Mediamax, Armenia
Oct 11 2012
Obama vs Romney: Part 1
Mitt Romney’s rally
The U.S. Embassy gave an opportunity to Mediamax’s correspondent Aram
Araratyan to watch the process of the U.S. presidential election
campaign. A special project was born as a result of his trip to the
U.S. and today we are presenting you its first part.
Denver. Evening, October 1. Two days are left till the first debates
with President Barack Obama which may prove crucial. Today, the
Republican Party presidential contender, former governor of
Massachusetts, Mormon and millionaire Mitt Romney is meeting with his
supporters from Colorado.
One should be quite lucky to be present at such rallies. At least,
because one is given the unique chance to compare what he saw on TV
and live picture. The first and most significant impression from Mitt
Romney’s meeting with his Denver supporters is the great festive show.
Even if there is a tough struggle going on behind the scenes with the
use of legal or illegal methods, Americans show everything in public
the way you feel you are not in an important political event but a
Christmas holiday with festive posters and merry songs.
The venue chosen by Romney for meeting his supporters, Wings Over the
Rockies Air and Space Museum of Denver, is also symbolical. Most
likely, the modern fighters located on the perimeter are meant to
serve reflection of Mitt Romney’s views who thinks the U.S. should be
more decisive and tough on the international arena.
First people hear speeches of a few of Romney’s supporters and several
patriotic songs, for instance, famous “Glory, glory, hallelujah!’ and
then the presidential contender himself comes to the stage. Romney
appears against the background of huge 4 letters of “J O B S” which
stand for whole his election campaign: the candidate places the accent
on the economy in the first place.
“Each sixth American lives in poverty”, “23mln people are unemployed”,
“the unemployment rate in the U.S. has been above 8% over 43
consecutive months”, “we don’t see real economy recovery and the
President’s plan doesn’t work”. These are the main theses of Mitt
Romney’s speech. All this is accompanied with rhetorical questions –
“do you want four more such years?” – and statements that the it’s
him, Mitt Romney, that’s going to be the next owner of the White
House.
“Go and find a man who will vote for Obama or two, three, four or five
and persuade them to join our team”, the republican says at the end of
his speech.
Romney’s speech lasted about 20 minutes. It’s hard to speak about the
impression the Republican contender made. There wasn’t any impression
as such, though. Romney seems to be a man without any charisma and
charm. It’s difficult to conceive he could light a fire in eyes and
hearts of people as Barack Obama does. It’s hard to figure out what he
lacks more – charisma, experience, sophistication, accurately
elaborated strategy or everything at once.
Mitt Romney’s major slip in this campaign was the statement he made
during the close meeting with a group of rich sponsors which leaked
into the media. At the meeting, Romney stated that Barack Obama’s
voters “are unable of providing means for themselves and live at the
expense of the state”. Many experts gave him up as a bad job after
that but Romney managed to “survive” as he managed to survive in the
business over many years as the head of Bain Capital for 25 years.
To be continued.
Aram Araratyan
Denver-Yerevan