and give in less often, however, that is setting the bar pretty low in my opinion. We need another Lincoln, or a Reagan. Mittens is neither. Less of a disaster than McCain, but it will still be a disaster. They will not repeal Obamacare. The Spending will not be reduced by any meaningful amount. The economy and the dollar will continue to loose traction in the global economy, and we will still be headed to a 3rd world standard of living - either gradually or in a sudden event. They will continue to "compromise" and give out entitlements, and more and more will vote for Dems because they have become dependent wards of the State.
Before the end of Romney's term we will look like Greece today. Children will be abandoned. Riots and stoppages will be ordinary events. Foreigners will be buying any real assets and resources we have, and gain more influence over our governance. The only thing that might preempt that is a war - and that will have its own set of hardships.
Romney has proven he is willing to play as he needs to play - saying one thing then another, and he will behave for us only so long as the Tea Party can hold his feet in the fire. He chose Ryan to entice us, they added a Gold Standard to the platform to try attract the Ron Paul crowd, but its pandering plain and simple. Once in power he will ignore us and govern as he did in Mass, unless someone is able to change and modify his agenda via political power - a power I do not think we yet possess.
Its going to be a wild ride folks. There are no solutions to our problems - reality is going to solve them for us, in the usual and violent ways.