◼ Standing on Israeli soil for the first time as the GOP's presumptive presidential nominee, Romney on Sunday declared Jerusalem to be the capital of Israel and said the U.S. has promised never to "look away from our passion and commitment to Israel." - AP via Drudge
◼ Romney Shines in Israel - David Limbaugh/Creators.com
I am pumped up about Mitt Romney's speech in Israel — for both political reasons and policy ones — and believe it may represent a turning point in the campaign.
Politically — and this is important because it is critical that he win, or he won't be able to implement any policies and set America back on the road to recovery — Romney has shown again he is going to take the gloves off, deal with the issues directly and draw a stark contrast between his policies and Obama's record. The significance of this cannot be overstated. Some of the reasons John McCain lost in 2008 were his lackluster campaign, his refusal to showcase Obama's extreme liberalism and, thus, his failure to demonstrate why he would make a better president than Obama.
According to Gallup, Obama has already lost support among Jewish voters, down from 78 percent to 68 percent. If Romney shows that he is genuinely committed to Israel and that Obama is not, he'll make further inroads.
In an earlier piece, I expressed my view that to maximize his chances of victory, Romney has to attack Obama's record forcefully and comprehensively — and what a target-rich record it is. He must keep Obama so busy answering criticisms that he doesn't have as much time to obfuscate, scapegoat and level deceptive charges against Romney. In addition to highlighting Obama's disastrous policy failures, he must also present a positive, uplifting agenda. In short, he must communicate to voters his undivided commitment to America's greatness and its first principles and inspire confidence in the electorate that he will lead us to reclaim our greatness.
With his economic speeches in response to Obama's "you didn't build that" fiasco, Romney proved that he does have fire in his belly and that he is fervently dedicated to free enterprise, entrepreneurship and pro-growth policies. With his Israel speech, he laid down another marker — telling us he is going to take the offense and make Obama accountable for his unacceptable and misguided policies. He has no intention of allowing Obama to get away with misrepresenting his record — on the economy or on foreign policy, including his behavior toward our great ally Israel. Any concerns that Romney will adopt McCain's milquetoast campaign model are quickly diminishing.
