Boston, MA – Mitt Romney
today delivered remarks in Stratham, New Hampshire. The following
remarks were prepared for delivery:
Thank
you for that warm welcome. It’s great to be back in
Stratham. And I’d
like to thank Doug and Stella for welcoming us once again to their
beautiful farm.
Ann
and I visited this farm a year ago when we launched our campaign for
the Republican nomination. It was a beautiful day, and the start
of a
remarkable journey.
Over
the past year, it’s become clear that good things begin here, so today
we’re back, with a few more friends and closer to the goal. Every
day
our campaign grows as more and more Americans realize that we don’t
have to settle for these years of disappointment and decline.
America can do better – and with your help, we will. Together,
we’re going to take this campaign all way to the White House.
Since
last June, we’ve been to towns, big and small. We’ve visited
businesses – some generations old, others quite new, every one of them
trying to make the best of a bad economy. Across the country,
people
have welcomed us into their homes. We’ve enjoyed long talks about
family and country in break rooms and backyards, in diners and on
factory floors.
Everywhere
I go, I meet people who represent the best of America. They are
hopeful, hard-working, determined and proud. But they are also
worried
and anxious. They are tired of being tired.
And they are tired of a detached and distant President who never seems
to hear their voices.
When
Americans rose up and demanded, “Stop borrowing money and sticking our
kids with the bill,” the President wasn’t listening. He was on
the
line with China, taking out another loan.
When
Americans went to town halls and said, “We don’t want Obamacare,” the
President ignored us, and spent fifteen months ramming his health-care
bill through Congress on a party-line vote.
And
when we asked, “Where is the recovery we were promised?” this President
lectured us saying “The private sector is doing fine.”
For
so many Americans the distance between their town and the city of
Washington has never seemed so far. The federal establishment has
never seemed so hostile or remote – so disconnected from economic
reality, and yet so willing to use restrictions and regulations, taxes
and fines, commissions and czars to direct our daily lives.
The
President’s plans have Americans wondering whether our future can be as
bright as our past. But that lack of faith in our future is a
bridge
to despair that we cannot cross.
That’s why, from now until November, our campaign will carry a simple
message: America's greatest days are ahead!
Washington’s
big government agenda should not smother small-town dreams. In the
America we love, every town counts. Every job counts. And every
American counts!
We’re
here today to launch a campaign bus tour that will take us from New
Hampshire to Pennsylvania, then to Ohio and on to Iowa, Wisconsin and,
finally, Michigan.
In
the days ahead, we'll be traveling on what are often called the
"backroads of America." But I think our tour takes us along much of the
“backbone of America.”
This
is the America known for thriving farms and factories. For prosperous
towns and cities and great colleges and universities. For solid
communities and churches. All of them born out of American
optimism;
nourished and sustained by hard work and a belief that the American
future is one of limitless possibilities and that opportunity is an
American birthright.
We
will travel through the industrial heartland of America. This was once
a model to the world for mining, manufacturing, and innovation.
Many
of the greatest commercial enterprises in the history of the world were
born here. They gave birth to an extraordinary middle class which never
questioned their ability to build a better life for their children.
But in these past few years, too many of these Americans have been
struggling and in distress.
But
even where factories have closed and jobs are too few, the spirit of
enterprise -- the spirit that powered the engines of America’s
remarkable economic growth and prosperity -- that spirit still lives
strong. And it is the goal of this campaign -- and will be the
mission
of my presidency -- to nurture that spirit and to see it flourish once
again.
The
world knows the names of great cities like Pittsburgh, Detroit, Chicago
and Cleveland. These were the arsenals of democracy, the forges of
freedom, the melting pots of America. Their resilience and indomitable
energy are a cornerstone of America's future.
But
we should never forget that some of America’s biggest dreams were also
born in our smallest communities. Our small towns have given us
great
writers, great thinkers, and great leaders.
Before
they were literary giants who dazzled the world, great American writers
like Mark Twain and John Steinbeck were kids playing in wide-open
spaces, dreaming up the stories they would tell.
Before
they were pioneers, Thomas Edison and the Wright Brothers looked out
into the dark night and up at the clear blue sky, imagining great
inventions that would someday change the world. And, no, Mr. President,
they were not dreaming of a government loan.
And
small towns gave us Lincoln and Truman, Eisenhower and Reagan – and so
many sons and daughters who have sacrificed to defend our freedom on
battlefields far away.
The
vision and the values, the character and the can-do spirit that you
find in our small towns have made America great. In these places,
you
also find a special sense of community and a deep commitment to our
country.
These
Americans are quiet heroes. They raise strong families, run our
factories, and grow our food. They coach Little League and
soccer.
They serve on the PTA. They volunteer to help their
neighbors. And
they dream big dreams – sometimes for themselves, but mostly for their
kids.
Every
town counts because the families who have lost a job, faced a
foreclosure, or been forced to spend the money they were saving for
college just to make ends meet are not statistics – they are our fellow
Americans.
In
recent years, they have shown great determination and real bravery.
These men and women do the hard things that others say aren’t worth
trying. They keep pressing on, even when government bureaucrats
and
regulations keep getting in their way. They have talent and
creativity
– and they aren’t about to let their family or our country down by
letting their dreams go. They are the backbone of America.
Yesterday the President gave a speech. A Very. Long. Speech.
You
might have thought that it would be a moment when he would acknowledge
his policy mistakes and suggest a new course. But no. He promised four
more years, of more of the same. Four. More. Very. Long. Years.
That's really the divide in this race. The President thinks we're on
the right track and his policies are working.
And I...I believe with all my heart that we can -- that we must -- do
better!
So
let me ask where you stand. Do you believe America can do better? Do
you believe that with new leadership and a new president our greatest
days are still ahead? Do you believe we can take back the White House
and reclaim the greatness of America?
Somewhere in that long speech, President Obama spoke of giving people a
"fair shot." I couldn't agree more.
President
Obama isn't giving our students a fair shot when they graduate and only
half of them can find jobs or work that matches their skills.
And
he isn't giving the middle class a fair shot when wages keep going down
and prices keep going up. Under Barack Obama, more Americans are living
in poverty than under any President in history. That's a tragedy, not a
fair shot!
He didn't give the children of Washington, DC a fair shot when he
proposed to end their scholarships to go to better schools.
And when he bows to the demands of the teacher's unions, he isn't
giving a fair shot to kids across America.
He
isn't giving entrepreneurs and job creators a fair shot when he picks
winners and losers, rewarding campaign donors with tax dollars in
scandals like Solyndra.
Barack Obama isn't giving a fair shot to our children and grandchildren
when he saddles them with trillions of dollars of debts.
If there has ever been a president who has failed to give the middle
class of America a fair shot, it is Barack Obama.
I
have a very different vision for America, and of our future. And I know
what we must do to truly give our fellow Americans a fair shot...and a
better chance.
I
see an America where free enterprise is nurtured and celebrated, not
attacked, because freedom and free enterprise is what creates jobs, not
government. 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 beyond their wildest dreams -- and others
congratulating them for their achievement, not attacking them for it.
We must not allow the desperation of a failing Presidency to divide
this great country.
I
see an America that is fundamentally fair, that cares for those who
cannot care for themselves, that never wavers from our commitment to
our seniors, and that gives our veterans the respect and care they
richly deserve.
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 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.
I
am running for President because I have the experience and the vision
to get us out of this mess. I am offering a real choice and a new
beginning.
We can't afford four more years of failed policies and weak leadership.
Starting on Day One, I will do what it takes to get America back to
work.
Obamacare will end.
We'll open markets around the world, and make sure that countries like
China finally play by the rules.
We'll
get the Keystone Pipeline built and we'll send a message to the world
that a new era of energy independence has begun right here on our
continent.
We'll replace the Obama job killing tax policies with sweeping tax
reform to jumpstart job creation.
The
government regulators who are strangling small business will finally
learn that job creators are our friends, not our enemies.
And once again, the Era of Big Government will be over!
No
wonder Bill Clinton and so many other mainstream Democrats are
revolting against the backward direction President Obama is taking his
Party and our country!
Let us make today the beginning of the end of the disappointments of
the Obama years.
Let us make today the start of a new and better chapter that we will
write together.
For
every single mom who feels heartbroken when she has to explain to her
kids that she needs to take a second job … for every grandparent who
can’t afford the gas to visit the grandkids… 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 today!
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. Join me. Let's walk
together, every day until November 6th.
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.