Supporting a candidate with eyes open

I found my discussions with friends (and strangers) on Facebook quite curious.  Maybe I'm in my own bubble, but it seems that most Obama supporters with whom I've talked to are aware of their candidate's positions in a way that the Romney supporters are not.

For example, those fiscal conservative/socially liberal supporters of Romney recognize he and his running mate are social conservatives but that they represent the Party of Small Government and therefore are also fiscally conservative.  So therefore they have decided that fiscal issues are paramount and will vote for the fiscal conservative.  However, Romney and (especially) Ryan are not fiscal conservatives.  Romney is not seeking a balanced fiscal role where every program is paid for and that the government  exercises prudence. In fact, their budget plan is quite radical.  By rejecting even a 10 to 1 cut/revenue increase in the primary debates, Romney has thrown all conservatism out the window and instead fully embraced Grover Norquist's "no new taxes--ever" mantra.  They seem to only want less and less regulation, more and more tax cuts, throw money at the military, and start another war.  They're an SNL parody of a right-wing candidate.

On the other hand, Obama's policies on the whole have paid for themselves.  Even the much derided Obamacare is predicated on the fact that it pays for itself via the individual mandate and things like the cuts to Medicare reimbursements.  And in fact, it was Obama who put our two credit-card wars and Medicare D expansion on the official books.  Is this not fiscal responsibility and small-c conservatism?

Obama has governed from the fiscal center.  He did not (to the Left's consternation) push for a single payer system, has continued his drone strikes, not yet closed Guantanamo, and introduced a surge in Afghanistan.  He has governed carefully, prudently, and almost too gingerly.  On the other hand,  everything Romney has put forth is quite a radical agenda that does not square with the conservative label, and yet he is the fiscal conservative and Obama the lefty liberal.

So I just don't get it, the cognitive dissonance is painful.  If you say you are a sane fiscal conservative, when looking at the facts on the ground, all I see is one candidate that meets that criteria and it's not Romney.