President Barack Obama appeared in Madison yesterday for the second time in a month. This visit also marked the third time he has appeared in Wisconsin in the five days leading up to the election, a time candidates only spend in states which they realize are highly contested in the election.
After winning the state by a 14-point margin in 2008, the Obama campaign has reason to be concerned because polls now show the race is dead even in Wisconsin. Obama has a Wisconsin problem, and former Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass., has been gaining momentum in the state. Wisconsinites have clearly come to realize Obama isn’t all he said he would be when we elected him in 2008.
We gave Obama four years to produce an economic recovery. However, 23 million Americans are still struggling to find full-time employment. Nearly one in six Americans is now living in poverty, and nearly 47 million Americans now receive food stamps. Wisconsinites are not better off than they were four years ago, and neither are our students. Obama has left us an economy where half of recent college graduates cannot find jobs in their fields of study, and he has added $5 trillion in new debt for their generation to pay off.
Obama can visit Wisconsin as many times as he wants to, but he cannot hide from the fact we are not better off as a result of his policies. Our nation is at a turning point. America gave Obama a chance in the last election, and he has failed to produce the results he promised us.
Americans can’t afford another four years like the last four under Obama’s failed policies. Four years ago, Obama overwhelmingly won the youth vote based on his promises of hope and change. Today, young Americans in Wisconsin and across the nation will realize their priorities and vote for Romney because he will work with Democrats and Republicans, put the interests of the American people first and deliver the real recovery Obama could only promise.
Ryan P. Hughes ([email protected]) is the director of public relations for the University of Wisconsin College Republicans. He is a junior majoring in political science and economics.
