Dear Editor,
I don’t think Guyana benefited a great deal under President Obama (‘Victory for Obama is victory for us here in Guyana’ SN, Oct 27 by Dr ‘Joey’ Jagan) and in fact I believe the dollar numbers may show Guyana received more financial assistance under George Bush than under Obama, especially in the fight against HIV-AIDS. Nevertheless, I believe a lot more people in Guyana and more Guyanese Americans as well prefer Obama over Mitt Romney in the November 6 election because, like Dr Jagan, they believe Guyana and America will be better off under Obama than Romney. However, a great number of Guyanese Americans have also indicated to me they will not vote because they are disappointed in Obama’s term in office and don’t think whoever wins the White House will matter a great deal to their lives.
What I found in conversations is some Guyanese Americans who voted for Obama in 2008 will stay home having lost hope in Obama; some have converted to Romney; and the others have held faith in him. I also found some who voted Republican last time who have decided to switch to Obama because they are afraid that the Republicans may privatise Social Security and cut back on foreign aid. Like nearly half of other American voters, a lot of Guyanese have joined the apathy column, because they feel politicians make promises and hardly deliver on any of them.
Unlike Dr Jagan, who says definitively that Obama will win, I give Obama the edge right now and in fact all polls in key state contests have Obama on top. But with a week to go in the campaign, a Romney victory is not improbable and the Governor could come from behind to create one of the biggest upset victories in presidential politics. In fact, it is looking increasingly better for Romney as compared to a month ago when he had no chance.
As Dr Jagan penned, Obama won the last two debates, but I don’t think voters were looking to see whether Obama was ‘presidential.’ He is the incumbent and already has served four years in the position.
Independent voters wanted to know whether Romney was ‘presidential’ to give him a chance, and he passed the test with flying colours – this has led to the closing in the polling gap between the candidates and gave Romney a chance to take the presidency.
Since the first debate, Romney has been gaining momentum when all the polls and the nation had written him off. Now, nationally, almost all the polls have Romney ahead but within the margin of error, making it a dead heat. However, in the swing states that both candidates need to win in order to capture the presidency, all the polls have Obama ahead, but Romney is closing the gap and I believe by election day, if Romney comes up with a credible plan, he will tie or pull ahead of Obama.
Also, with almost 20% of the voters already casting ballots in early voting, exit polls have Obama ahead two to one. It will be almost impossible for Romney to catch up on election day unless there is a huge turnout of Republican supporters. Many Republicans are not excited about Romney and some (liberal) media publications are playing up Romney’s religious background (a Mormon) hoping to suppress turnout of the Republican base (WASP males). If the Romney campaign can overcome this major challenge and the base turns out en masse, it will significantly improve Romney’s chance of capturing the White House. If a large chunk of the base stays home, Obama wins handily.
Yours faithfully,
Vishnu Bisram
