Scott Walker attempted to jump-start his faltering presidential campaign by evoking President Ronald Reagan during a Thursday speech at the conservative icon’s alma mater.
Walker echoed Reagan’s call to “drain the swamp in Washington,” and sought to cast himself as an outsider in the GOP race, which has seen voters flock to political newcomers Donald Trump and Ben Carson.
{mosads}He also suggested he is more than just rhetoric and touted his experience as Wisconsin’s governor.
“To wreak havoc on Washington, America needs a leader with real solutions. Political rhetoric is not enough. We need a plan of action. Actions speak louder than words,” Walker said in the address at Illinois’s Eureka College.
“America also needs a leader who has been tested. I have been tested like no one else in this race.”
Walker led polls in Iowa as recently as early August, but he has since slid to fourth place, trailing Trump, Carson and Ted Cruz. Nationally, he stands in seventh place, and he is in seventh in New Hampshire, according to the RealClearPolitics average of polls.
Walker is trying to position himself as a credible outsider — someone who isn’t stained by Washington but who has the experience and background to be president.
In Illinois, he focused on his success in passing laws to curb collective bargaining rights and mandatory union fees in Wisconsin.
He also reiterated promises to repeal ObamaCare and tear up the Iran nuclear agreement on his first day in office.
He also previewed a new policy platform aimed at taking away “power from the big government union bosses” that would end mandatory political union dues.
“That protects workers from being forced to give money to candidates they don’t support,” he said.
The speech comes at a pivotal time for Walker, less than one week before the next GOP debate as rivals from both parties criticize him over his recent reluctance to take a definitive stand on issues.
He had previously declined to address the Syrian refugee crisis, calling it a “hypothetical,” before switching directions a few days later to state that America should not take in more Syrian refugees.
That drew a barb from the Democratic National Committee, which panned Walker’s plans for his presidency as “hypothetical.”