PRESS RELEASE from Romney for President
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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CONTACT: Romney Press Office
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April 24, 2012
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MITT ROMNEY DELIVERS REMARKS IN MANCHESTER,
NH
Boston, MA – Mitt Romney
tonight delivered remarks in Manchester, New Hampshire. The following
remarks were prepared for delivery:
Thank
you Pennsylvania, Delaware, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New
York!
And tonight I can say thank you, America. After 43 primaries and
caucuses, many long days and more than a few long nights, I can say
with confidence – and gratitude – that you have given me a great honor
and solemn responsibility. And, together, we will win on November
6th!
We launched this campaign not far from here on a beautiful June day. It
has been an extraordinary journey.
Americans
have always been eternal optimists. But over the last three and a
half
years, we have seen hopes and dreams diminished by false promises and
weak leadership. Everywhere I go, Americans are tired of being tired,
and many of those who are fortunate enough to have a job are working
harder for less.
For
every single mom who feels heartbroken when she has to explain to her
kids that she needs to take a second job … for grandparents who can’t
afford the gas to visit their grandchildren … for the mom and dad who
never thought they’d be on food stamps … for the small business owner
desperately cutting back just to keep the doors open one more month –
to all of the thousands of good and decent Americans I’ve met who want
nothing more than a better chance, a fighting chance, to all of you, I
have a simple message: Hold on a little longer. A better America
begins tonight.
Tonight
is the start of a new campaign to unite every American who knows in
their heart that we can do better! The last few years have been the
best that Barack Obama can do, but it’s not the best America can do!
Tonight
is the beginning of the end of the disappointments of the Obama years
and the start of a new and better chapter that we will write together.
This
has already been a long campaign, but many Americans are just now
beginning to focus on the choice before the country. In the days ahead,
I look forward to spending time with many of you personally. I want to
hear what’s on your mind, hear about your concerns, and learn about
your families. I want to know what you think we can do to make this
country better…and what you expect from your next President.
And
I’ll tell you a little bit about myself. I’ll probably start out
talking about my wonderful wife Ann – I usually do – and I’ll probably
bore you with stories about our kids and grandkids. I’ll tell you about
how much I love this country, where someone like my dad, who grew up
poor and never graduated from college, could pursue his dreams and work
his way up to running a great car company. Only in America could
a man
like my dad become governor of the state in which he once sold paint
from the trunk of his car.
I’d
say that you might have heard that I was successful in business.
And
that rumor is true. But you might not have heard that I became
successful by helping start a business that grew from 10 people to
hundreds of people. You might not have heard that our business
helped
start other businesses, like Staples and Sports Authority and a new
steel mill and a learning center called Bright Horizons. And I’d tell
you that not every business made it and there were good days and bad
days, but every day was a lesson. And after 25 years, I know how
to
lead us out of this stagnant Obama economy and into a job-creating
recovery!
Four
years ago Barack Obama dazzled us in front of Greek columns with
sweeping promises of hope and change. But after we came down to
earth,
after the celebration and parades, what do we have to show for three
and a half years of President Obama?
Is
it easier to make ends meet? Is it easier to sell your home or buy a
new one? Have you saved what you needed for retirement? Are you
making
more in your job? Do you have a better chance to get a better
job? Do
you pay less at the pump?
If
the answer were “yes” to those questions, then President Obama would be
running for re-election based on his achievements…and rightly so.
But
because he has failed, he will run a campaign of diversions,
distractions, and distortions. That kind of campaign may have
worked
at another place and in a different time. But not here and not
now.
It’s still about the economy …and we’re not stupid.
People are hurting in America. And we know that something is wrong,
terribly wrong with the direction of the country.
We
know that this election is about the kind of America we will live in
and the kind of America we will leave to future generations. When
it
comes to the character of America, President Obama and I have very
different visions.
Government
is at the center of his vision. It dispenses the benefits, borrows what
it cannot take, and consumes a greater and greater share of the
economy. With Obamacare fully installed, government will come to
control half the economy, and we will have effectively ceased to be a
free enterprise society.
This
President is putting us on a path where our lives will be ruled by
bureaucrats and boards, commissions and czars. He’s asking us to
accept that Washington knows best – and can provide all.
We’ve
already seen where this path leads. It erodes freedom. It
deadens the
entrepreneurial spirit. And it hurts the very people it’s
supposed to
help. Those who promise to spread the wealth around only ever
succeed
in spreading poverty. Other nations have chosen that path. It
leads to
chronic high unemployment, crushing debt, and stagnant wages.
I
have a very different vision for America, and of our future. It is an
America driven by freedom, where free people, pursuing happiness in
their own unique ways, create free enterprises that employ more and
more Americans. Because there are so many enterprises that are
succeeding, the competition for hard-working, educated and skilled
employees is intense, and so wages and salaries rise.
I
see an America with a growing middle class, with rising standards of
living. I see children even more successful than their parents - some
successful even beyond their wildest dreams – and others congratulating
them for their achievement, not attacking them for it.
This
America is fundamentally fair. We will stop the unfairness of urban
children being denied access to the good schools of their choice; we
will stop the unfairness of politicians giving taxpayer money to their
friends’ businesses; we will stop the unfairness of requiring union
workers to contribute to politicians not of their choosing; we will
stop the unfairness of government workers getting better pay and
benefits than the taxpayers they serve; and we will stop the unfairness
of one generation passing larger and larger debts on to the next.
In
the America I see, character and choices matter. And education,
hard
work, and living within our means are valued and rewarded. And
poverty
will be defeated, not with a government check, but with respect and
achievement that is taught by parents, learned in school, and practiced
in the workplace.
This
is the America that was won for us by the nation’s Founders, and earned
for us by the Greatest Generation. It is the America that has
produced
the most innovative, most productive, and the most powerful economy in
the world.
As
I look around at the millions of Americans without work, the graduates
who can't get a job, the soldiers who return home to an unemployment
line, it breaks my heart. This does not have to be. It is the result of
failed leadership and of a faulty vision. We will restore the promise
of America only if we restore the principles of freedom and opportunity
that made America the greatest nation on earth.
Today,
the hill before us is a little steep but we have always been a nation
of big steppers. Many Americans have given up on this President
but
they haven’t ever thought about giving up. Not on themselves. Not on
each other. And not on America.
In
the days ahead, join me in the next step toward that destination of
November 6th, when across America we can give a sigh of relief and know
that the Promise of America has been kept. The dreamers can dream a
little bigger, the help wanted signs can be dusted off, and we can
start again.
And
this time we’ll get it right. We’ll stop the days of apologizing for
success at home and never again apologize for America abroad.
There
was a time – not so long ago – when each of us could walk a little
taller and stand a little straighter because we had a gift that no one
else in the world shared. We were Americans. That meant something
different to each of us but it meant something special to all of us. We
knew it without question. And so did the world.
Those days are coming back. That’s our destiny.
We believe in America. We believe in ourselves. Our greatest days are
still ahead. We are, after all, Americans!
God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.
To View The Speech Text Online, Click Here:
http://mi.tt/IDZ8aP
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