I participated in a conference call with Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) where he previewed the comments he will be making at CPAC 2012.
Throughout the call he emphasized that Republicans/conservatives have a terrific opportunity in 2012 to not only defeat Barack Obama, but to earn a moral mandate for returning the nation to its American Ideals.
"If we give the American people a clear choice, I have faith that they will reaffirm our Founding principles, giving us the moral authority to get America back on track."
He said Pres. Obama told us he wanted to "fundamentally change" the United States. Like so many others, I never understood why we needed to 'change' anything about the greatest, freest and most prosperous nation on earth, but apparently converting us to a European socialist copy was the direction the President intended.
Ryan said we need to "go bold in 2012" and not win simply by default. He said we have an extraordinary opportunity to offer the country a clear vision of the reforms necessary to get us back to the ideals our nation was founded upon. "On nearly every policy front, the President has made matters worse. But I believe the American people deserve better than simply a referendum on President Obama’s failed policies. They deserve a choice of two futures," he stated.
It is his firm belief that if we show Americans the choice they have between continuing down the dangerous debt-ridden path Obama and his fellow Democrats in Congress have placed us on or returning to the path of American greatness - the ideals and principles upon which the nation was founded - Americans will choose what we offer and we will win not only the 2012 election, but the moral authority to implement the agenda they so obviously support.
The 2012 election will be an election of competing ideas, he said. Our rights come from our creator - not government. The nucleus of our society is the individual and the family - not the government. Ryan said it is already clear that Pres. Obama is going to run on a platform of division, especially by class - hoping people will believe that they are somehow stuck in their current class and the only way to better themselves is through government taking from others in order to attain an equal outcome for all.
"I reject class division. I reject preying on envy and fear," Ryan said.
He had one of the best catch phrases I've heard so far this year. He said Obama's record and failed agenda is one of "debt, doubt, and decline." His CPAC speech will make the case for clarifying the choice between the Republican message of growth and prosperity, or more of Obama's debt, doubt and decline.
But, he emphasized, we must make that choice very clear by accentuating the differences between our two positions. "As reformers, it is our task in the year ahead to make clear the reform agenda needed to get us back on track – to get our economy growing, to tackle the rising cost of health care, to strengthen health and retirement security for all Americans, and to lift the crushing burden of debt so that hardworking families can prosper. We need reforms that expand opportunity and upward mobility."
After hearing this preview, I'm even more interested in hearing his speech to the CPAC attendees. I predict his message will resonate not only with them, but with the American people as well.
Tuesday, February 07, 2012
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
"As reformers, it is our task in the year ahead to make clear the reform agenda needed to get us back on track – to get our economy growing, to tackle the rising cost of health care, to strengthen health and retirement security for all Americans, and to lift the crushing burden of debt so that hardworking families can prosper. We need reforms that expand opportunity and upward mobility."
Let's take this a point at a time.
make clear the reform agenda needed to get us back on track
How will he work to achieve this? Does he propose to put the agenda into an enumerated list? How will he handle the inevitable scope creep and SIG objections that will scuttle the agenda? Who will object to the agenda and why - and how will he handle the objections?
get our economy growing
Yes, that sounds good - right up until we find out just how the government is going to grow the economy. NAFTA comes to mind, as do more business regulations and higher taxes.
tackle the rising cost of health care
Again, a laudable goal and one I can agree with. The thing is that The Anointed One also sought to quell the rising cost of health care, but His proposed methods produced certain undesireable side effects. So then - how are we going to achieve this?
strengthen health and retirement security for all Americans
Yes, that's a nice idea. But it will require money (you know, money, scratch, long green, dough, dead presidents, the stuff Bill Gates has a landfill of and we got none of, we being broke these days), so what I'd like to know is just where this money is going to come from?
lift the crushing burden of debt
Again, it's nice but it needs funding. Where will the funding come from?
reforms that expand opportunity and upward mobility
I don't agree with him. We've got enough reforms, and if the government continues to reform us we'll likely go the way of Italy.
I like Paul Ryan, but I think he's whistling past the graveyard when he talks about the next election. 2012 is The Anointed One's to lose; all Himself has to do is keep on keepin' on. The GOP leaders should have met in a back room three years ago and decided just who would be nominated, then spent two years campaigning. They didn't, and now they can't stop fighting amongst themselves.
Mad Jack - excellent questions. As this was just a brief preview of his CPAC speech, I'll look for details when he gives it and will definitely blog about it.
:)
Thanks Maggie. I'll watch for your coverage.
Mad Jack - I've got a conflict with the time of Ryan's speech...but you can watch live on CSPAN tomorrow (thursday) at 8:30 p.m.
Post a Comment