A Romney message that can resonate

John Podhoretz:

...

“Americans,” the de facto Republican nominee said, “are tired of being tired.”He addressed himself not only to the unemployed but to the American workforce, noting “many of those who are fortunate enough to have a job are working harder for less.” 

He mentioned the “single mom who feels heartbroken when she has to explain to her kids that she needs to take a second job,” and “grandparents who can’t afford the gas to visit their grandchildren.” He spoke of “the mom and dad who never thought they’d be on food stamps” and “the small business owner desperately cutting back just to keep the doors open one more month.” 

We are “eternal optimists,” he said, “but over the last 3 1/2 years, we have seen hopes and dreams diminished by false promises and weak leadership.” 

He was making a crucial distinction here — a distinction vital to his effort to make the election a referendum on the condition of the United States under Barack Obama, which is the only way he will win. 

He was saying the fault lies not with the public’s choice of Barack Obama in 2008 but with Obama’s failure to keep the promises he had made to us all then.
...Romney went on to refine his key ideological case against Obama. “Government is at the center of his vision,” he said. And if that vision is fulfilled, “our lives will be ruled by bureaucrats and boards, commissions and czars . . . It erodes freedom. It deadens the entrepreneurial spirit. And it hurts the very people it’s supposed to help.” 

Romney then offered a contrasting vision of “an America driven by freedom, where free people, pursuing happiness in their own unique ways, create free enterprises that employ more and more Americans . . . We will restore the promise of America only if we restore the principles of freedom and opportunity that made America the greatest nation on earth.”

Romney is using a tone that is smart and will appeal to many Americans who are not traditionally Republican voters.   The speech had many good elements.  I am not sure how many voters who are not already supporting him heard it, but it is a message he will get out in the coming days.