Soon-to-be GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney captured all five East Coast states that held primary voting contests on Tuesday, and delivered a major speech in which he accused President Obama of making America a worse place to live in than before he took office.
In his speech, which he delivered in Manchester, New Hampshire, Romney told supporters to “Hold on a little longer. A better America begins tonight.”
“Tonight is the start of a new campaign to unite every American who knows in their heart that we can do better! The last few years have been the best that Barack Obama can do, but it’s not the best America can do!” Romney said. “Tonight is the beginning of the end of the disappointments of the Obama years and the start of a new and better chapter that we will write together.”
With resounding wins in Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Delaware, Romney solidified his grip on the race, and inched closer to the 1,144 delegates required to seel the nomination.
During his speech, the former Massachusetts Governor split time discussing how he became a successful businessman, and tearing down Obama’s record as president.
“Four years ago Barack Obama dazzled us in front of Greek columns with sweeping promises of hope and change,” Romney said. “But after we came down to earth, after the celebration and parades, what do we have to show for three and a half years of President Obama?”
Though he offered little in the way of policy prescriptions, Romney went big on rhetoric in an effort to distinguish his leadership style from Obama’s. He called himself a champion of limited government, and argued that the current president’s healthcare law will one day ruin America’s “free enterprise society.”
“I have a very different vision for America, and of our future,” he said. “It is an America driven by freedom, where free people, pursuing happiness in their own unique ways, create free enterprises that employ more and more Americans. Because there are so many enterprises that are succeeding, the competition for hard-working, educated and skilled employees is intense, and so wages and salaries rise. I see an America with a growing middle class, with rising standards of living. I see children even more successful than their parents – some successful even beyond their wildest dreams – and others congratulating them for their achievement, not attacking them for it.”
Though he’s still about 260 delegates away from officially clinching the nomination, Romney’s campaign has been operating in general election mode for the last several weeks. These days, his campaign is less about defeating his primary opponents, and more about figuring out who his running mate will be this Fall.
