Rick Santorum has suspended his campaign for the Republican presidential candidacy and has thus left virtually no doubt that Mitt Romney will be battling Barack Obama to become the next president of the United States. Of course, there is still much to be determined before November. The first question to be answered will most likely be who will run alongside Romney. Then these two, along with their campaign team, will have to figure out how to hurdle the many obstacles on their way to defeating Obama.

Choosing the right running mate is crucial. A bad choice could lead to many fringe voters voting for Obama. There have been a handful of names tossed around by the media as potential running mates for Romney; the current frontrunner is Florida Senator Marco Rubio. In order to get the most out of his running mate, Romney needs someone who can energize the most conservative voters without scaring away any independent supporters he already has – and Rubio would likely do exactly that.

Of course, while Romney is figuring out who will run alongside him against Obama and Biden, several issues are already emerging between the two camps. The most recent issue is Romney’s claims that women have suffered economically under the Obama administration. He claims that 92.3 percent of jobs lost since Obama’s presidency were held by women. Accusations like this make it hard to not reflect on what has happened during Obama’s term and think about what it is we need most from our next president.

The big question that must be asked and answered is whether or not America is better off after a term with Barack Obama. The short answer is no. National debt has continued to grow rapidly, sanctions placed on Iran have not worked the way we hoped, ObamaCare has cost an arm and a leg and hasn’t even come close to doing what we were promised, we have been dealing almost continuously with economic crises, and tensions are high between the U.S. and many other countries. Admittedly, these are not all directly President Obama’s fault, but the actions he took to address these issues have ranged from useless to harmful for America.

It is clear to me that America needs a fresh start, and Mitt Romney is in a great position to provide the new perspective. The keys for Romney in the general election will be proving his competence in managing the economy and having a running mate with expertise in other areas. This should not be too hard, since Obama has spent the last few years showing he is utterly lost when it comes to the economy.