For Frank A. Sortino, in this presidential campaign it is not a matter of where he stands, but where he sits.
On the fence.
Mr. Sortino, chairman and chief investment office of Sortino Investment Advisors LLC, and director of the Pension Research Institute, both in Menlo Park, Calif. — and a Reagan Republican — endorsed Barack Obama in his 2008 presidential election campaign.
This campaign, Mr. Sortino hasn't yet taken a stand.
“I'm not saying I won't vote for him,” Mr. Sortino said of Mr. Obama. “I'm just saying I haven't made up my mind.”
“I don't think he's doing anything to help investors meet their goals,” Mr. Sortino said. But he likes the tighter Wall Street regulation.
“I think he's basically an honest person, who has integrity,” Mr. Sortino said of the president. “He thinks of America first and (Democratic) party second. I like that. But I'm no longer enchanted by his rhetoric.”
As for Mitt Romney, Mr. Sortino said: “He understands business and cost cutting. ... If he got in, he would make America profitable and would be good for the stock market.”
But Mr. Sortino expressed doubts of Mr. Romney's integrity “the way he comes across doing whatever is expedient to get the vote, the way he changes his positions, denying his health-care plan (when he was governor of Massachusetts) was a blueprint for Obamacare.”
