What Mitt needs to do

By Michael Master

Mitt seems like a good man. He could be the best person for America. But America doesn't hear him.

After listening to him at the South Carolina debates, listening to his speech after the South Carolina primary election, listening to him on Chris Wallace in January and listening to him after his win in Maine and at CPAC, it is obvious to me what he needs to do.

Mitt sounds and acts too moderate. He talks too fast. He lacks a theme to remember. And it all comes across as slick.

When asked by Wallace if Mitt was mad or angry about the direction of America, he said that he is "upset."

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Upset? What kind of word it that? You get upset because it rained and you didn't get to play golf. "Upset" is just one of those examples of how Mitt looks out of touch with normal Americans. Why didn't he say he was "pi--ed off," or "angry," or "worried"? But "upset"?

When Wallace kept calling Romney "sir," he didn't stop him and tell Wallace to call him "Mitt." Wallace used "sir" to make Romney look cold and unemotional to America, and Mitt never heard it. Newt would not have missed it. How is Mitt going to do in debates with Obama with a biased media if he cannot even react to Wallace correctly in a personal interview?

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Mitt's banner reads "Restore America" – which is totally unemotional. "Restore" is something that you do old furniture when it is worn out.

How about "Save America"? "Save" is something that you do when something is about to die. "Save" is what Jesus did to our souls. "Save" is the second-most powerful word in advertising; the first is "love." Mitt was great when he said that he loved America. So why didn't he follow it up with: "So will you help me save America now?"

Mitt, say it: "Let's save America now!"

When asked what departments need to be cut out of the executive branch, Romney answered that several need to be reduced, but didn't say that any need to be terminated. He had no urgency. There was no life-or-death action proposed to save America.

When asked about Bain, Romney got into a defensive intellectual discussion about capitalism, rather than becoming indignant and attacking Obama over Solyndra, GM, etc. Mitt should have said: "If private investors will not invest in GM, Solyndra, etc., then why is the government using taxpayer money to do it? If these were good deals, then private investors would invest in them. That is what we did for a living at Bain. We figured out what was a viable deal and what was not. We figured out how to 'save' companies and jobs if it was at all possible. Otherwise, we shut them down. We invested in those that looked like winners, which created hundreds of thousands of jobs at firms like Staples and Sports Authority. This administration should not be involved in deals that private industry will not make. It lacks the skills and experience. Only 8 percent of the Obama team has any real-life experience in the private sector. So what makes them think that they are smarter than investors in the free-enterprise system?"

The Romney budget plan is a compromise. It is a diet plan rather than surgery. Where is the urgency? Is America in trouble? Is it on the brink? So how will a diet plan help save America? America needs surgery, radiation, chemo therapy, prayers … not a diet plan.

Romney is losing momentum because he is playing it safe. He looks, smells and acts like a moderate ... and conservatives will not vote for a moderate. Independents will not see enough reason to make a change from Obama. Inertia is on the side of the incumbent unless the challenger can create a reason for change.

Romney is like the basketball team that goes into a defensive strategy at the end of a game and loses because the other team gains momentum to outscore them.

Mitt needs to play like Tom Brady and Eli Manning. He needs to play hard, throw the ball and score lots of points all the way to the ending buzzer, even if it means running up the score against the opposition. Patriots 48, Lions 20 was a good score. Romney would have stopped at 30 and then lost the game.

Conservatives want a candidate who will lead them, lead them with passion.

Conservatives want a candidate who will take the fight to the Democrats, who will tell us how the Democrats are destroying America and what will happen if they are allowed to continue.

Conservatives want someone who will run up the score and soundly defeat the socialist Democrats. They want a champion for conservative values who will fight for religious freedom (especially against Obamacare and secularism), implement right-to-work laws for federal employees, fight against activist judges, fight for literal interpretations of the Constitution, be anti-abortion, support a marriage amendment, repeal Obamacare, cut federal government by 20 percent, get government out of the investment business, get rid of the Fed, get rid of the Department of Education, return authority back to the states, take a tough stance on supporting the military, stop the incremental domination of the Middle East by radical Muslims, push through the flat tax, drill for oil, build nuclear, dig for coal.

Conservatives want someone who will save America.

Mitt talks too fast, too much and says too little with passion. Listen to these words by Newt Gingrich about what he will do to terrorists: "I will kill them." Then compare that to the thousands of words Mitt used to answer the same question.

Mitt needs to understand that talking fast is not passion; saying that you will "kill them" is passion.

What is Mitt's mission? He needs to state it simply like Obama did when he said that he wanted to "change America." And Mitt needs to state it with urgency. "Restore America" has no passion, no urgency.

So far, Mitt has the experience and smarts, but lacks the demonstrable passion to make conservatives believe that he will actually win or to make independents think that there is a reason to vote against the incumbent. Mitt needs to get emotional. He needs to say less, slower, and communicate more.

Mitt needs to ask America to help him "save America now!"

Michael Master is the author of "Rules for Conservatives" and "Save America Now!"