Mitt Romney photo

Remarks at a Campaign Event in Painseville, Ohio

September 14, 2012

Ohio is committed, I'll tell you that. They're committed. [cheers and applause] I can't get over you guys standing out here in the rain. You are the best. Thank you so much. [cheers and applause]

I love Ohio. I love America. I love you guys. Thank you so much for welcoming me here today. [cheers]

Now, we come together in celebration as Americans and think about our future as a nation, but I also want you to know that in the last few moments, the bodies of four individuals who were killed in the service of our nation were brought back to the United States and welcomed home and placed in hearses. And one of the reasons that we delayed my coming out is I wanted to make sure and have my hand over my heart in recognition of these men and women.

Let me just remind you of their names. And you know the ambassador, Christopher Stevens, but there were three other individuals who were lost in that tragedy: Glen Doherty, Tyrone Woods and Sean Smith. And I'd ask that you might each place your hand over your heart in recognition of the blood shed for freedom by them and by other — our other sons and daughters who've lost their lives in the cause of America and the cause of liberty, and if we'll take a moment of silence together. (Moment of silence observed.) Thank you so much.

Thank you for the memories of great men and women who love this country and who serve this country. And whether on a day like this, where the sky seems to be crying as well, or whether on a beautiful and sunny day, we remember those who serve and provide us with the liberty that we enjoy and the prosperity and the freedoms that are so much a part of the American experience. I love America. I love what we stand for. I'm proud of America. [cheers and applause]

I have to tell you that this experience today reminds me a bit of a time when I was serving as the governor of my state and I got a call from the airport that one of the servicemen of our state had been killed and his remains were coming back to Massachusetts, and they had called his parents to ask them to come to the airport to receive his body. But they lived so far away, they couldn't get there in time to receive his remains, and they asked if I could go in their stead.

And so I went to the airport. We drove out on the tarmac, and this U.S. Air jet came in and all the passengers got off the aircraft, and then all the luggage came down the conveyor, and then finally a casket appeared and was brought down the conveyor. And as it was, I — I put my hand over my heart, and the state troopers who were there with me, they all went to attention and saluted, and of course the members of the armed forces who were receiving the casket and putting it in the hearse, they also stood at attention and saluted.

And I happened to glance up at the terminal — the U.S. Air terminal there. There's a big glass window, a big wall there at the terminal, where it seems that the people who had gotten off the airplane, they saw all the police out there, wondered what was going on, so they were all lined up against the glass. And then all the people walking down the halls, they saw the people lined up against the glass, so they crowded in behind them to see what was going on.

And as I looked up there, every single person I saw had their hand over their heart. We're a patriotic nation. We love this country. [cheers and applause] We love the men and women who serve in this country. [cheers and applause]

Now, we face real challenges, and I want to talk about some of the challenges we face here in Ohio and at home right now. This is not exactly the way things are supposed to be. We were promised a recovery, and we haven't seen that recovery yet. [boos] When the president took office four years ago, 32 million people were on food stamps. Today 47 million people are on food stamps, 15 million more people. That's more than the population of Ohio have been added to the food stamp rolls.

We were supposed to be at 5.4 percent unemployment by now under the president's recovery plan, but instead we stay above 8 percent.

And by the way, that difference is not just a couple of percentage points. That difference is 9 million families, 9 million Americans that would have jobs if we had 8 — 5.4 percent unemployment rate. There are today 23 million Americans out of work or stopped looking for work or underemployed.

This is a tough time. And even those people that have jobs, middle-income families are struggling, treading water at best, drowning at worst. You see right now that medium income in America has dropped by $4,300 a family, $4,300, even as the cost of health insurance has gone up, food's more expensive, utilities are more expensive, gasoline is doubled.

This recovery hasn't happened the way it was supposed to. And the reason we're going to get a new president in November is we're going to have a president who can get this economy going and put people back to work. [cheers and applause]

AUDIENCE MEMBERS: Mitt! Mitt! Mitt! Mitt! Mitt! Mitt! Mitt! Mitt! Mitt! Mitt! Mitt! Mitt! Mitt! Mitt! Mitt! Mitt! Mitt! Mitt! Mitt! Mitt! Mitt!

MR. ROMNEY: I was — I was surprised that in the president's speech at the Democrat convention, he didn't talk about unemployment. I — I was surprised that he — he didn't lay out a plan to get America working again. Instead, he promoted that — that slogan of theirs, forward. I think forewarned is a better term, all right? [cheers] I mean, if you like what you've seen in the last four years, than you can vote for the same guy, and you're going to see more of it, because if you re-elect President Obama, you're going to see in this nation chronic unemployment, no growth in take-home pay and, of course, fiscal crisis at the doorstep. If you elect me, we're going to get 12 million new jobs and more take-home pay. [cheers and applause]

I've got a plan, all right? Unlike the president, I have a plan. And my plan will create 12 million new jobs.

Let me tell you what it is. I — I put my hand up because there are five parts to it. [laughter]

Number one, we're going to get this economy going because we have an ace in the hole we haven't taken advantage of. Some people discovered a number of years ago that you could drill not just vertically into the earth, but vertically and then horizontally. And by doing so — (scattered cheers) — they tapped into pockets of gas and oil. I'm going to make sure we take advantage of our oil, our gas, our coal — [cheers and applause] — our nuclear, our renewables. We're going to get North American energy independence. [cheers and applause] And that preserves jobs, and it creates jobs, not just in the — in the — in the energy sector, but in manufacturing, because when we have abundant and low-cost energy, manufacturing will come back here.

And you say, well, how are going to get North American energy independence? Well, one, I'm going to make sure we drill offshore. I'm going to double the number of permits we give on federal lands and in federal waters. And I'm also going to make sure we drill ANWR. But I'm going to get that pipeline in from Canada, too. [cheers and applause]

Number two — energy is one; number two: Trade is good for us. We can sell goods around the world and services and compete with anybody. We have the best workers, the most productive workforce in the world. So I want more trade. But I also want you to understand that when nations cheat, when they don't follow the — the rules of fair trade, we're going to call them on the carpet. China's been cheating; we're going to stop it and save and create more American jobs. [cheers and applause]

China — I mean, this sounds like the kind of stuff they — they talk about in classrooms right — right here at Lake Erie College. But let me tell you, the — the — when a nation holds down the value of their currency, what it does is makes their goods much cheaper than they would otherwise be. And China's currency is held down such that their products are priced well below what they'd be priced if their currency were floating on a market.

And as a result of that, their goods are cheaper, and people buy their products, and American companies selling those products go out of business. We can't let that go on year after year after year. It's killing our jobs. And then when they take our patents and our designs and our know-hows and — know-how and they counterfeit our goods, it kills jobs. This cannot go on. I will call China a currency manipulator and stop them in their tracks from killing American jobs. [cheers and applause]

Number three — number one is energy. Number two is trade. Number three is making sure that our workers have the skills they need for the jobs of today with the right kind of training programs. And we've got to fix our schools. Look, our kids can't have a great future unless our schools are competitive. It's time for us to put the kids — the kids and the parents and the teachers first and the teachers union behind. [cheers and applause]

Number four, you're not going to get entrepreneurs to go out and start a little enterprise, risk their life savings to start a business, you're not going to get big companies to expand in America unless they realize that we are not headed to Greece. And what you see in this country right now is the spending year-in and year-out, now a trillion dollars more than we take in every year. When the president was sworn in office, we had about a $10 trillion debt. Today we have 16 trillion (dollars). Think of that. All the presidents before him added up to 10 trillion (dollars). In one term he's gotten us to 16 trillion (dollars). There will not be a second term. We can't afford him for a second term. [cheers and applause]

And number five, to get this economy really going, we have to make sure that we focus on that part of our economy that really creates jobs, and that's small business. I will champion small business and entrepreneurs. [cheers and applause]

The president wants to raise taxes on small business. I want to bring them down. He puts more regulation on small business. I want to make less regulation on small business. And I want to take that big cloud off of small business. It's killing jobs. I want to get rid of "Obamacare" and replace it with something that'll truly reform health care. [cheers and applause]

This country is going to come roaring back. Let me tell you: You do those five things that we create those 12 million jobs, you're going to see rising take-home pay again. You're going to have young people that come out of colleges like this that can actually get jobs. Today half the kids coming out of college can't find work or college-level work. This is — this is not the American experience, the American dream they planned.

The majority of Americans today are convinced that the future is dimmer than the past. That's unacceptable. That's not America. That's not the America we know.

What's happening to us is we're becoming Europe as the president makes us more and more like Europe with bigger and bigger government. He doesn't understand that what makes America such an economic powerhouse is the innovative, creative, dynamic spirit of the American people. He thinks government does it. It's people that do it. I will restore this freedom of the American people and get our economy growing by doing it. [cheers and applause]

I was — I was — I was honored to be able to — to meet the people of America over the past two years and continue to do so, even today, get the chance to say hi to people and learn about their lives. A lot of people have told me how tough things are for them. A lot of folks can't get health insurance; it's too expensive. A lot of people can't afford the kind of life they used to have, can't go to the movies and can't go out to dinner. They just can't afford it anymore. A lot of people having hard times.

A lot of folks are ready to really begin to rebuild our economy. I — I meet entrepreneurs of all kinds. I met a woman who has her own business. And I said, how did you get into business? She said, well, my husband lost his job, and he took a class in upholstering.

And she said, because I was a better business mind in the family, I decided to start a company. And she did. And she hired him as her first employee. (Laughter, cheers, applause.) And — and then she went on to hire 39 more people. She says she has 40 people who would do upholstering work. And she has a leading upholstery company. That's kind of the entrepreneurship of how this country works.

And then — then I met a guy in southern Illinois named Jim Liautaud. I know (sic) whether you know Jim. Jim — Jim graduated second in his class, second from the bottom, in high school. [laughter] And — [chuckles] — and he — he had this idea that because college wasn't likely to be part of his future, he instead went to his dad and said, can I get a loan, because I want to start a — a little restaurant business, hamburgers, hot dogs and the like. His dad agreed. They were going to split the business 50-50. Then Jim went out and started finding out how much it costs to get a hamburger griddle and those rollers that heat up the hot dogs and the hood that takes out the smoke. And he — he found out it cost a lot more money than he had. About the only thing he could do with the money he had was make sandwiches. So he set up some tables and made sandwiches, and then he delivered them to people at work. And now Jimmy John's has 1,500 restaurants and employs 60,00 people, all right? [cheers and applause]

Now, that's — that's how America works. That — that's individuals that have dreams and that begin enterprises and employ one another of our fellow Americans. That — that's — and now we — that's — that's the model I believe in. That's the model I want to restore.

The president believes in having a government put money out into — into companies. He put $90 billion into solar and wind and green energy companies. [boos] He — he's picking winners and losers, or actually, in his case, picking losers, all right? [laughter] I mean, it's not just that they go bankrupt. He doesn't understand that the market, where free people pursuing dreams and working to take their ideas to the marketplace — that's what makes America go, not a government that tries to pick investments and — and — and guide the market for us.

Look, I believe in freedom. I believe in the American experience. I believe that when the — the founders of this nation, when they said that we had our rights, they said they did not come from the king or the government; they came from God, and among them — [cheers and applause] — and among them were life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We're free in this nation to pursue happiness as we choose. And some extraordinary people have pursued happiness in such a way that they've invented products and started enterprises that employ us.

And the right course for America is not to crush them or denigrate them or divide America between those who've been highly successful and those that simply look on success with admiration and hope for themselves and their families. We don't want to divide America; we want to unite America, encourage success, encourage risk-taking, encourage new enterprise. And we'll put America to work. [cheers and applause]

AUDIENCE MEMBERS: [chanting] USA! USA! USA! USA!

MR. ROMNEY: You guys, you are great. Let me tell you, I am so excited about our future. I have to tell you, I am convinced that if we do the things I described — and by the way, I didn't learn those things out of a schoolbook, all right, those five steps. I didn't learn those things talking about them at a meeting. Those are things I have lived by having worked in the private sector for 25 years. I understand how America works. [cheers and applause]

And I understand how important it is for America to be strong. I know what we have to do in terms of growing our — our principles and values, growing our economy and making sure our military is second to none. I will not cut American military. [cheers and applause]

I love this country. And you guys do too. I know that your — your being out here today, you're not doing this just because I have a great speech, all right. [laughter]

You're doing this because you care very deeply about the country.

And I'm just — I just want you to know I love this country too, and it's coming back. The work that you're going to do — I have one thing I want to ask of you. I want you to find one person who voted for Barack Obama — shouldn't be impossible — you know two, you know two already — find one or two of them and make sure they understand that if they want to have better jobs and more take-home pay and a more prosperous future for their kids, they need to get behind this campaign. Help bring people to the polls that will vote for the change in Washington that America deserves. [cheers and applause]

I'm — we're going to get — we're going to get there. We're going to take a step forward today, even in the rain. We're taking a step forward. We're going to show people we care enough to be out in this rain. We care enough to work hard. We care enough to knock on doors and make calls and get friend to support change, real change that will get America working again.

This is the day we're taking a step forward. I'm taking it with you. We're taking back America. We're coming back. We're going to be strong. [cheers and applause] We're going to help the American people have a bright future. Our kids are going to love what you do today.

Thank you so very much! Thank you! [cheers and applause]

Mitt Romney, Remarks at a Campaign Event in Painseville, Ohio Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/315907

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