Romney promises a jobs revival

Obama excitement has fizzled, he says

Mitt Romney celebrates after his acceptance speech Thursday night with his family and vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan.
Mitt Romney celebrates after his acceptance speech Thursday night with his family and vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan.

— Mitt Romney accepted the Republican presidential nomination Thursday by making a direct appeal to Americans who were captivated by President Barack Obama’s hopeful promises of change, pledging that he could deliver what the president did not and move the country from its worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

In his address on the closing night of the Republican National Convention, Romney asked voters to consider whether their lives had improved over the past four years and urged them not to feel guilty about giving up on Obama. He left little doubt about his chief argument against Obama in the fall, saying, “What America needs is jobs.”

But Romney not only delivered a forceful critique of Obama, he also used the marquee speech of his presidential campaign to make a case for himself, summoning people from each chapter of his life to paint a humanizing portrait in hopes of helping voters see him with a trusting eye. The effort underscored how Romney’s path to winning the White House reached well beyond Republican activists gathered in Tampa.

“If you felt that excitement when you voted for Barack Obama, shouldn’t you feel that way now that he’s President Obama?” Romney said. “You know there’s something wrong with the kind of job he’s done as president when the best feeling you had was the day you voted for him.”

With 67 days remaining before Election Day, the presidential race has been essentially locked in place, with each side hoping to win over a small slice of the electorate that is still undecided in fewer than a dozen states that are the leading battlegrounds across the country.

The speech loomed as arguably Romney’s most important since he began acting on his presidential aspirations nearly a decade ago. It was an opportunity to present himself to Americans who are just now beginning to tune in to this campaign and to make the case against Obama, particularly to the people who voted for him.

“I wish President Obama had succeeded because I want America to succeed, but his promises gave way to disappointment and division,” Romney said. “This isn’t something we have to accept. Now is the moment when we can do something.”

In the hours leading up to his speech at the Tampa Bay Times Forum, Romney’s life story unspooled before the Republican delegates. Personal testimonials were intended to reshape perceptions about Romney that have hardened after a negative television advertising campaign from the president and his Democratic allies. Business owners, longtime friends, Olympic athletes and members of his Mormon faith took the stage in an effort to humanize Romney.

Bob White, a business partner at Bain Capital and a longtime friend, took to the stage to testify that Romney was a decisive leader and conscientious investor.

“When things went wrong, we would not blame others,” White said. “He took decisive action. Mitt never hesitated. He made the tough decisions, coalesced the team, and moved forward.”

The stories were intended to help build a fuller picture of Romney, who has been reticent to talk about his faith or his charity works. The stories filled a long portion of the program, but it was not televised, so it remains an open question how successful the effort will be.

With the speech, Romney closed out his party’s convention and prepared for a quick shift of public attention to the Democrats, who will gather to formally nominate Obama to a second term next week in North Carolina.

The dynamics shaping the general election campaign, particularly the challenges facing Romney, came to life during the Republican convention and in his acceptance speech Thursday night. Improving his standing among female voters is critical to his chances for victory, advisers said, and Romney amplified a steady theme of messages aimed at women.

“When my mom ran for the Senate, my dad was there for her every step of the way,” Romney said. “I can still hear her saying in her beautiful voice, ‘Why should women have any less say than men, about the great decisions facing our nation?’”

A party that has struggled to increase its appeal to female, Hispanic and black voters featured a diverse lineup of speakers throughout the week, concluding with Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, who introduced Romney on Thursday evening. A favorite of Tea Party activists, Rubio embraced Romney as the right leader for the moment.

Former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida received booming applause when he delivered a direct message to the president Thursday evening, saying: “It is time to stop blaming your predecessor for your failed economic policies.”

The Republican convention was teeming with excitement and optimism at the prospect of defeating Obama in November. The strong dissatisfaction with Obama helped swiftly push Republicans to rally behind Romney, who was long viewed with suspicion by many party activists over his evolving views on abortion and other social issues.

Romney is inheriting a party that is in generational and ideological transition — and that does not hold the affection for its presidential nominee that it did for, say, Ronald Reagan or George W. Bush.

The Republican Party is increasingly dominated by Tea Party conservatives who are pushing a platform of deep cuts in the size of government and for whom opposition to abortion rights and homosexual rights are almost consensus positions. But it is also dominated by divisions over tactics, as many Tea Party activists have rejected the politics of compromise that had been the way of life for many establishment Republicans.

Romney, speaking to an audience beyond the one inside the convention hall, sought to use the moment to rise above the bitter political sniping that has characterized much of the presidential campaign.

“The time has come for us to put the disappointments of the last four years behind us,” Romney said, “To put aside the divisiveness and the recriminations.”

Romney offered no new information on what has so far been a short-on-details pledge to reduce federal deficits and create 12 million jobs in a country where unemployment stands at 8.3 percent.

Romney would have to nearly double the current, anemic pace of job growth to achieve 12 million jobs over four years. That’s conceivable in a healthy economy. Moody’s Analytics, a financial research operation, expects nearly that many jobs to return in four years no matter who occupies the White House, absent further economic setbacks.

Clint Eastwood, the actor, director and former mayor, offered an odd, rambling endorsement of Romney on Thursday by pretending to have an off-color conversation with an imaginary Obama sitting by his side in an empty chair.

“Mr. President, how do you handle promises that you made when you were running for election?” the onetime Dirty Harry said, mumbling to a befuddled crowd of thousands in the convention hall and millions of television viewers.

As thousands of “OMG!” Tweets started flying, Eastwood, 82, asked the invisible Obama why he had not closed the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

“What do you mean shut up?” he said, continuing to talk to his imaginary companion. A moment later, he stopped again, saying, “What do you want me to tell Mr. Romney?”

“I can’t tell him that. He can’t do that to himself,” Eastwood said. “You’re getting as bad as [Vice President Joe] Biden.”

Eastwood had not been announced in advance, listed instead as a mystery speaker. All day, convention organizers had refused to confirm rumors that the “to be announced” speaker on the schedule would be the gravel-voiced former mayor of Carmel, Calif., saying it would spoil the surprise.

After speaking for much longer than expected — as indicated by the urgently flashing red light at the back of the room — Eastwood gave in to the urging from the crowd to say his famous line.

“Go ahead,” he said, and the crowd chanted, “Make my day!”

“A great night for Mitt Romney just got sidetracked by Clint Eastwood,” said former Republican Rep. Joe Scarborough in a Twitter message. “Wow. That was bad.”

Information for this article was contributed by Michael D. Shear, Adam Nagourney and Jonathan Weisman of The New York Times; by David Espo, Robert Furlow, Kasie Hunt, Steve Peoples, Philip Elliott, Beth Fouhy, Thomas Beaumont, Julie Mazziotta, Jennifer Agiesta and Cal Woodward of The Associated Press and by Mike Dorning of Bloomberg News.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 08/31/2012

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