TIM PAWLENTY: “MY
ENDORSEMENT: MITT ROMNEY FOR PRESIDENT”
“My Endorsement: Mitt Romney For President”
By Tim Pawlenty
National Review Online
September 12, 2011
http://www.nationalreview.com
Great crises often produce great leaders. Unfortunately, sometimes the
timing isn’t right, and neither is the leader.
Barack
Obama came into office in the midst of a great economic crisis.
Although hopes were high, he did not rise to the occasion. Now that the
clouds of enthusiasm and excitement have parted, we see he was
obviously unsuited for the task at hand.
President Obama has failed to meet America’s economic challenges.
His
three years of spending, regulating and taxing have not restarted the
economy. Unemployment remains at a shocking 9.1 percent. Economic
growth is hovering on the edge of a renewed recession.
Abroad,
the standing of the United States appears uncertain and adrift under
the failed leadership of a president who prefers chastising allies to
condemning foes.
Fortunately, America may get a second chance: Mitt Romney is running
for president, and I am proud to endorse him.
Alone
among the contenders, he possesses the unique qualifications to
confront and master our severe economic predicament. His abiding faith
in our country’s exceptional historical position as a beacon of freedom
will make him the most important leader in a world that depends upon a
strong America to stay at peace.
Having
served as governor of Massachusetts, he turned that state’s budget
around from deficit to surplus while simultaneously cutting taxes, but
that is not the full measure of what he will bring to the presidency.
His time in government was a moment of service — a way to give back to
our country — following a distinguished career in the private sector,
where he launched companies and turned around troubled ones.
When
the 2002 Winter Olympics were on the verge of collapse thanks to a
bid-rigging scandal, Romney was asked to take over. The attacks of
September 11 created a security nightmare. Romney presided over a
highly complex security mobilization, addressed the management troubles
plaguing the games, and staged one of the most memorable competitions
ever seen on American soil.
Romney
is running for president because he is deeply committed to our country,
troubled by its current condition, and I believe he can turn it around.
He’s
formulated an economic plan — a set of alternatives to the
government-oriented programs that Barack Obama has put in place — that
is unparalleled in the history of American electoral campaigns. By
pressing for fundamental change in the way that Washington taxes and
spends, issues regulations, uses energy, interacts with our major
trading partners, and deals with our labor force, he fully envisions a
way to place America back on the path toward rapid economic growth and
full employment.
And
at his core, Mitt Romney is a man of great character. He and his wife
Ann have been married for more than four decades. She is the love of
his life. Together, they have five sons and 16 grandchildren.
But
he’s not only a family man, he is a man of principle. He believes in
the bedrock conservative ideals of limited government and free
enterprise. He will stand up for America’s allies when they are
threatened, with fortitude. And he will face down our adversaries. He
is a formidable person, and he will certainly be a formidable
president. Our allies can count on it, and our enemies should expect
it.
Crises indeed produces great leaders. Sometimes it just takes awhile.