LAKE IN THE HILLS – Standing in an a hangar at the Lake in the Hills Airport with a backdrop of planes, Newt Gingrich gave his farewell speech to Illinois on March 14 as his campaign stop in the state wrapped up on March 21.
Gingrich used the planes for more than scenery: he opened his speech drawing up tales of the Wright Brothers and positioning himself as a visionary.
Republican presidential candidate and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich stands with wife Callista Gingrich and speaks at the Lake in the Hills airport March 14. (Photo by Mason Souza/Sun Day)
“In the real sense, I’m the candidate of the Wright Brothers, of Thomas Edison, of Henry Ford, of the people who invented the modern world without bureaucracy,” he told the crowd.
With Illinois’ primary vote on March 20, Gingrich had toured the area earlier that day, with stops including Judson College in Elgin and OTTO Engineering in West Dundee. His wife, Callista, appeared with him at the airport rally and also read to children at The Godard School in Lake in the Hills that morning.
Gingrich’s speech largely focused on energy and the benefits of offshore drilling and opening federal lands for oil. He painted a picture of a future America that invested in its own oil, claiming it was the solution to numerous problems.
Gingrich proudly asserts the claim that if made president, he would be able to lower average gas prices to $2.50 per gallon. Addressing unemployment, he pointed to North Dakota as a state already doing well compared to the rest of the nation in unemployment figures. He talked of there being 24 billion barrels of recoverable oil in the state and how jobs in natural gas could number up to 600,000.
Domestic drilling would also have a huge impact on tensions with the Middle East, according to Gingrich. He said America could become energy independent and the world’s top supplier of oil.
“I do not ever again want to see an American president bow to a Saudi king,” he said.
Gingrich criticized President Obama on many fronts, including his “begging” of Saudi Arabia to produce more oil.
“This is a president who has decided to send our money to Saudi Arabia and thinks it’s a good idea,” Gingrich said. “This is a president who thinks it’s good to create jobs in Saudi Arabia. I’d rather create jobs in Illinois.”
Another topic Gingrich challenged Obama on was the president’s support of using algae to develop fuel.
“I’m thinking of having campaign volunteers this summer go to gas stations with jars of algae and asking how many people would like the Obama solution in their gas tank,” he said.
Finally, Gingrich offered a way to balance the federal budget by putting royalty money from American oil into a debt repayment fund.
“We just created an ability to say in one policy we create American jobs, we lower the price of gasoline to $2.50 or less, we create security in the United States, we no longer worry about the Saudis and we no longer worry about the Chinese, all in one policy,” he said.
The crowd, which numbered between 150 and 200 people, were largely supportive of Gingrich, though not all believed he could secure the Republican nomination.
“If [Mitt] Romney gets elected, we’ll vote for him; anybody but Obama,” Pete Fioresi of Lake in the Hills said.
Though senior issues were not discussed at the rally, some members of the audience raised their concerns.
“Social Security-that’s near and dear to every retiree’s heart, especially when you don’t get raises,” Lora Carpenter of Algonquin said. “And the Medicare, the healthcare that Obama’s putting through, people think it’s not going to bother Medicare, but it is because he’s taking a big chunk of change out of that.”
As for Gingrich’s message on oil as the solution to many issues, one attendee said they believe in the idea, but Gingrich cannot do it alone.
“It’ll take a little congressional support obviously, but somebody has got to lead,” Jerry Gross of Crystal Lake said. “We’ve had no leading from the White House the last three-and-a-half years; he’ll do it.”
