Headlining The Defending the American Dream Summit this past weekend in D.C were congressmen, CEOs, political activists, notable bloggers, talk show hosts and presidential candidates. One speech, however, stood out not just for its content but for the surprising reaction it got from the crowd.
When Americans for Prosperity’s president introduced Mitt Romney, the room filled with light applause and audible groans. By the end of Romney’s speech, three standing ovations later, people were cheering. I could not shake the feeling that I had just listened to my next president.
I am a Romney skeptic. Romney’s Massachusetts health care law, Romneycare, is far from conservative. Forcing people to purchase a product is not the way to get people off the government dole. Even worse are Romney’s flip-flops. He’s flip-flopped on abortion and gay marriage, but the one thing he should have flip-flopped on — Romneycare — he defends.
That said, the rest of his record sounds pretty darn good. Romney helped start Staples in an old warehouse. He took an Olympic committee that was millions of dollars in debt and turned it into a profit-generating enterprise, leaving behind a $100 million endowment. He took a state with a $3 billion deficit and left it with a $2 billion surplus. We could use a little bit of that expertise in Washington now. It is this record that will win him the election.
The speech was substantive. It didn’t thrill like Sarah Palin’s 2008 convention speech, but it was energetic and inspiring nonetheless. Romney doesn’t excite me the same way Gary Johnson’s record or Ron Paul’s platform do (ineloquent though he is, no one would cut a budget like Paul), and he isn’t as witty as Gingrich or as humorous as Cain. But Mitt Romney knew what he was talking about last Friday. He spelled out a great plan that included specific cuts and entitlement reforms. It was a breath of fresh air. He will raise the eligibility age for Social Security for people my age. He’ll privatize Amtrak, scrap Obamacare, reduce the federal workforce by 10%, bring discretionary spending back to 2008 levels and introduce market principles into Medicare. As he put it, “The future of Medicare should be marked by competition, by choice and by innovation, rather than by bureaucracy, stagnation and bankruptcy.”
Paul Ryan would be proud. Romney should go further once in office — I want an opt-out on entitlements and, for that matter, an opt-out on the TSA — but he first has to win an election in a country addicted to government. Get rid of a few agencies and privatize Social Security, Mitt, and even Ron Paul supporters might jump on board for 2016.
Finally, not least important, Romney left the impression that “amateur time” is over. He came across as intelligent, knowledgeable and competent. It has been a long time since conservatives haven’t had to defend our guy’s intelligence, but that time may come soon; Romney is dripping with it. His smarts are undeniable, even to the leftists who will smear him on everything else.
So, am I really excited about having Romney as my next president? Is he really as good as he came across, or was I duped by a professional orator? In the end, it may not matter. If our choice is between Romney and a community organizer whose resume consists of weakening the Constitution and driving up the national debt, it will be an easy choice to make.
Rick Corbett is a native of Florida. He enjoys learning languages, eating vegan food and saving the world from big government.
