The Contrast Is Fairly Clear

Today POLITICO Arena asks:

Was Romney able to deliver his best possible introduction to the American people?

My response:


In stark contrast to Obama, Romney’s plainly not comfortable tooting his own horn. He’ll stand out in Washington. Thus it fell to others last night to bring out his many good qualities, and they did it well.


But put the Romney and Ryan speeches together, as the Wall Street Journal does admirably this morning, then contrast that with what you hear from the Obama camp, and you get an equally stark picture of the differences between the two parties. As the Journal says, Obama’s single greatest flaw is that “he thinks economic growth can be ordered up by central planners. Tax more here, spend more there, regulate this or subsidize that, and prosperity will follow.”


Romney and Ryan know better. Prosperity comes from the bottom up—from free people pursuing their dreams, not from government planners. Our stagnant economy is no accident. Obama’s done all the wrong things. As the chant went last night, “He just doesn’t get it.”


The big question is whether enough Americans get it. These are not easy ideas to communicate through the fog of campaign rhetoric. But these last few days were a good start.