Romney’s Story Emerges at RNC Close

By JIM RILEY
For PotomacLocal.com 

WOODBRIDGE, Va. — Thursday night capped off a successful three-day Republican National Convention, with a speech from the party’s nominee businessman and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

The evening began with a moving tribute film to President Ronald Reagan that not only celebrated the man and his many achievements, but also served to highlight the stark contrast between him and the current occupant of the Oval Office who seems to be living by the motto of “What Would Ronald Reagan not Do?”

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush spoke shortly thereafter, accompanied by a teacher and a student who benefitted from the school choice reforms he put in place during his tenure in office. Bush noted that it had been nearly four years since President Obama assumed office and that real leaders would have assumed responsibility by now.

Finally, in the 10 p.m. hour, “mystery speaker” Clint Eastwood entered the stage to the music from his film, “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly” with a large graphic of him from that film right behind him and the crowd erupted wildly.

MORE TO THE STORY: See Jim’s convention floor interview with Prince William County Delegate Scott Lingamfelter on his run for Virginia Lt. Governor.

Some speculated that he might do something along the lines of his 2012 Super Bowl commercial, “half-time in America,” and how we can mount a comeback.

From his talk with an empty chair, Eastwood said “what do you want me to tell Romney? I can’t tell him to do that, he can’t do that to himself. You’re absolutely crazy. You’re getting as bad as Biden. Of course we all know that Biden is the intellect of the Democratic Party. Kind of a grin with a body behind it.”

Eastwood’s high point was when he said that when “someone doesn’t do the job, you’ve got to let them go.”

Last, but certainly not least, Romney accepted the GOP nomination for president. Entering the convention hall, he spent quite a bit of time greeting the Virginia delegation, which was seated right near the stage.

In a nearly 40-minute speech, he noted that today, for the first time in our nation’s history, people do not believe that their children will have a better life than they had. He finally opened up about himself — how his father never went to college and apprenticed as a plaster carpenter; that after his father succeeded in the automobile industry that he wanted to blaze his own path where he would know he had earned his success on his own; the challenges of raising five boys; and the importance of his faith.

He then gave the part of his speech that will be food for thought for many Americans:

“You know there is something wrong with the kind of job [Obama] has done as president when the best feeling you had was the day you voted for him. The president has not disappointed you because he wanted to. The president has disappointed America because he hasn’t lead America in the right direction. He took office without the basic qualification that most Americans have, and one that was essential to the task at hand. He had almost no experience working in a business. Jobs to him are about government”.

Overall, it was a speech that played very well in both the hall and from the accounts I have heard from those who watched it on television.

Jim Riley is the Southbridge Homeowners Association President and writes for VirginiaVirtucon.com.