Marathon Pundit: Pawlenty remarks on S&P downgrade and economy in Grinnell, Iowa

Saturday, August 06, 2011

Pawlenty remarks on S&P downgrade and economy in Grinnell, Iowa

Louis Sullivan "Jewel Box"
bank, Grinnell

On the morning after one of the most ignominious days in American history, presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty gave the following address in the central Iowa town of Grinnell, which I visited last August:

The news of the day and the news all across the country and across the world over the past 24 hours was that the United States of America received a historic downgrade in its credit rating from Standard and Poor's. I think as we gather here this morning what we should be talking about is downgrading Barack Obama from President of the United States.

What he doesn't understand is all this talk of the full faith and credit in the United States government, he needs to stop being reminded and we need to have a President who understands what it means to put our full faith and credit in the American people. His vision for America is to take things out of the private sector and to put it into the government. What we need to be doing is taking things out of the government and putting them back in the private sector and trusting the people of this country.

As you know, our country is not great because of our bureaucracy, it’s not great because of our government; it’s great because of our people. And if you think about what made us the greatest nation the world has ever known, it's not because we're the biggest country in terms of population. We're not. We only have a little over 300 million people. We're not the cheapest country. Although we need to be more competitive, that's for sure. We're the greatest country all because we’re the freest. When people are free, they can have their version of the American dream as they see fit. They can worship as they see fit. They can start these things, do these things, they can invent and create and innovate and it is fundamentally different than most other places around the world…And what Barack Obama doesn't realize is that every time government creeps into our lives, and makes it slower, or more expensive, or more difficult, or more discouraging or they do even worse and take over entire parts of the economy, they not only grow their budgets, but they deflate down and discourage the American spirit.

That's what we see happening now across America, don't we. We've got too many of our fellow citizens who are worried about whether the future is going to be as bright as the past. We have a plurality of Americans now who think that China is going to be the greatest nation in the world in 20 years, not us. We have way too many of our fellow citizens unemployed and underemployed. Now we had the other day Vladimir Putin say that the United States is a parasite on the world economy. We had the leadership of China yesterday say that the United States of America is addicted to debt. The communist Chinese lecturing us about finances and markets and the world. These are new and historic lows and they are troubling signals about the state of our country. So those of us who see this, those of us who know it have to stand up and get this country back. We have to lead it in a better direction. I'm running for President of the United States because I’ve got the experience, the leadership, the record of results, the vision and the passion to lead America to a better place.

Now, I know you're tired of $4-a-gallon gas, or nearly so. I know you're tired of crushing levels of unemployment. I know you're tired of a federal government that's out of control. I know you're tired of a President who came through Iowa and other places around this country three years ago and making soaring speeches and then didn't do any of it and worse yet led the country in a dangerous direction. So you're familiar with all that, but we've got to get him out of there.

And so what I want to talk to you about today is the debt and what it takes to get this country back on track. I am going to leave the bulk of the time for questions, but let me give you a few things that I think are just fundamentally important to our country. Number one, we need to be a nation that turns toward God, not away from God. Number two, we have to have a country where people who want to start private businesses are the main hinges for job growth in this country, not the government…So we have 6 million businesses in the Unites States of America. 5.9 million of those 6 million are companies with 500 employees or less. So almost the entire economy is measured by small or medium businesses, and they're saying get the government off my back. Some talk about taxes, some talk about regulations, some talk about the cost of energy, some talk about the cost of health care, but the basic message across the whole country in those 5.9 million small and medium-sized businesses, the ones that we need to grow, are saying get the government off my back. It's too heavy, it’s too discouraging, it's too uncertain. They understand that in order for the private economy to grow we’ve got to shrink the government…

Clock inside the Jewel Box

Now look, most Republican candidates are going to come through town and they're going to tell you many of the same things. If someone else was standing here, they're going to tell you I’m the one who's going to reduce spending. I'm the one who’s going to cut taxes. I'm the one who's going to get those schools fixed by providing parents with choice and accountability. They'll say I'm the one who's pro-life, I support traditional marriage, I'm pro-immigration reform, I'm pro-government employee compensation reform, and I'm pro-private sector economic investment and the like. And pro-appointing conservative justices. So you might listen to that and say, well what's the difference between all of these candidates?