Liberals created a firestorm of news with a leaked tape from a May Romney fundraiser and handed him the perfect opportunity, since everyone is now paying attention, to show Barack Obama as a man who wants a "government-centered society", vs Romney's vision of recovery rather than dependency.
Video below is part of the messaging from the RNC, titled "Redistribution".
[WATCH]
Via The Hill:
Mitt Romney's campaign released a new memo Wednesday charging that President Obama's vision for the country is one of a "government-centered society."
"Mitt Romney’s vision for America is an opportunity society, where free people and free enterprise thrive and success is admired and emulated, not attacked," Romney campaign manager Matt Rhoades writes in the Wednesday memo. "President Obama’s vision for America is a government-centered society, where government grows bigger and more active, occupying more of our everyday lives."
The memo highlights audio of Obama from 1998 saying that he believes in "redistribution."
"[T]he trick is figuring out, how do we structure government systems that pool resources and hence facilitate some redistribution, because I actually believe in redistribution, at least at a certain level to make sure everybody’s got a shot," Obama says in the clip.
By contrast, Rhoades continues in the memo, Romney "knows that we need to foster growth and create wealth, not redistribute wealth, if our economy is to grow the way it has in the past."
"Mitt Romney places his trust in the American people, not in government," Rhoades writes.
Following up on that message, Romney takes to the USA Today op-ed pages and explains that he will delivery recovery, not dependency.
Since our founding, America has promoted personal responsibility, the dignity of work and the value of education. Those values made our nation the hope of the earth and our economy the envy of the world.
Efforts that promote hard work and personal responsibility over government dependency make America strong. When the economy is growing and Americans are working, everyone involved has a shared sense of achievement, not to mention the basic sense of pride that comes with the paycheck they earn.However, over the past four years, those kinds of opportunities have been in short supply. We're experiencing the worst recovery since the Great Depression. Unemployment has been above 8% for 43 straight months; 47 million Americans are on food stamps. Nearly one in six Americans now live in poverty.Under President Obama, we have a stagnant economy that fosters government dependency. My policies will create a growing economy that fosters upward mobility.
I said yesterday that if Romney played this right, Liberals may have handed him this election and Romney seems to understand the door they opened from him and he is plowing right through it.
This comes as both Gallup and Rasmussen find Obama's convention bounce gone and report the race is again neck and neck, so it is time for Romney to close the deal. Tie his messages together and make the case to swing voters, Independents and centrists as to why he is the better choice going forward.
[Update] Related piece over at Wapo from Jennifer Rubin :"Romney finds his message for the final sprint"