Remarks at a Campaign Event in Sarasota, Florida

Thank you! Thank you! Wow, you guys are fabulous! Thank you! Thank you! What a welcome! What a Sarasota welcome! Thank you! (Sustained cheers, applause.)

AUDIENCE MEMBERS: [chanting] Mitt! Mitt! Mitt! Mitt! Mitt! Mitt! Mitt! Mitt!

MR. ROMNEY: Oh, thank you so much. What a welcome.

AUDIENCE MEMBERS: [chanting] Mitt! Mitt! Mitt! Mitt! Mitt! Mitt! Mitt! Mitt!

MR. ROMNEY: It warms my heart, and I know you're warm. Thank you for braving the heat and joining me today. We're going to take back America, keep America strong. [cheers and applause]

Now, this is a critical election. You know that. This is a decision about the soul of America. That's why you're here. This is not about a person or a party; it's about America; it's about the country which is the hope of the earth. We're going to keep it strong and restore America's greatness. [cheers and applause]

Now, I know that the people of America have a choice. They can choose the current incumbent. He represents the status quo. If we re-elect Barack Obama, you know exactly what we're going to see. Outside — [booing] — outside there were some protesters. I love a few protesters, not too many but a few. [cheers] And — [chuckles] — and they had signs that said "four more years," chanting "four more years." I guess the question — if I'd had had a little time with them, I'd have said, do you really want four more years where only half of college graduates can get a job or a job consistent with a college degree? (Jeers.) Do you want four more years with 23 million people out of work or underemployed?

AUDIENCE MEMBERS: No!

MR. ROMNEY: Do you want four more years where incomes go down every single year?

AUDIENCE MEMBERS: No!

MR. ROMNEY: You want four more years with gasoline prices doubling?

AUDIENCE MEMBERS: No!

MR. ROMNEY: Do you want four more years with unemployment above 8 percent?

AUDIENCE MEMBERS: No!

MR. ROMNEY: That's why the American people are going to vote for real change in November, and we're going to take back this country and get it on track to greatness again. [cheers and applause]

Now, when it comes to the economy, the president has already thrown in the white flag of surrender. He said that with regards to his first four years, why, he gets an incomplete. And as you understand, when you get an incomplete, it means you have to take the course over again. And in this case, we're not going to let him take the course over again. We're going to get someone new to guide this country. [cheers and applause]

Now, the country faces major challenges. You know that we face massive debt, trillion-dollar deficits.

We face a Washington that's broken, that can't get the job done.

The president today threw in the white flag of surrender again. He said he can't change Washington from the inside; he can only change it from inside. Well, we're going to give him that chance in November. He's going outside. [cheers and applause]

I can change Washington. I will change Washington. We'll get the job done from the inside. Republicans and Democrats will come together. He can't do it. His slogan was yes, we can. His slogan now is no, I can't. This is time for a new president. [cheers and applause]

He went from the president of change to the president who can't get change. And the American people understand it. I couldn't believe it when I heard him today — or heard about it. I didn't actually hear it by his own voice, but I heard it from the reports that came out, and they said the president of the United States says he can't change Washington from the inside. Ain't that amazing? (Mild laughter.)

No wonder he's hard such a hard time over these last four years. His first two years, he had a Democrat House, Democrat Senate. He got to do whatever the heck he wanted to. But he says he can't change it from the inside. Well, I will. I'll get the job done. We'll change Washington. [cheers and applause] We'll restore the economic strength we need to put people back to work.

Now, there is something that he did put in place from the inside. And I hope people right here understand how bad news this thing is. He put in place something called "Obamacare." [boos] And there a couple of features of "Obamacare" I hope the people of Florida understand. One is he had to find some way to pay for it. The rules in Washington are such that if you add something that costs a lot more money, and "Obamacare" does, you got to find a way to pay for it. So he raised taxes by $500 billion.

But then this — I hope the people of Florida understand this — he cut Medicare by $716 billion.

[boos] And if I'm president of the United States, we're going to put that $716 billion back into Medicare — [cheers and applause] — back into the care of our seniors.

That $716 billion represents $1.4 billion in Sarasota County alone. Think of that. And what it means — the — the Medicare actuary and the Medicare trustees looked at what's going to happen by virtue of this $716 billion cut to Medicare. What they say it's going to do is that about 4 million people who have Medicare Advantage are going to lose it. And in addition, about 15 percent of America's hospitals and nursing homes will stop taking new Medicare patients.

What he has done to Medicare to pay for "Obamacare" is wrong. I will reverse it. I will save Medicare and protect for our seniors of today — [cheers and applause] — and our seniors of tomorrow.

And so with all the challenges we face in our economy, with all the chase — challenges we face around the world, the president came to give the address to the American people at his convention in Charlotte and — and — and I expected him to lay out a vision to describe his plan for getting America working again. Perhaps there'd have been two steps or five steps or some ideas. In fact, after his long speech was finished, there was no plan. He has no plan to make Washington work. He says he can't change it from the inside. He has no plan to get our economy working again.

Well, I have a plan. I have five steps that are going to get this economy going, create 12 million new jobs — [cheers and applause] — save Medicare and get our incomes rising again. [cheers and applause]

There are five things, and you've probably heard them by now. If you haven't, I want you to learn them.

Number one, to get his economy going in a big hurry, immediately, we're going to take advantage of our energy resources, our coal, our gas — [cheers and applause] — our nuclear, our renewables.

[cheers] We're going to rebuild America's energy economy. [cheers and applause]

AUDIENCE MEMBERS: [chanting] USA! USA! USA! USA!

MR. ROMNEY: And secondly — and number two, to get this economy going, we believe in the USA. We believe in the ability of American men and women to compete. We're going to open up trade around the world, and we're going to crack down on China or any other nation in trade when they cheat. [cheers and applause]

Number three, we're going to give our workers the skills they need to succeed and make sure our kids are getting the education they need to succeed. For that to happen, it's time for us to put the kids first, the teachers up there with them, the parents, and put the teachers union behind. [cheers and applause]

You know, in a lot of respects, Florida is a model for the nation when it comes to education. Under Jeb Bush — what a terrific governor. [cheers and applause] Under — under Jeb Bush, you began grading your schools A through F so parents could see which — which schools were succeeding and failing. And then if a school was failing, the child was able to go from that school to a school of their choice. I will do that for the nation by saying all federal dollars in education are attached to the child, and those dollars can go with the child to the school of his parents' choice. [cheers and applause]

Number — number four — number four, we're not going to get entrepreneurs to risk their life savings to start a business or — or big companies to expand in America unless they know we're not on the road to Greece.

And we can't keep spending a trillion dollars more than we take in every year, or we'll be Greece at some point. I will not let that happen. [cheers and applause]

And so I'll finally cut spending. I'm going to cut spending. I'm going to cap spending as a percentage of the economy and get America on track to have a balanced budget. [cheers and applause]

Look, I hope — I mean, this is a group of people that have balanced their checkbooks for a long time. I hope you understand that what's going on in Washington is not just bad economics, it's also immoral. I think it's — I think it's wrong for my generation to pass on trillion dollars of debt to the coming generation. I'll get America on track to a balanced budget and restore the kind of discipline we ought to have in Washington. [cheers and applause]

And number five — number five — if you want to see jobs really take off in this country, we're going to have to the number of — all five of these things. And the first one was energy. The second one was making sure that we have trade that works for us and cracking down on cheaters. The third was to make sure that we have the skills for our current workers and for young people they need to succeed. The fourth was to get us on track to a balanced budget. And number five is to champion small business. That's where jobs come from. [cheers and applause]

You know, I was with — I was with an entrepreneur in the electronics industry in St. Louis. He has four employees, small business. And he said that he and his son sat down and calculated how much tax they paid at the government and how much that is as a — as a percentage of their total profit as an enterprise. And he said they looked at their federal income tax and the federal payroll tax and the state income tax and the state sales tax and the real estate tax and the gasoline tax, and by the time they got finished adding up all their taxes, they realized that over half of everything they make is going to government.

Now, in a setting like that — [booing] — what I want to do is bring the tax rates down so small business is able to keep more of its money so it can hire more people. But the president — [cheers and applause] — the president's plan is for a million small businesses to raise taxes, to take it from 35 percent to 40 percent. That's the federal income tax. I will not let that happen because jobs is my priority. [cheers and applause]

And then you have all those Washington bureaucrats and regulators that think their job is to crush business. Look, a lot of you have had the chance of working in business. A lot of you work in businesses today. That's where your jobs come from. Time and time again the people across America tell me that they feel that their businesses are being crushed by government. The regulators are making it harder for them to carry out their enterprise.

I can tell you this: We have to catch the bad guys, but we also have to make sure regulators encourage the good guys. I will encourage small business, and I'll start off by telling small-business people, you did build it. [cheers and applause]

I think a lot of us were really surprised when the president in Roanoke a few weeks ago stood up and said, you know, if you have a business, you didn't build that; someone else did that. [boos] And I think the reason he said that was it laid the groundwork for his philosophy. His political philosophy is one of redistribution, the idea — [booing] — the idea being that the role of government is to take from some people and to give to others.

Now, I'm not talking about people in need, of course. We always care. Americans are big-hearted, compassionate people. We care for those in need. But the idea — [cheers and applause] — but the idea of redistribution, which is, we're going to take wealth from some and redistribute it to others, that's a foreign concept that's never been part of the American experience.

This is a land where economic freedom has allowed people to pursue their dreams, and in doing so and achieving success, they lift us a nation, they give us jobs. I will not apologize for success here, and I will never apologize for America abroad. (Cheers, applause, chanting.)

What you have today is a president who believes in cutting Medicare by $716 billion. What you have today is a president who believes in redistribution as a political and economic philosophy. What you have today is a president who says he can't fix Washington from the inside. It's time to get a president who understands what it takes to get America working again, and I do. [cheers and applause]

The question is whether America's going to become like Europe or, I joking say — [booing] — or like California. [boos]

Look, we don't want a government that gets larger and larger and larger, that takes more and more away from and borrows more and more from China and others, and passes those burdens on to the next generation. This is not the America that we know. That will not create the jobs and the rising incomes the American people deserve. I don't want to transform America into something we wouldn't recognize. I want to restore to America the principles that made America the hope of the earth. [cheers and applause]

AUDIENCE MEMBER: We want you!

MR. ROMNEY: I was in — I was in Poland a few weeks ago, and I had the chance to meet one of the world's heroes, Lech Walesa. [cheers and applause] And I — I came in to — to see him, and he looked at me, and he said, you came across the ocean from America; you must be tired.

You sit. I'll talk. You listen. [laughter] And so I did.

And — and he began to speak. And he said this, he said, where is American leadership? America is the world's only superpower. We need American leadership. [cheers and applause] This essential for the world. It's essential for us. We need an America that's strong, with strong families and strong values. We need to restore our conviction that the founders were right when they said that our rights came from God, not from government. [cheers and applause]

We need to restore our commitment to life and to liberty and our recognition that the pursuit of happiness — that means individuals pursuing their dreams — that that pursuit is what drives our economy. Our economy is driven by freedom, not by government. Freedom must be restored to build a stronger economy. [cheers and applause]

AUDIENCE MEMBER: USA!

MR. ROMNEY: And so for an America to remain strong, it begins with that foundation of conviction in our principles, certainty that our cause is just. And then it moves on to making sure we have an economy second to none in the world, growing, putting people to work, welcoming people from around the world, coming here legally to take advantage of the American dream.

And then number three, not just strong homes and principles and a strong economy, but a military so strong no one would ever think of testing it. [cheers and applause] I love America's military. I love our men and women who serve in our military and who have served in our military. [cheers and applause]

One more thing this president has proposed, and that is that the combination of the sequester idea that came from the White House and — which is cutting our military by hundreds of billions of dollars in his own budget — [booing] — which cuts our military by hundreds of billions of dollars.

He would cut our military by a trillion dollars over this decade. I will not cut America's military. We must remain strong. [cheers and applause]

I want to recognize the men and women who serve or who have served in America's armed forces. Would you please raise your hand? [cheers and applause] Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. These are America's best. Thank you. We love you. We appreciate. You are heroes proved in liberating strife who more than self your country loved and mercy more than life.

We appreciate the strength of our military. I will keep America's military strong. I will get our economy to be the powerhouse it must be to make sure we can have a strong military. I will fight to preserve the values of freedom and opportunity that made America the nation that it is. And I can tell you this: I will change Washington, and I will do it from the inside when you elect me on November 6th. [cheers and applause]

Thank you so very much. Thank you. We've got work to do. Thank you. [cheers and applause]