In Mitt Romney's alternate reality, George Bush "kept us safe."
Bush dismissed a warning of bin Laden's plan to attack with the words, "you've covered y our ass." A month later the towers came down and first thought Bush cronies had was it was an opportunity to invade Iraq and make money for defense contractors and do some oil bidness. They started with Afghanistan, a country which was uninvolved with global terrorism except it was one of the places bin Laden and his crew held up. Bush lost interest in bin Laden when the main event in Iraq began. That war was a complete corrupt clusterfuck that never began to conclude until Obama wound it down. It is still unsettled. Obama directed the military to take out bin Laden after he was discovered living almost openly in Pakistan. The war in Afghanistan continues with murky purpose and doubtful benefits.
In 2004, testimony before Congress warned of massive fraud in mortgage lending which had the potential to create a crisis in banking. In 2008 the Secretary of Treasury asked Congress for a huge bailout with the warning that the entire credit system could collapse, even making routine short term loans businesses take out for raw materials and payroll unavailable. The prospective ripple effects were projected to be so dire that some Members of Congress spoke of marshal law. Paulson asked for money without conditions or any oversight whatsoever. He didn't get exactly what he wanted, but banks got their asses saved, and the bailout continued with Obama and even bailed out derivative counterparties. When Obama took office the economy was in a full blown plummet.
There is a lot to criticize about Obama's handling of the economy. But Republicans are insincere when they do it, because the stock market recovered and corporate profits are great, and Republicans don't care about unemployment anyway. They like it because it suppresses wages.
It is sickening to hear Romney, who inherited home plate, talk about restoring an America where everyone has a opportunity. That is bullshit and it isn't what Republican policies will produce. The astonishing mendacity that Republicans have used to attack Obama practically defies parody. Lying to attack Obama is all the have. They aren't going to get love based on their Platform. A platform that calls for the total elimination of taxes on inheritances, capital gains, interest and dividends. In other words no taxes on most unearned income. A platform that calls for laws that would prevent a woman who was raped from even attempting to prevent a pregnancy.
The Republicans want a one party system. Karl Rove spoke about a "permanent Republican majority," cemented apparently by systematic disenfranchisement of the poor and the overwhelming control of information by wealthy campaign donors. With the Citizens United ruling, they can get it! It's a sad irony that in their gambit to win this election, they have embraced a base that is so ignorant, mean and lunatic that they have left only one party for sane people to vote for.