# How daring would/could a President Romney be? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 15, 2012, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-daring-would-could-a-president-romney-be/637815 "2012-10-15T20:47:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-daring-would-could-a-president-romney-be/637815/1 "2012-10-15T20:47:28Z")
[Jon Chait](http://nymag.com/news/politics/elections-2012/obama-romney-economic-plans-2012-10/) fears the answer is “very”: > [@Jon Chait](#): > > Of the many secret post-victory plans floating around in the inner circles of the campaigns, the least secret is Romney’s intention to implement Paul Ryan’s budget. The Ryan budget has come to be almost synonymous with the Republican Party agenda, and Romney has embraced it with only slight variations. It would repeal Obamacare, cut income-tax rates, turn Medicare for people under 55 years old into subsidized private insurance, increase defense spending, and cut domestic spending, with especially large cuts for Medicaid, food stamps, and other programs targeted to the very poor. > > Few voters understand just how rapidly Romney could achieve this, rewriting the American social compact in one swift stroke… It goes on to detail how he could use reconciliation to get it passed by simple majority, especially if his victory gives enough Republican votes in the Senate. Obviously, this would be popular with Republicans and bother liberals _a little_, but what about the rest of the nation? How would the voters in general handle such a thing? Is there any reason he wouldn’t do this, Chait’s beliefs notwithstanding? ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2012, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-daring-would-could-a-president-romney-be/637815/2 "2012-10-16T01:12:14Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > … if his victory gives enough Republican votes in the Senate. I think the answer hinges on this. If Democrats still have 51 Senate seats, then he can’t do anything all that “daring”. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2012, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-daring-would-could-a-president-romney-be/637815/3 "2012-10-16T03:34:17Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > [Jon Chait](http://nymag.com/news/politics/elections-2012/obama-romney-economic-plans-2012-10/) fears the answer is “very”: > > It goes on to detail how he could use reconciliation to get it passed by simple majority, especially if his victory gives enough Republican votes in the Senate. > > Obviously, this would be popular with Republicans and bother liberals _a little_, but what about the rest of the nation? How would the voters in general handle such a thing? Is there any reason he wouldn’t do this, Chait’s beliefs notwithstanding? If the question is “will the nation stand for it?” the the answer is “is there going to be a new war between now and the next election to distract the voters?” > [@Will the other debates make any real difference?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-other-debates-make-any-real-difference/637488/9): > > You’ve made this assertion repeatedly, as if you think Romney can milk “But they didn’t _saaaaaaaaaaaay_ it was terrorism” for 90 minutes. Last night’s debate poked several gaping holes in the Romney/Ryan foreign policy plan. Ryan was unable to state what he’d do differently in Afghanistan or Iran, tripped over his own words when he said a humanitarian crisis wasn’t good enough justification for “boots on the ground” after saying Obama wasn’t doing enough in Syria, and made himself look like a fool when he accused Obama of turning his back on Israel. These are things Obama will be able to take Romney to task over. > [@Poll: Have you ever based your vote on any of the following things?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-have-you-ever-based-your-vote-on-any-of-the-following-things/637586/8): > > How about because all the really hot women are leftish? > [@Voter ID vs Majority Rule](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voter-id-vs-majority-rule/636439/8): > > Since Voter ID laws don’t suppress voter rights, as a general rule, you’ve offered up a false dichotomy. > [@Does the term White Privilege hurt it's own cause](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-term-white-privilege-hurt-its-own-cause/637673/149): > > You don’t need to twist the term; you just need to take it at face value. Which is why the answer to the thread title is “yes”. > > I didn’t say that it was; in fact, I specifically said that it wasn’t. > > Or work for any number of people who will find excuses to fire you if they discover you aren’t religious. > > It’s not the same thing. Religions are institutions, not just individuals. > > :rolleyes: Or it might have something to do with the polls showing how disdained atheists are, and political leaders from the Presidents on down openly regarding atheists as evil and traitorous. > > And this reality-denying insistence that atheists _aren’t_ a hated minority just underlines how hypocritical the people who make speeches about “white privilege” actually are. And that it has nothing to do with any desire for social justice. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2012, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-daring-would-could-a-president-romney-be/637815/4 "2012-10-16T05:40:05Z")
Umm… Okay, interesting quotes. I’m not exactly sure what they have to do with the subject at hand, but maybe it’s just late… ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-daring-would-could-a-president-romney-be/637815/5 "2012-10-22T04:19:50Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > Umm… Okay, interesting quotes. I’m not exactly sure what they have to do with the subject at hand, but maybe it’s just late… oops sorry. I had really witty responses at the time but I was running latae and just hit the send button. So in response to SMAPTI: About a third of the way into the debate it is going to start looking like Romney is trying to monday morning quarterback a winning team because he thinks he could have won by more. I mean look at all his criticisms outside of Benghazi? They all basically amount to “I would have done a better job at succeeding that the President did” With 20/20 hindsight, I’m a better investor than Romney. To Elucidator: Yeah but the women who know their place are rightish. To Bricker: I think its been pretty well proven that voter ID laws reduce turnout among legitimate voters and I think its been established that at least some (and probably all) of these laws were passed for the same reason that Democrats might want to place a polling place in every church, school and post office in America. Because high turnout and easy access to voting helps Democrats and low turnout and restricted access to voting helps Republicans. to Der Trihs: In a professional setting at large companies, I don’t think you are correct in the least. Unless you get annoying about your athiesm and start mouthing off about how horrible religion is would probably get a similar reception to a Christian that started talking about how Jews killed Jesus. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-daring-would-could-a-president-romney-be/637815/6 "2012-10-22T13:27:05Z")
He would be much more daring than Obama in the area of foreign policy. He would harken back to the days of George Bush, where our prime focus was on getting Bin Laden, instead of the World Wide Apology tour Obama has been doing. Barry’s pallin’ around with terrorists so much that even his advisors openly admitted that “Bin Laden doesn’t matter”. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-daring-would-could-a-president-romney-be/637815/7 "2012-10-22T14:17:28Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > I think the answer hinges on this. If Democrats still have 51 Senate seats, then he can’t do anything all that “daring”. More importantly, if he had 51 GOP Senators, and decided to go all Ryan on the budget, you can bet that he wouldn’t have those 51 senators after the next mid-term elections. And then it’s bye-bye budget. And I’m not seeing how he could repeal Obamacare using the Reconciliation process.