President Barack Obama essentially preached to the choir Thursday in what amounted to be a campaign speech at Cuyahoga County Community College, in Cleveland, Ohio.
President Obama, taking direct aim at presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, tried to frame the debate around two fundamentally different ways to grow the economy.
The president agrees with his opponent on one point: “This election presents a choice between two fundamentally different visions,” regarding job creation and sustaining economic growth.
He also blamed Republicans in Congress for the current “stalemate” in Washington and alluded to past Republican presidents who worked with Democrats to get things done “as Americans.”
President Obama also blasted his predecessor, President George W. Bush, for his “failure to pay for two foreign wars” and put trillions in tax cuts “on the nation’s credit card.”
But Romney, also campaigning in Ohio, spoke to a crowd 15 minutes before planned, beating the president to the podium.
Speaking from Cincinnati, Romney said President Obama is “long on words and short on action,” regarding the economy.
“Don’t forget, he’s been president for three and a half years. And talk is cheap. Actions speak very loud,” said Romney.
“I find it kind of ironic he is going to the Cleveland area,” said Sam Bain, chairman of the Ohio College Republicans. “He is spending his time in a liberal base, making empty promises and blown-up rhetoric.
“He can come to Ohio all he wants, but voters in the Buckeye State have seen economic improvement thanks to our governor’s reforms.”
President Obama must be in trouble if he feels the need to campaign in places that should be a Democratic stronghold, Bain said.
According to Bain, Ohio is a “purple state” most of the time, but the president’s campaigning is too little, too late in his state.
“I absolutely think Romney can win Ohio,” Bain said. I can’t tell you how many [younger] people have come to me, and told me ‘I am over that Obama fad.’ A lot of people who voted for him won’t be voting at all.”
