Obama Says Americans “Lazy”, Romney Disagrees, Speaks to SC Workers (AUDIO)

We’ve been a litle bit lazy over the last couple of decades.” ~ Barack Obama speaking to CEOs at annual APEC meeting in Hawaii. Nov 12, 2011

Mitt Romney strongly disagrees with President Obama’s questionable campaign messaging that we Americans are ‘lazy’, have ‘lost our ambition’, and have become ‘soft’.

Workers at Colite International, an international sign-producing company in Columbia, South Carolina, heard Romney’s strong objections to Obama’s new campaign meme yesterday when he and wife, Ann, toured the facility.

Romney was introduced to employees by wife, Ann:

“We need a leader who knows how to turn things around,” she said. “Mitt’s a turnaround guy.”

It was that simple exchange, their well-worn lines about being high school sweethearts and the details about their five children and 16 grandchildren that allowed Justin Mims to see the former Massachusetts governor as more than a two-dimensional political candidate.

Mims, a junior economics major at the University of South Carolina, said Romney seems to be a family man, and he likes that.

After the introduction from his wife at Colite International, Romney jumped into all the missteps he said President Barack Obama has made. Romney said they include the $787 billion federal stimulus package, cap-and-trade legislation, new regulations on the banking and finance industry, the federal health care law and appointing pro-union “stooges” to the National Labor Relations Board.

As president, Romney said he would repeal the heath care law signed by Obama in 2010, cut the federal workforce by 10 percent through attrition, and hand over control of Medicaid to states, among other measures he said would restore America to a “job-creating machine” and cut spending.
[…]
Mims was one of several college students and new graduates who came out to support Romney. Matt Mancini, a 23-year-old new University of South Carolina graduate, said he likes that Romney comes from a business background. Romney’s plan to downsize the government is something that will bring him a lot of support in South Carolina, Mancini said.

The White House hopeful spoke for about 15 minutes and was swarmed afterward by the press and supporters. He signed signs and bumper stickers and posed for pictures before heading off to the next stop on the campaign trail.

(emphasis added )

A few highlights from Romney’s excellent speech (no teleprompter needed):

“The things we make per person in America exceeds that of any other country in the world.”

“Our problem is not that the private sector isn’t productive enough. The problem is the government sector is too heavy and too burdensome and is keeping the private sector from growing and thriving like it should.”

“President Obama doesn’t understand it is NOT government that makes America strong. It is the free people of America that provide our future and our strength.”

American workers deserve a number of rights:
1. Right to a secret ballot
2. Right to at least 30 days notice before a union election
3. Right to work in a non-union state
4. Right to know if they are members of a union, they shouldn’t have dues taken out their paycheck to go to politicians they disagree with.

Listen to Romney’s complete speech (13:36):

Poll after poll in South Carolina reveals Romney in first or second place. A few days before his visit to Colite Intl, The Gov was in Mauldin, SC where he held a roundtable for veterans and he recently participated in the GOP debate in Spartanburg.

Here’s more on Obama’s attempts to draw attention away from his miserable job performance by claiming that we’re lazy Americans…

President Obama calls Americans “lazy,” blaming them for the bad economy:

“For the second time in as many months, President Obama has taken the nation that elected him president to task for its own lackadaisical economic performance on the global stage. Obama told a group of CEOs today that the United States has gotten ‘lazy’ and that America lost its hunger in promoting itself in a global marketplace. ‘We’ve been a little bit lazy over the last couple of decades. We’ve kind of taken for granted — “Well, people would want to come here” — and we aren’t out there hungry, selling America and trying to attract new businesses into America,’ he told the CEOs who are gathered on the sidelines of the annual Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings, which the United States is hosting this year in Hawaii.” (Jon Garcia, “President Obama To CEOs: ‘We’ve Been A Bit Lazy’,” ABC News, 11/12/11)

Obama blames America first:

“We’ve Lost Our Ambition, Our Imagination…” “At an Oct. 25 fundraiser in San Francisco Obama told donors that Americans need to rediscover the ingenuity of the past. He said, ‘We’ve lost our ambition, our imagination, and our willingness to do the things that built the Golden Gate Bridge andHoover Dam and unleashed all the potential in this country.’” (Kate Andersen Brower, “Obama Says Most Millionaires Willing to Pay Higher Taxes, Urges Jobs Plan,Bloomberg, 10/29/11)

Obama: The United States “had gotten a little soft” and lost its “competitive edge.”

“‘There are a lot of things we can do,’ Obama then said. ‘The way I think about it is, this is a great, great country that had gotten a little soft and we didn’t have that same competitive edge that we needed over the last couple of decades. We need to get back on track.’” (David Jackson, “Obama: U.S. ‘Had Gotten A Little Soft’,” USA Today, 9/30/11)

Obama: Our faith in America has been “shaken… over the last couple of decades.” PRES. OBAMA:

”Most of the people in this room, many of our parents, our grandparents — we grew up with a faith in an America where hard work and responsibility paid off… Over the last decade — over the last couple of decades, that faith was shaken. Seemed as if the world’s changed. The deck kept getting stacked against middle-class Americans, and nobody inWashington seemed willing or able to do anything about it.” (President Obama, Campaign Event, 9/21/11)

FLASHBACK – President Carter’s infamous malaise speech – “We Are Losing Our Confidence In The Future.” Pres. Carter:

“We’ve always had a faith that the days of our children would be better than our own. Our people are losing that faith, not only in government itself but in the ability as citizens to serve as the ultimate rulers and shapers of our democracy. As a people we know our past and we are proud of it. Our progress has been part of the living history of America, even the world. We always believed that we were part of a great movement of humanity itself called democracy, involved in the search for freedom, and that belief has always strengthened us in our purpose. But just as we are losing our confidence in the future, we are also beginning to close the door on our past.” (President Jimmy Carter, Speech, 7/15/79)

All this from our Vacationer-in-Chief…

► Jayde Wyatt