Paul Ryan says Obama’s four years did not make people ‘better off’

Greenville, NC, United States (4E) – As Charlotte, North Carolina hosts the Democratic National Convention (DNC) this week, Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan was in the state to pummel President Barack Obama with the message that his presidency has not made Americans better off than they were four years ago.

Speaking in Greenville, North Carolina, Ryan told the audience that Obama cannot honestly tell the American people that their lives were improved by his administration, even saying that the Jimmy Carter years even looked better than they are now.

His appearance within the backyard of the DNC came just several days after the GOP’s own convention in Tampa, Florida, where he officially accepted the party’s nomination with presidential candidate Mitt Romney. The Republican ticket hopes to unseat President Obama and his running mate Vice President Joe Biden this November.

While Romney is temporarily out of the public view this past few days as he prepares for the upcoming presidential debates, Ryan is leading the charge against the Democrats.

Ryan is taking the issue of “better off” — a famous line by Ronald Reagan that led to his victory against the incumbent President Carter in 1980 — to the public after several top Democrats offered inconsistent responses to the question about whether they think the country is better off now than fours years ago in television interviews during the weekend.

In an interview with CBS News on Sunday, Maryland’s Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley said that Americans are not better off this time around, but insists that is not the question of this year’s election.

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