Communications

MEMO

FROM: Sean Spicer, RNC Communications Director

TO: Interested Parties

RE: Weekend Messaging

This weekend RNC Chairman Reince Priebus will address the Republican Party of Virginia’s 28^th Annual Advance. This gathering of grassroots activists and state leaders will focus on how the party will advance the cause of economic prosperity in Virginia and across America.

It’s no secret that Democrats and President Obama have failed Americans the last three years, and Chairman Priebus will outline the Republican way forward—how we articulate our message of pro-growth policies and get that message to voters as we head to November 2012.

As part of that message, it’s critical we hold President Obama accountable for his record. Here’s an excerpt from the Chairman’s remarks:

Do you know what President Obama said to a group of big money donors in Manhattan just this Wednesday?  He said, quote, “Over the last three years we have made enormous progress.”  

Enormous progress? What was the goal?  Destroy the middle class? Kill jobs? Divide America? Sure, he’s succeeded at that. But on the number one issue, the economy, he has made zero progress.

Let me ask you: Does this sound like progress?

×    High unemployment

×    A shrinking workforce

×    Nearly 2 million jobs lost since he came into office.  

×    $4.4 trillion in new debt

×    Record poverty

×    13.8 million more people on food stamps

×    And 86% of Americans saying we’re headed in the wrong direction

Mr. President, that’s not progress. That’s failure. You’ve failed this country. You’ve tried and failed. I’m sure you meant well, but the road to recovery isn’t paved with good intentions. That’s a different road.

Chairman Priebus will then continue that discussion on Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press and CBS’s Face the Nation. 

But while he is focused on the president’s record and Republicans’ solutions, Team Obama – led by spin-masters Robert Gibbs and David Axelrod – will be on TV doing everything possible to avoid discussion of Obama’s record of failure.  

Instead, they’ll lob baseless attacks at Republicans, distorting our record, while casually ignoring their own. As evidenced by his Wednesday comments, President Obama himself has employed this strategy of willful cognitive dissonance lately. 

It’s clear: Obama has given up on hope and change. He’s turned instead to hype and deception.  But putting on a happy face to say everything will be fine is not only dishonest, it’s dangerous. Democrats’ inability to recognize their failures is the primary roadblock to economic recovery. 

Anyone who looks back over the last three years and sees “enormous progress” where there has been widespread pain is unfit to be president. It’s time to return to the free market principles that create a thriving economy. And that’s the message of this weekend.

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