Romney: “Turn The Page” On Obama

GOP NOMINEE MAKES HIS CASE

Basking in the establishment pageantry of a major party convention, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said “the time has come to turn the page” on the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama.

“Every president since the Great Depression who came before the American people asking for a second term could look back at the last four years and say with satisfaction: ‘you are better off today than you were four years ago.’ Except Jimmy Carter. And except this president,” Romney said.

The GOP nominee – chosen by a plurality of Republican primary voters on the basis of his “electability” – made it clear in his acceptance speech this week that his number one argument is the failure of his opponent to get a job done.

“This president can ask us to be patient,” Romney said. “This president can tell us it was someone else’s fault. This president can tell us that the next four years he’ll get it right.  But this president cannot tell us that YOU are better off today than when he took office.”

(To watch/ read Romney’s speech, click here).

“America has been patient,” Romney continued. “Americans have supported this president in good faith.  But today, the time has come to turn the page.”

If this approach of indicting one’s opponent rather than running on one’s own merit sounds familiar, there’s a reason for that.  After four years of failed policies – including many of the same initiatives that Romney supported while governor of Massachusetts – Obama’s main reelection thrust has been an assault on Romney.

Specifically, Obama has taken a page out of former GOP Speaker Newt Gingrich’s book by attacking Romney’s success in the private sector.

The result?  Americans are facing an election in which they are being told why they shouldn’t vote for two candidates as opposed to voting for them.

We accept both premises (which is why we’re supporting Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson) but our disdain for Romney has nothing to do with his success in the business world and everything to do with the fact that his policies limit success for other businesses.

Nonetheless, Romney defended his business record at Bain Capital – touting the company’s success stories and seeking to shift the narrative that Gingrich began back in January.

“That business we started with 10 people has now grown into a great American success story,” Romney said of Bain.  ”Some of the companies we helped start are names you know.  An office supply company called Staples – where I’m pleased to see the Obama campaign has been shopping; The Sports Authority, which became a favorite of my sons.  We started an early childhood learning center called Bright Horizons that First Lady Michelle Obama rightly praised.  At a time when nobody thought we’d ever see a new steel mill built in America, we took a chance and built one in a corn field in Indiana.  Today Steel Dynamics is one of the largest steel producers in the United States.”

“In America we celebrate success,” Romney said.  ”We don’t apologize for it.”

That’s true … but  we cannot continue to let taxpayers subsidize select companies (like Boeing) so that politicians can take credit for “creating” or “saving” jobs.

That’s not “success,” that’s corporate cronyism – and in addition to costing taxpayers more than $100 billion a year, it distorts the marketplace, raises costs for consumers and ultimately costs more jobs than it creates.

Unfortunately, neither Romney nor Obama are likely to undo this corrupt practice – nor is either candidate willing to support any meaningful reduction in government.  That’s why for all their invective against each other, Romney and Obama are tools of the same “bipartisanshit” that’s been sinking this country for the last twelve years.

Pics: via Daylife

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