Portman's RNC Speech: Romney Creates Wealth, Obama Redistributes It

Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) highlighted Gov. Mitt Romney’s ability to create capital and juxtaposed it with Barack Obama’s intention to redistribute it in his speech to the RNC.

Portman opened his Wednesday address to the GOP convention in Tampa by telling listeners he wanted to highlight fundamental differences between Romney and Obama. These differences included Romney’s private sector success vs. Obama’s inexperience in the private sector, then Romney’s belief that “success comes from working hard” vs. Obama’s belief that “success comes from government.” 

Portman spoke of how Romney had a plan for his business in the private sector, and that plan brought him great success. Through that experience, Romney’s bolstered his understanding that getting government out of the way of innovators, risk-takers, and investors is a necessity. 

On the other hand, Obama, having never worked in the private sector, has spent his first term in office pushing a top-down, government-managed solution that has placed regulation and bureaucracy in the way of innovators, risk-takers, and investors, and this has not resulted in success but failure.

Yet throughout this election cycle, Democrats have demonized Romney’s success while refusing to take ownership of Obama’s utter failure. They have criticized Romney’s economic plan while failing to offer up one of their own. And on a personal level, Obama has simply continued to point fingers at others when asked what his plan might be. But as Portman pointed out, “Blaming others does not qualify as a plan.”

Portman said it best when he said it thus: Romney creates wealth, Obama redistributes it.