There are just over two months left until the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 6.

The Republican Party, aiming to reclaim the office after a four-year absence, held its national convention in the state of Florida last week and officially nominated former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney as its president and House of Representatives Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan as its vice president.

In his acceptance speech, Romney sharply criticized U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration for its mismanagement of the country. He pledged to rebuild the struggling U.S. economy to “restore the promise of America,” an apparent dig at Obama.

Romney is a “small government” advocate, a policy line that would attempt to boost the economy with a variety of tax cuts and regulatory easing while drastically cutting back on federal spending, including social security programs.

For instance, he pledged to make the United States energy self-sufficient, expand trade, create 12 million jobs through assistance to small and midsize businesses, slash the nation’s huge fiscal deficit, oppose cuts to the defense budget and abolish Obama’s reform of the health care system.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party does not see defense spending as untouchable when cutting expenditures to rebuild government finances.

The party has staked out a position that, as much as possible, will not cut federal spending for the underprivileged, including low-income earners and senior citizens, and emphasize correcting income disparities.

However, the U.S. economy has been stuck in slow gear, and reverberations from the debt crisis in Europe have made its future uncertain. The U.S. unemployment rate has never gone below the 7.8 percent mark it stood at when Obama took office. Recently, it has hovered between 8 percent and 8.5 percent.

The U.S. fiscal deficit has exceeded $1 trillion for four straight years. Obama needs effective policies to quickly boost the economy, as well as restore the health of government finances in the medium- and long-term.

Although Romney claims he could do both, simultaneously cutting taxes drastically and reducing the country’s huge debt seems incompatible. He needs to clearly state what steps he would take to cut the federal deficit without losing tax revenue. This will undoubtedly be a major issue in the remainder of the campaign.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party is scheduled to kick off its national convention in the state of North Carolina on Tuesday, where it is expected to stress party unity during the march toward Obama’s reelection.

Recent polls have shown Obama and Romney in a dead heat. The three debates between the presidential candidates to be held in October will be major opportunities to determine the course of this close contest. We hope Obama and Romney have frank and heated discussions on the economy, diplomacy and defense policy.

Both parties call the United States a Pacific nation and value its relations with Asian countries, and both agree the United States should work toward completing negotiations over the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade pact.

The two parties also share the view that the stability and prosperity of the Asia-Pacific region should be maintained under U.S. leadership. This is an ideal course also for Japan as a U.S. ally.

The result of the U.S. presidential election will affect Japan’s domestic and foreign policies. We will keep a close eye on Obama and Romney’s battle over policies.

(The Yomiuri Shimbun)
(Asia News Network)