Michele Bachmann: Meet the Candidate

The August 14, 2011 edition of Meet the Press with David Gregory introduced Republican Presidential candidate Michele Bachmann. What Congresswoman Bachmann revealed about her qualifications for President of the United States was unnerving. One thing that she does not lack is confidence, which I attribute to her faith and strong base. Mrs. Bachmann contends that she is the right candidate to lead this country towards prosperity based on innocuous credentials; such as raising foster children, her marital status and tax litigation experience. As well, her philosophical approach for improving our nation’s economic malaise revolves almost entirely around lowering corporate tax rates. Most alarming was her apathetic response to David Gregory in addressing unemployment benefits.

Michele Bachmann has correctly identified one common denominator with the Presidents of this country outside of James Buchanan; they have all been married while in office. The Congresswoman also eagerly reveals her 5 children and 23 foster children putting her on par with 39 other commanders-in-chief; George Washington, James Madison, Andrew Jackson, James Polk and James Buchanan had no biological children but Washington and Jackson both adopted. Truth be told, these fun facts have no bearing on how well a person can perform the duties of President of the United States, but indelibly are credentials that seduce deeply spiritual voters.

Congresswoman Bachmann touts her experience as a tax litigation attorney as a key component to her Presidential bid and ability to execute the responsibilities of a United States President. Fundamentally, the interests of tax litigation attorneys are to lower taxes and secure settlements with the IRS for their clients. It goes without saying that her experience as an attorney is where she derives her ideology; her wisdom is predicated on the relief clients have expressed from tax mitigation, whether justified or not. Based on litigation intelligence, Mrs. Bachmann has organically concluded that lower taxes are a benefit to Americans and by extension, to the State and Country, thereby consummating an ideology that contradicts history and its plethora of fact-based analyses; it’s not in her culture to believe otherwise and therefore has trouble comprehending how higher taxes could be a benefit on a macroeconomic scale.

When pressed for solutions that would stimulate economic growth and job creation, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann speaks highly of and implies that the only means is by way of cost reduction and lower taxes. It’s been evident during her tenure as a State Senator and Congresswoman that her ideology stands at the forefront of her decision making. She incorporates blind faith politics in support of her claims that immediate economic stimulus is achievable through suppressive policies; no stimulus bills, no QE initiatives and lowering corporate tax rates. Shockingly, Mrs. Bachmann declares that as President, she would not extend unemployment benefits because the Federal Government does not have the revenue to support it. Equally as astonishing, she supports a payroll tax cut, but concludes that its contribution to the economic recovery is near irrelevance and stands firmly by her conviction that job and economic growth result from lower corporate taxes. Interestingly enough, her answer to the debt ceiling debate was not to raise the ceiling, but introduce a bill that would have ensured the country would not have defaulted on its obligations; in other words, approve raising the debt ceiling temporarily until spending cuts took effect, but in a much more complex, roundabout way.

It goes without saying that Michele Bachmann stands her ground and unapologetically pursues her ideology at all costs. Her solutions to current day problems would result in complicated back-door policies that could have been accomplished with simple, straightforward answers; see her response to the debt ceiling debate. She conveniently ignores reports that affirm how corporations are reporting record revenues with fewer employees to further legitimize her principles. Mrs. Bachmann’s heartless response to David Gregory on unemployment benefits, and the reason for not extending them, unveils a disconnect with middle and lower income families. I find it disturbing that the Congresswoman willingly volunteers working class Americans to become her sacrificial lambs in a crazed and unjustifiable pursuit of a flawed ideology that has proven to fail in this country. Michele Bachmann has much to learn about fairness and governing, but most especially, she needs to understand the difference between ideology and common sense.