Mitt Scores
Mitt Romney needed to make a convincing case for new leadership in America: his leadership. In accepting the Republican nomination for president last night, he did just that — and then some. Romney spoke directly to the millions of voters who were genuinely filled with “fresh excitement” by Obama’s election four years ago — and who are now sorely disillusioned by his nonleadership.
“‘Hope and change’ had a powerful appeal,” Romney noted — but “there’s something wrong . . . when the best feeling you had was the day you voted for him.” Indeed. “President Obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans and heal the planet,” Romney reminded folks. “My promise is to help you and your family.”
How? “What is needed in our country is not complicated or profound,” said Romney. “It doesn’t take a special government commission to tell us what America needs. What America needs is jobs — lots of jobs.”
Well, duh. Fact is, Obama may be the only person in America who doesn’t see that.
Romney touched on many issues, from school choice, to restoring America’s leadership role in the world, to cutting the deficit and national debt, to expanding foreign trade and energy independence.
But his speech was more than a policy prescription — much more.
Indeed, it was a paean to American exceptionalism — famously eschewed by the White House’s current occupant — and to an “optimism [that] is uniquely American.”
The “bedrock of America,” Romney said, is “the vibrancy of America’s communities, large and small.”
America is about success, he asserted — quite rightly: “We don’t apologize for success — we celebrate success.”
Romney’s words echoed the electrifying address that runningmate Paul Ryan delivered the night before to the party faithful — who were roused by Ryan’s denunciation of Obama’s America: “A dull, adventureless journey from one entitlement to the next, a governmentplanned life, a country where everything is free but us.”
And Romney’s speech, the culminating moment of the Tampa convention, followed an evening that, in many ways, introduced Americans to the real Mitt Romney for the first time.
It movingly painted a picture of a Mitt Romney far different than the often vicious one offered by the mainstream media.
A Mitt Romney who reached out and was always there — when the cameras weren’t rolling — for people who needed help. Who built companies that put Americans to work. Who promoted diversity and inclusiveness.
But it was Romney himself who gave voters fresh reason to regain the hope they’d lost: “The time has come to turn the page,” he said. “Now is the time to restore the promise of America.”
Sure, the commentators and proObama media were busy picking nits in Romney’s words last night, just as they’ve done for months. But it was Mitt Romney up there accepting the nomination — defiantly.
Obama underestimates him at his peril.