Romney's Closing Argument: 'Real Change, Big Change'

On the day President Barack Obama gives an interview to MTV, Mitt Romney will make his “closing argument” speech in Ames, Iowa on Friday, detailing his vision for the future of the country.

Romney will declare that this is an election of “consequence,” a choice between “going forward with the same policies of the last for years” and choosing “real,” “big change” that offers a promise “that the future will be better than the past.” 

Romney will also lay out his agenda for his potential administration and highlight the types of people and families that have the most at stake in this election.

“Four years ago, candidate Obama spoke to the scale of the times,” Romney will say. “Today, he shrinks from it, trying instead to distract our attention from the biggest issues to the smallest–from characters on Sesame Street and silly word games to misdirected personal attacks he knows are false.” 

To get America back on track, Romney will argue that what is required is “change from the course of the last four years.”

“It requires that we put aside the small and the petty, and demand the scale of change we deserve: we need real change, big change,” Romney will say. 

Romney will say this election matters “to the senior who needs to get an appointment with a medical specialist but is told by one receptionist after another that the doctor isn’t taking any new Medicare patients, because Medicare has been slashed to pay for Obamacare.”

And “to the man from Waukesha, Wisconsin I spoke with several days ago, in what were supposed to be his best work years. He said that he used to have a job at $25 an hour with benefits and now has one at $8 an hour, without benefits.”

And “to the college student, graduating this spring, with 10 to 20 thousand dollars in student debt, who now learns that she also will be paying for 50 thousand dollars in government debt, a burden that will put the American Dream beyond her reach.”

And for “for the child in a failing school, unable to go to the school of his parent’s choosing, because the teacher’s union that funds the President’s campaign opposes school choice.”

He will say while Obama’s campaign slogan is “forward,” the last four years have felt more like “backward” to the 23 million Americans “struggling to find a good job,” and Americans “cannot afford four more years like the last four years.”

Romney will remind Americans that in four presidential and vice-presidential debates, Obama did not lay out a plan or agenda for dealing with America’s challenges. Instead, Obama called for raising more taxes, asking for more stimulus, and cutting a trillion dollars from the military. 

“A new stimulus, three years after the recession officially ended, may spare government, but it will not stimulate the private sector any better than did the stimulus of four years ago,” Romney will say. “And cutting one trillion dollars from the military will kill jobs and devastate our national defense.”

Romney will also lay out his agenda should he and Paul Ryan get elected. Romney will vow he and Ryan will “endeavor with all our hearts and energy to restore America.”

“Instead of more spending, more borrowing from China and higher taxes from Washington, we’ll renew our faith in the power of free people pursuing their dreams,” Romney will say. “We’ll start with our plan for a stronger middle class… [and] take responsibility to solve the big problems that everyone agrees can’t wait any longer.”

Romney will promise to save and secure Medicare and Social Security for all generations, restore the “$716 billion President Obama has taken from Medicare to pay for his vaunted Obamacare,” and reform “healthcare to tame the growth in its cost, to provide for those with pre-existing conditions, and to assure that every American has access to healthcare.”

Romney will argue he has had a track record of leading in business, at the Olympics, and as governor of Massachusetts, and he will focus on how he worked with Democrats in Massachusetts to solve problems. He will contrast this with Obama, who has failed to reach out to his Republican counterparts in Washington, acknowledging to Univision he could not change Washington from the inside. 

“Good Democrats can come together with good Republicans to solve big problems,” Romney will say. “What we need is leadership. “

Romney will note the big challenges the country faces can also be viewed as opportunities, and “if we seize the moment and rise to the occasion, the century ahead will be an American Century.”

In order for that to happen, Romney will argue that change is needed. And his campaign, he will note, has been about “confronting the problems that politicians have avoided for over a decade, revitalizing our competitive economy, modernizing our education, restoring our founding principles.” 

“This is not the time to double down on the trickle-down government policies that have failed us; it is time for new, bold changes that measure up to the moment, that can bring America’s families the certainty that the future will be better than the past,” Romney will say.