CHARLOTTE, N.C., — Paul Ryan compared President Obama's economic record to Jimmy Carter's on Monday, saying neither president improved people's lives.
“Every president since the great depression could run on a record saying you are better off than you were four years ago,” Ryan said. “Except for Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama.”
The Republican vice presidential nominee was in Greenville, N.C., only 230 miles from where Democrats are holding their national convention.
He repeatedly looked to tie Obama to the one-term Democratic president, who has become a frequent touchstone for Republicans in this campaign cycle.
Carter will speak to Democratic delegates via satellite on Tuesday, the first day of the convention.
Ryan said in 1980, under the Carter administration, 330,000 businesses filed for bankruptcy, compared to 1.4 million in 2011 “under President Obama’s failed leadership,” and that mortgage delinquencies have ballooned from 77,000 to 3 million over the same time period.
“Simply put, the Jimmy Carter years look like the good old days compared to where we are now,” Ryan said.
But whether he was touting Mitt Romney’s record as a governor, or going through the Romney campaign’s five point economic plan, Ryan continuously returned to the “are you better off message.”
“We’re going to hear a lot of words from Charlotte,” he continued. “We’re not going to hear evidence and facts about how people are better off.”
“The president cannot tell you that you’re better off,” Ryan added. “And if we want to improve things, then how would rehiring the same administration do that? It wouldn’t.”
For more on Ryan's remarks, click here.
