Dear Editor,

This is an open letter to President Barack Obama

I watched the debate Wednesday night on TV between you and Mitt Romney. Most of the pundits today are saying that he won, and that you lost the debate. Yes, he was the hungry, and even angry challenger who came out swinging like Joe Frazier (but he's no Joe Frazier, for Frazier was an honourable pugilist), and you as Muhammad Ali soaked up most or all of his punches.

Sir, in the next round (in two weeks' time) please throw some punches too. Mitt threw everything at you about how you made things worse and all that; and at the same time he made some grandiose promises to fix the economy, eg by creating 12 million new jobs, etc. Those promises are mirages.

When he throws those below-the-belt punches at you again, just tell him in no uncertain terms how he and his buddies over the last four years tried to tie one of your hands behind your back and told you to fight. They declared that their policy was to make you a one-term president - a has-been! They were and are prepared to bring the country to a standstill to achieve their spiteful aims.

Remind him and the American people that it was the previous administration that sent the country into a tailspin and created the great financial meltdown. Remind him of the housing crises that you inherited, from which the country is just about emerging. Tell him that it was he and his unscrupulous buddies who made the patient terminally ill; but that under your astute administration, the patient is no longer on life-support, but is bouncing back to health. That it is your team of experts, carers, and sharers that have the right prescription to get the country back to youth and vigour over the next four years. This means growing the economy, creating jobs, saving and protecting the middle class — in fact, all classes — creating a better health-care and social security system; and that you are the man with the plan to offer better security at home and abroad to all Americans.

So go out there next time swinging, and land that knockout punch. Use, if you have to, some of the same punches that his own buddies (Messrs Gingrich et al) threw at him during the primaries. But to show how sportsmanlike you are, when you've knocked him down, pick him up, send him home, and tell him to concentrate on what he does best: Read those 'tablets'.

George S Garwood

Florida