Editor, The Herald:

Recently I have read a number of well-written letters to this paper that were apparently written by intelligent, educated writers. The letters started off very intelligently and articulate. And then, much to my shock and dismay, the writers concluded that the presidency of Barack Obama had been good for America. They heartily endorsed him for another four-year term!

I cannot understand how anyone, educated or not, could possibly conclude that the Obama administration has been good for America. In my opinion it has been the exact opposite! Some of my reasons are as follows and I repeat—these are my opinions:

1. He and his administration have repeatedly lied and distorted facts. He promised that he would get the economy up and running within three years, otherwise he would be a “one term president” and it is clear that he has not done this. Today's Jobs Report is a distortion and manipulation by his administration, for his administration.

1. Our debt under his administration has increased by over $5,000,000,000,000, and now he and his “henchman” Bernanke have decided to just print more money. Everyone knows that this only cheapens the dollar and puts us farther behind.

2. His administration is chipping away at our individual freedoms. The health care bill that he is so proud of, when carefully read, takes away many of your freedoms concerning your health and insurance.

3. He plays the “race card” whenever he thinks it's convenient and might help him. Consider that when he was talking about aid for the Katrina victims he conveniently adopted, or tried to adopt, a southern accent.

4. He takes Mr. Romney to task about sending jobs overseas and yet he appointed as the “Jobs Czar” a person that has sent thousands of jobs overseas and in fact a large part of their business is conducted overseas. To me this is just another sign of his complete dishonesty.

5. His willingness for “his henchman” Harry Reid to make unfounded statements, without a rebuttal or disclaimer from Obama, is another example of his complete dishonesty. You will recall that Harry Reid made the statement that Mr. Romney had not paid taxes in years, yet Mr. Romney had already released one year of tax returns and has since released another. Not only did he pay his taxes but he gave a tremendous amount of money for charity, yet not even a word from Mr. Obama saying that Harry Reid was wrong. You decide how honest he is!

6. When our Ambassador and others were killed in Libya, Mr. Obama called it a “bump in the road”. Any President worth his salt would have immediately fired Hillary Clinton for not having made sure the embassy was protected, but Obama couldn't do that because he has Bill “sex with an intern” Clinton out campaigning for him. Firing Hillary, as he should have, would have put a stop to this endorsement and killed Hillary's chances of running for president in 2016. Pure politics and complete disregard for our people serving around the world!

Barack Obama may very well win the election in November because he has The Unions behind him, and union members vote as they are told. Don't believe it? Look at Chicago!

He also has the “almost unanimous” support of the homosexual community because of his flip-flopping and now supporting the proposition of “same-sex marriage”. If God had wanted “same sex marriage” He would have created “Adam and Steve” rather than “Adam and Eve”!

He has heavily courted the Hispanic vote and will probably get most of it!

He is counting heavily on blacks voting the “color line” but I believe that with outstanding black leaders, such as Alan West of Florida and others, he may very well be disappointed in this assumption. My black friends are far too intelligent to fall for this line.

When Obama was elected, he promised complete “transparency”. Apparently his “transparency” means sealing all of his school records and anything else that might show us who, or what, he is! Think about it!

And now let me take a “shot” at both parties. Both parties are saying that “small business” can create sufficient jobs to get us back in a prosperous economy. This to me is totally untrue! We need large, manufacturing businesses, in this country that create thousands of jobs. The stimulus money should have grown to companies that would bring thousands of jobs back to this country!

We recently moved from Lancaster, South Carolina. Lancaster is now a “dead town” because their textile manufacturing was closed and sent overseas. Small businesses could create 1,000 jobs in Lancaster and still come nowhere close to employing all of those laid off when Springs Mill closed. This is the same all over the country. Mount Airy, North Carolina, Danville, Virginia and many, many others around the country would be the same. We need manufacturing jobs in this country! We can never recover completely while being only a “service country”.

I have recently heard some rather harsh criticism of Mormonism and threats not to vote for Mr. Romney because he is a Mormon. I think this is very “shortsighted”. The Mormons that I know are “clean cut”, believe in Jesus Christ, work hard, are honest, and are not covered with earrings, nose rings, lip rings, tattoos and other body adornments. I'll take Mormons for neighbors anytime over radicals who have vowed to kill us and change our world. To be sure, there are many great people of other faiths in this country that harbor no ill will against anyone and I would welcome them also but I fear and distrust the radical element that we have seen recently.

Furman Joye

Prospect