President Obama and his surrogates are running nothing more than a campaign of blame and attack.  They seem to be ignoring the facts, including the failure of the Senate to pass the president's proposed budget -- it was opposed 98 to 0 -- and the longest period of sustained unemployment since the Great Depression.  American Thinker interviewed the former speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, about the 2012 election, and, in another article by Jeff Lipkes, about his distant and recent past.  Also interviewed in this article is Paul Gosar (R-AZ) one of the most accomplished congressmen of the 2010 freshman class. 

The former speaker is always one who speaks his mind.  He does not see many successes of this administration.  If President Obama is re-elected, he sees it as a "disaster that will be a genuine threat to my grandchildren's future, such as appointing radical judges to the Supreme Court that are equivalent to those in the Ninth Circuit court, further crippling the economy, driving a spirit of welfare, and not having a strategy to deal with radical Islam."

Gingrich believes that this election will come down to James Carville's phrase: "It's the economy, stupid."  What is needed to win, according to Gingrich, is for the Romney-Ryan ticket to keep "people focused on the disaster of the Obama economy and offer a vision of the future.  Work, jobs, the economy is to Romney's enormous advantage.  ObamaCare, Fast and Furious, the Supreme Court rulings are all helpful to the Republicans.  However, every day the Obama people talk about anything but the economy is a good day for them.  They are trying every topic that is not the economy and seeing whether it sticks to Romney.  Right now we are in a slugging match."

If he were currently the speaker of the House what would he do between now and the November election?  "Congress can set the stage for next year.  They might have some hearings that could have some impact.  But I don't think they will get anything productively done legislatively until we have a new Senate and a new president. They could focus on new ideas and solutions, laying out the basis of what they will do in the first ninety days next year with a Romney presidency." 

Congressman Gosar agrees and told American Thinker that there are a number of resolutions on the floor and discussions in Congress to highlight the lies of the Democrats -- yet he does not see getting much accomplished.  "The problem is [that] the remedy is long and arduous, especially with a dysfunctional senate.  Remember, there are only eight congressional working days between now and November.  It is imperative that we ask the questions and become engaged.  To change the direction of this country, we have to get through this election."  He cites the farm bill as an example of Obama's character assassinations of Romney and Ryan.  The Republicans will vote for a temporary relief package for the farmer but will not make it permanent because of the welfare provision. 

Both Gingrich and Gosar hope that the Romney-Ryan campaign is able to point out how this administration lacks transparency.  The message needs to include how the president has broken the law.  Gingrich notes, "The law says flatly that the work requirement section of the Welfare Reform Act cannot be waived.  If Obama gets re-elected and I was speaker, I would not pass any spending bill -- just cut off the bank.  I would indicate that we are going to cut off funding for everything he does that is illegal.  Another example is the possible layoffs in defense, showing the Obama administration's willingness to break the law and to lie.  You have a law that liberal Democrats put in place and now they don't want to give advance notice.  Why?  Because it will wipe them out politically.  If every worker in the defense industries in Virginia knows what Obama is doing to them, there is no possibility he can carry the state."

How can the American people be informed if the mass media is always going to give Obama the benefit of the doubt?  Gingrich regards the media bias not as a double standard, but as a "single standard.  If you are a liberal, you are okay, and if you are a conservative, you are not.  Harry Reid represents liberalism, so he can throw out the blatant lies, and therefore he is not going to be called out on it.  Frankly, the number of reporters that want Obama re-elected is pretty staggering, and they allow that to govern how they cover issues."

He is hopeful that Republicans learn to tell the truth better than the Democratic lies, and to do it by "cheerfully asserting the truth, ultimately wearing out the lie."  Gosar agrees and feels that reaching across the board, having a strong grassroots effort, and positively engaging the people through their elected officials will win the election.  "I am on the last plane out of Arizona and the first one back because I want to talk with my constituents.  I talk about how there was a five-point reduction in manufacturing jobs in June that will unfortunately increase the unemployment numbers."  The questions both Gingrich and Gosar want Americans to ask themselves: "Are you any better off today than when Barack Obama took over?  Don't you think his policies are the problem and not the solution?  Should America be a nanny state or a land of opportunity?"

Gingrich advises the Romney campaign to do a general outreach to all fifty states, do regional geographic messages, and finally look at the country's breakdown regarding issues, which the newly released Romney ad does, appealing to Catholics and those in the Polish community. 

Gosar sees vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan as a strength.  He would point out to Americans that if elected, Ryan would become president of the Senate, which means "things could actually be accomplished since he would be doing his job instead of gallivanting all over the country like Joe Biden does.  I consider Paul Ryan as a Buzz Lightyear who goes 'to infinity and beyond.'"

A Romney-Ryan ticket allows Americans to elect candidates with knowledge, dreams, and solutions -- one which goes beyond the present and moves into the future.  And that, of course, is something the president and the Democrats are not willing to do.