Ann Romney a Hit; and so is Chris Christie

I didn't see the speeches, but listened to them. So, I might have missed something important in the visual impact. But, to me, Ann Romney had the best "candidate's wife" speech I remember seeing at any convention. She was likable, believable, and the speech was very effective in underlining that the Romneys do know something about living frugally and having problems (breast cancer and MS), and did humanize Governor Romney as someone who made her laugh when they first met and still does so today. Also, Mrs. Romney underlined how he worked hard and was a guy you could trust to work super hard to bring something to a successful end. One of the most powerful parts of her speech was about the value of hard work, aiming high and succeeding.

You may not agree with Mitt's positions on issues or his politics. Massachusetts is only 13 percent Republican, so it's not like that's a shock.

But let me say this to every American who is thinking about who should be our next President:

No one will work harder.

No one will care more.

No one will move heaven and earth like Mitt Romney to make this country a better place to live!

It's true that Mitt has been successful at each new challenge he has taken on. It amazes me to see his history of success actually being attacked. Are those really the values that made our country great? As a mom of five boys, do we want to raise our children to be afraid of success?

Do we send our children out in the world with the advice, "Try to do... okay?"

And let's be honest. If the last four years had been more successful, do we really think there would be this attack on Mitt Romney's success?

Of course not.

Mitt will be the first to tell you that he is the most fortunate man in the world. He had two loving parents who gave him strong values and taught him the value of work. He had the chance to get the education his father never had.

But as his partner on this amazing journey, I can tell you Mitt Romney was not handed success.

He built it.
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Some are criticizing Governor Chris Christie for focusing on himself. That didn't bother me as much as his wild praise for his mother and not much for his father--especially since his father was at the convention listening to the speech. Also, I am not a fan of Christie's normal bombastic, confrontive style, which sometimes resembles bullying. I lean a lot more towards the Reagan oblique style or the Palin straight forward style. "In your face" doesn't do a lot for me in personal or public interaction.

However, I thought this was a great speech by Governor Christie and good for Republicans and the country. Christie made a strong, clear case for our crying need for political leaders who will make the hard but right decisions.

We [Republicans] believe in telling hard working families the truth about our country's fiscal realities. Telling them what they already know – the math of federal spending doesn't add up.

With $5 trillion in debt added over the last four years, we have no other option but to make the hard choices, cut federal spending and fundamentally reduce the size of government.

They [Democrats] believe that the American people don't want to hear the truth about the extent of our fiscal difficulties and need to be coddled by big government.

They believe the American people are content to live the lie with them.

We believe in telling seniors the truth about our overburdened entitlements.

We know seniors not only want these programs to survive, but they just as badly want them secured for their grandchildren.

Seniors are not selfish.

They believe seniors will always put themselves ahead of their grandchildren. So they prey on their vulnerabilities and scare them with misinformation for the cynical purpose of winning the next election.

Their plan: whistle a happy tune while driving us off the fiscal cliff, as long as they are behind the wheel of power.

We believe that the majority of teachers in America know our system must be reformed to put students first so that America can compete.

Teachers don't teach to become rich or famous. They teach because they love children.

We believe that we should honor and reward the good ones while doing what's best for our nation's future – demanding accountability, higher standards and the best teacher in every classroom.

They believe the educational establishment will always put themselves ahead of children. That self-interest trumps common sense.

They believe in pitting unions against teachers, educators against parents, and lobbyists against children.

They believe in teacher's unions.

We believe in teachers.

We believe that if we tell the people the truth they will act bigger than the pettiness of Washington, D.C.

We believe it's possible to forge bipartisan compromise and stand up for conservative principles.

It's the power of our ideas, not of our rhetoric, that attracts people to our Party.

We win when we make it about what needs to be done; we lose when we play along with their game of scaring and dividing.

For make no mistake, the problems are too big to let the American people lose – the slowest economic recovery in decades, a spiraling out of control deficit, an education system that's failing to compete in the world.

It doesn't matter how we got here. There is enough blame to go around.

What matters now is what we do.

I know we can fix our problems.

When there are people in the room who care more about doing the job they were elected to do than worrying about winning re-election, it's possible to work together, achieve principled compromise and get results.

The people have no patience for any other way.

It's simple.

We need politicians to care more about doing something and less about being something.
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Kudos to Mrs. Romney and Governor Christie.

There's a little scuttlebutt out there that Thursday night's mystery speaker might be Sarah Palin.

From National Review's Jim Geraghty:

The good folks at the Journal offer a poll of potential mystery guests, but most are unrealistic: former Georgia Democratic senator Zell Miller, well-armed rocker Ted Nugent, CIA director David Petraeus, former first lady Nancy Reagan, heroic pilot Chesley Sullenberger . . .

. . . or Sarah Palin.

As they used to sing on Sesame Street, "One of these things is not like the other, most of these things are kinda the same . . ."

I have no inside information (yet), but at dinner with my NR colleagues, I pointed out that Palin is glaring by her absence from the program -- I mean Huckabee's speaking, and it's been longer since his name appeared on a ballot -- and that a surprise appearance would probably make the assembled delegates go nuts.