Republicans nominated Governor Romney not because he was the favorite or most likable primary candidate, but because he’s the guy who gets the job done. Throughout his entire life, he has stepped up to the plate and hit grand slams in both government and the private sector. After months of wandering through the proverbial desert this past summer, he rose to the occasion when he needed to most and delivered a knockout debate performance against a dazed and tired President Obama. Since then, the momentum and energy has moved decisively to the Romney/Ryan ticket and tightened the polls in every major battleground state. With data showing Romney leading in Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, and Colorado, the only barrier to victory is the 2% Obama lead in Ohio that is slowly eroding.
Although polling indicates this race could go either way, I believe Governor Romney actually won several weeks ago after the first debate and cemented his victory last night. What voters care about most in this election are their falling net incomes and inability to find high paying jobs. In that first debate, Romney rattled off statistic after statistic of why “trickle down government” has failed the American people and the middle class. Without a doubt, it was the most devastating hour and a half of the entire campaign for the President. He simply had no answer or response when Romney explained that 47 million Americans are on food stamps and half of college graduates can’t find jobs. He could do nothing but sit there and smirk as Romney noted that net incomes have fallen thousands of dollars over the last four years and that one in six Americans are living in poverty. He could only glare with contempt as Romney stated that 23 million Americans are out of work and that the national debt has grown by six trillion dollars.
It was right then and there that Americans started to realize that they made a grave mistake in giving the Presidency to a young and inexperienced community organizer who had never held a real job or balanced a budget. It was in that moment that voters realized Governor Romney was not the evil corporate tycoon the attack ads had depicted, but was a competent businessman who understands how to create jobs and grow the middle class.
Those statistics that Romney repeats during every campaign appearance will be written on the tombstone of the failed Obama Presidency. Four years ago a young Senator convinced America that he had a plan to reduce the deficit, grow the economy, and create jobs for millions of middle class citizens. At the end of his term, he accomplished none of those things and left the economy in worse condition than when he took office. The economy has grown progressively slower every year, the national debt is six trillion dollars greater, and 23 million Americans are out of work. The record speaks for itself. The President’s attempt to blame the results of the last four years on the Bush Administration has fallen on deaf ears. Only the most hardened liberal will argue that President Obama’s big government agenda has created jobs and grown the economy –in stark contrast to the reality of the economic data.
While Obama argues that he has “stopped the bleeding” on the economy, it has really just gone into paralysis. Regardless of what the President says or whatever statistics he tries to cite, Americans know the economy is in shambles. The unemployment number is unchanged, college students can’t find jobs, and more Americans have fallen into poverty. Paul Ryan said it best when he said Obama’s college voters are now unemployed and living back at home with their parents in their childhood bedrooms starring up at faded Obama posters.
With fourteen days of campaigning left, I believe the President’s fate is sealed. There is no speech he can give to change his record of failure over the last four years. Voters understand what is at stake and will not be fooled twice. It is now only a matter of time.
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