Mitt Romney Believes in America and So Should You!!: Part 1

Mitt Romney, who is running for the Republican Party’s nomination for President in 2012, released a new TV spot a couple weeks ago. It’s title—“Believe in America”—proves once again that campaign slogans are always moronic. Check it out...

The first half of the ad uses audio from Barack Obama’s speech to New Hampshire residents in October of 2008, just weeks before the national election. Graphic overlays (highlighting what Romney perceives to be Obama’s greatest economic failures in office to date) claim in no uncertain terms that Obama has not lived up to his promises. But the real knockout punch comes when Obama says, “If we keep talking about the economy, we’re going to lose.”

Romney is clearly capitalizing on this rather embarrassing oratory gaffe by Obama. I mean, how could the President have implied that discussing a plan to rebuild our economy isn’t a constructive use of our time? Well…he didn’t. Before you jump to any conclusions, I’m not insinuating that Romney’s campaign actually doctored a video of Obama! I am, however, suggesting that Romney took that line from Obama’s speech completely out of context. You can read the full transcript of Obama’s October 2008 speech if you like, but here is the direct context for his statement on the economy:

“Even as we face the most serious economic crisis of our time; even as you are worried about keeping your jobs or paying your bills or staying in your homes, my opponent's [John McCain’s] campaign announced earlier this month that they want to "turn the page" on the discussion about our economy so they can spend the final weeks of this election attacking me instead. Senator McCain's campaign actually said, and I quote, ‘if we keep talking about the economy, we're going to lose.’…But here's what Senator McCain doesn't seem to understand. With the economy in turmoil and the American Dream at risk, the American people don't want to hear politicians attack each other - you want to hear about how we're going to attack the challenges facing middle class families each and every day. You want to hear about the issues that matter in your lives. You want to hear about how we're going to bring about the change that we desperately need for our country. That's what the American people want to hear. So let's debate our genuine differences on the issues that matter.”

So, what President Obama actually said was more like, “If we don’t keep talking about the economy, we’re going to lose.” It looks as if Mitt Romney is attempting to criticize Obama for a statement that Obama himself was in fact criticizing. Or is he?

Check back on the blog tomorrow to find out how Romney's campaign explained the ad and what I think is really going on here... 

/ryan wallace/