Former Senator Rick Santorum officially kicked off his presidential campaign today with a speech attacking President Barack Obama for not recognizing America’s greatness.
Hitting on the disappointing unemployment rate released Friday and high gas prices, Santorum denounced Obama.
“He’s not just devalued our currency, he’s devalued our culture,” Santorum said, pointing to the Obama administration’s decision not to enforce the Defense of Marriage Act and saying that his administration supported “federal funding of abortions.”
Santorum said that there is “a group of people led by president Obama who believes that America’s greatness is in government and not it’s people,” a statement met with boos in the crowd.
The “lynchpin” of that idea, he said “is Obamacare.” It “does something that no other entitlement has ever done…it makes you buy something.”
Santorum said that the purpose of new healthcare law was to “create dependency.”
(Santorum officially announces campaign for president)
“Every single American now will be hooked to the government with an IV,” he said. “And they will come to you every time they want to do more and say, ‘you want that IV, you want that healthcare?’” as a way to get more power.
“Why do you think they cared so much about passing this bill?” Santorum asked. “Power,” he answered. “They knew they would get you.”
Santorum said this was the reason why Obama had pushed so hard to pass this bill, despite polls showing that it was unpopular, and the fact that it contributed to the Democrats losing seats in the midterm elections.
“They want to hook you, they don’t want to free you,” he continued, reiterating that Obama did not believe in the people, but rather thought big government was the answer.
“They believe in themselves: the smart people, the planners, the folks in Washington who can make decisions better than you,” he said. He pointed to “Mediscare,” referring to the argument that Paul Ryan’s budget will kill Medicare, as a tactic that amounted to saying, “we can’t trust seniors to make decisions.”
Santorum, who would go a step beyond Ryan’s budget and alter Medicare for those over 55, argued that seniors should be allowed to “choose themselves what is best for themselves.”
“In 2008, a wearied public … looked to elect a president who they could believe in,” said Santorum. “And that president, President Obama, took that faith… and wrecked our economy, and centralized power in Washington, DC, and robbed people of their freedom,” he said to chants of “no more” from the crowd.
“I believe now that Americans are not looking for someone they can believe in, they’re looking for a president who believes in them,” Santorum concluded, before declaring that he was running for president.
Both the timing and the location of the speech were symbolic. He chose to announce on Monday, June 6, the anniversary of D-Day. According to a press release, the place is also “significant because it was where Senator Santorum’s grandfather settled in America after leaving Fascist Italy to work in the Pennsylvania coal mines until he was 72 years old. He chose America for the freedom our nation offered him.”