Dear Editor:

This past week has been very good to me. From my perspective, President Obama did an outstanding job during the 2nd Presidential Debate, and the Detroit Tigers have beaten the NY Yankees and are heading to the World Series. I love them both!

The Tigers could win their 5th World Series (They had previous wins in 1935, 1945, 1968, 1984.) Of course they could collapse in the series, and while I would be disappointed, I would still admire them for all of their accomplishments this past year.

The same holds true for President Obama! A good showing in a single debate does not ensure success. President Obama could still lose the Presidential Election, and while I would be disappointed, I would still admire The President for all of his accomplishments these past four years!

This past week, The Commerce Department said that home construction rose 15%. “U.S. builders started construction on homes in September at the fastest rate since July 2008 and they are making plans to build even more homes in the coming months. The gains show the housing recovery is strengthening and could help the economy to grow.”

U.S. stock futures have risen, indicating the benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500 Index will rebound from its biggest weekly drop in four months.

U.S. retail sales increased 0.8 percent in September, following a 0.9 percent gain a month earlier.

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index, which had declined in August, improved in September. The Index now stands at 70.3 (1985=100), up from 61.3 in August. This is an increase of 9%.

The Labor Department’s has reported that unemployment has fallen below 8% for the first time since January 2009. The present rate is 7.8%.

According to the recent ABC News/Washington Post Poll (Oct. 10-13, 2012), the percentage of people that think that the Country is generally heading in the right direction has increased from 15% during the last weeks of the Bush Administration to 42% at present. Considering all of the turmoil of the past four years, this is a significant improvement.

Since mid-October of 2009, the Dow has risen 34.8%. In a recent study, titled “Social Mood, Stock Market Performance and U.S. Presidential Elections”, It was found that incumbents who served during periods of rising stock prices typically do better in the elections than those who served during periods of falling stock prices. This was “The single best predictor of presidential re-election.

Many of Mr. Romney’s supporters are probably going to “pooh” all of my positive notes (in this instance “pooh” could either be defined as an exclamation of disdain, contempt, or disgust or a childish word for feces, but you will have to look that childish word up all by yourself).

One can try and believe that things are worse now than they were four years ago. For many individuals this is a fact, but for the country as a whole, we are on the return path. But many of Mr. Romney’s supporters would prefer failure than to accept the fact that The President has been instrumental in turning this country back towards a recovery from the 2nd greatest depression in our Country’s history. According to a study published in Psychological Science in the Public Interest, “it is cognitively easier for our minds to trust a lie – if it supports our deepest convictions – than it is to reject information that requires some mental sweat to assess”. This has caused many staunch conservatives to accept a candidate as their Standard Bearer, even when they know that he has changed his position so many times, that even his own campaign team labeled him the “Etch a Sketch” candidate because of the way one could turn him over, shake him a bit, and he can come up as something new. Do you really trust Mr. Romney?

But, needless to say, there are many individuals that feel so strongly about their opinions that all they can focus upon is ranting and hate. They will pray for President Obama’s failure at any cost. As my 87 year old (88 in November) Uncle Carl, recently told me, “These people sure have an awfully high opinion of their own opinion.”

Ernie Ezell

Auburn