Obama Outlines Case for Re-Election at First Official Campaign Rally
President Barack Obama used the first official rally of his re-election bid to highlight the accomplishments made during his three and a half years in the White House, and to make a case for a second term in office.
“We are making progress and now we face a choice Ohio,” said the president, at a rally at the Schottenstein Center on the campus of The Ohio State University in Columbus. “This is a make or break moment for the middle class and we can’t turn back now.”
In his 36-minute-long address, Obama tied presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney to Republicans in Congress, saying that if elected, Romney would rubber-stamp the congressional GOP agenda, telling the crowd that “we cannot give him that chance.”
“That’s the choice in this election, and that’s why I’m running for a second term as president of the United States,” added Obama.
The speech highlighted the narrative that the Obama campaign hopes to push this year: reminding voters how many millions of jobs were lost before the president took office.
The president said that in the final six months of 2008, “nearly three million of our neighbors lost their jobs.” But he said when he took office, “we didn’t quit. We don’t quit. Together we are fighting our way back.”