Do you vote for Character or Policy ?

The American election is fascinating to watch from afar. I'm not American and given the choices, I'm not sure I'd want to be.  I'm not suggesting the choices are bad at all - it's simply a difficult decision to make.

One one hand you have the incumbent POTUS - a man that deliberates policy slowly, and has underwhelmed many people as he fell short of the expectations thrust upon him.  I don't think we can doubt his character though.  He's a good man, seems to do what he says he will within his power and tells the truth.  He hasn't been a rock star President - but then, who in their own time was actually judged to be one of those..?

You many not like Mr. Obama's policies, but you can't fault the man for who he is.  In an information-overload age and no place to hide, that's a rare quality in a peson. Not many of us are the fine up-standing citizens we portrays ourselves as - let alone those in public office. For that alone the US should be grateful.  There's a lot to be said for thoughtful, solid leadership in times of turmoil.

Competing also is Mr. Romney, who has the advantage of not having had the last four years' as President, scrutinized.  He's able therefore to paint a picture of how different things could have been (when in fact I'm not sure how different they actually are capable of being once you're in the big chair).   Some of his policies are populist, and he has great appeal to many - even as a rich white guy.  Mr.Romney represents change absolutely, but he'll be elected partially because Mr. Obama wasn't, and partially based on his policy stands.  His character is weaker than Mr. Obama's it seems, but he's being given a free pass on that for now. I'm sure he'll discover that exaggeration and playing a little loosely with facts in your stump-speech rhetoric become a tad more troublesome once you are in office.

So the choice to be made is a person who you might trust, but won't do the thing we want, or alternatively, won't be able to accomplish it; and someone we may not trust, but is weaving an effective tale.  It's Character v Policy.   It's a fascinating apples to oranges comparison.

Put the men and actual policies aside - which of these qualities alone would you want to govern you ?  Tough choice.