Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger." And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men! - Luke 2

Today we remember our defenders past and present. While we should do so every day of the year, we sometimes get too busy leading the kind of lives that their service has made possible. We offer heartfelt thanks today for their efforts and sacrifices and prayers for the safety of those currently serving.

In his first term, Mr. Obama presided over an unprecedented expansion of the federal government. He and his Congressional accomplices increased our national debt by $5.4 trillion and burdened the country with trillion dollar deficits every year. President Obama 2.0 will begin his term trying to fight off sequestration; the deep spending cuts and crippling tax increases due in January because he kicked the problem of unsustainable debt down the road until after the election.

Yesterday's exit polls showed that voters overwhelmingly chose the economy as their number one issue and yet, they re-elected a president whose economic policies have left us with not only massive debt but a national unemployment rate hovering near 8% and unsustainable entitlement programs that, without reform, will not be there for those Americans who desperately need them.

But at the same time they were re-electing that big-government, over taxing and over spending president; voters chose to keep the national purse strings and taxing power in the hands of a Republican House majority that was elected (and now re-elected) to lower government spending and not raise taxes. And they also made sure Democrats maintain a small but powerful Senate majority virtually insuring that no significant cost cutting, economy stimulating bills will make it from the House to the President's desk.

Some say this vote for a continued split government after months of complaining about gridlock means that the electorate is demanding compromise from its elected officials. In reality, they are demanding a federal government that provides for their every want and need but gets someone else to pay for it.

Of course there are not enough someone else's to fund our current spending and service the debt which increases by billions every day so no compromise can provide what the electorate is demanding. Only the ability to defy the laws of both economics and physics might.

Good luck on your second term, Mr. President. You sure have inherited a mess.

No sir, voting in the United States of America is every citizen's way of keeping a solemn covenant with our founders to continue to secure the Blessings of Liberty. And it is every citizen's way to honor the millions of Americans who have fought and died to protect our liberty.

Now that Mr. Obama has added his offensive and petty contribution to famous quotes on voting, let's take a moment to reflect on one from Samuel Adams, the Father of the American Revolution:

"Let each citizen remember at the moment he is offering his vote that he is not making a present or a compliment to please an individual - or at least that he ought not so to do; but that he is executing one of the most solemn trusts in human society for which he is accountable to God and his country."

As for other famous quotes about revenge, perhaps the most applicable to the current political contest is English poet and priest George Herbert's "Living well is the best revenge." Hopefully Mr. Romney will win Tuesday's election and we can begin working together to live well soon.

We can recover from the damage that Mr. Obama's policies did to our economy. We can regain our leadership position in the world despite the failure of Mr. Obama's foreign policy. We can unite as one people after four years of Mr. Obama's divisive rhetoric and constant incitement of class warfare. And we can ensure that future generations of Americans will also be able to live well.

Focusing on ridiculously small things like Big Bird and binders made his campaign a national laughing stock so there's little surprise that their next strategy would be a tiny thing. Why answer tough questions on Libya and the economy when you can pin your hopes on a change in punctuation?

Ironically that exclamation point is appropriate for the president's re-election campaign but not in the way they intended it to be. It conveys a certain frantic desperation that makes sense given Mr. Obama's plummeting job approval rating and Republican Mitt Romney's 51% to 45% lead among likely swing state voters.

Obama At The Debates

The outlook was quite rosy for the president that day
The polls showed just a tiny lead but the media had its say
So even though there seemed to be no need to play the game
To Denver went the candidates to rumble just the same.

As sixty million plus tuned in and Lehrer took his seat
The expectation was Barack Obama can't be beat
Some thought if Mr. Romney could just hold his own a bit
He'd live to fight another day if not, this would be it.

But Romney did much more than that, he won without a doubt
While poor Obama switched between a smirk and then a pout
The verbal blows rained down regarding taxes, debt and more
And all the while the president just stared down at the floor.

Between their first and second rounds there was an undercard
Joe Biden tried his best to stop a changing of the guard
But where we thought we'd get some grown-up arguments and gaffing
We saw a rude buffoon who was dismissive and kept laughing.

Joe laughed when values were discussed, he laughed about Iran
He chuckled over jobs when he got caught without a plan
He lied about Benghazi and he snickered after that
Paul Ryan meanwhile had his facts and figures all down pat.

The second presidential round came a few days after
But this one had no chuckles or other kinds of laughter
More like a playground squabble than something consequential
Obama's nasty new approach wasn't presidential.

True Romney gave the way he got and added to the din
So neither one's performance could be counted as a win
But since momentum clearly was not on Obama's side
This tie would not be helpful to prevent a further slide.

The polls within the next few days showed Romney still on top
Instead of making up some ground Obama's numbers dropped
First empty suit then jab and run he seemed to have no clue
With one to go Obama's count was clearly oh and two.

For number three the candidates each had a different goal
Romney's was to stay on top Obama's escape the hole
And so while Mitt could calmly and quite clearly make his case
Barack made one last sad attempt to fire up his base.

Questions were on foreign lands and their prospective handling
Of Chinese trade, Iran's nukes and our own nation's standing
Of course they talked about some things militant Islamic
And how it all connects to things very economic.

Obama took each topic as an opportunity
For canned lines and attacks that lacked all credibility
His mocking tone was Biden-esque, his smirks and gestures rude
His weak defense of his first term was lost in attitude.

But Romney did in contrast prove that he's the better choice
That leadership takes more than just a pleasant sounding voice
Mitt's competent demeanor and grasp of things essential
Showed he's the only candidate that's truly presidential.

Oh surely come Election Day there will be some who choose
To vote for four more years of inept failure and bad news
But those who watched the four debates now know without a doubt
That Romney is the better choice - Obama has struck out.

On the night of November 4, 2008, an estimated 240,000 people inspired by the promise of hope and change filled Chicago's Grant Park to celebrate Mr. Obama's historic win. A virtual sea of cheering, crying supporters stood in front of the glittering city skyline as the brand new president-elect called for "a new spirit of patriotism; of service and responsibility where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder."

Now after four years of President Obama's failed policies, that new spirit of patriotism has been exposed as class warfare, service and responsibility turned out to be nothing more than fail and blame and 23 million Americans who desperately want to work hard are unemployed or underemployed.

Not hard at all to figure out why this time Mr. Obama has chosen the 18,000 seat McCormick Place Convention Center to either celebrate that he has conned the American people into four more years of failure or to depart the national stage as quietly as possible.