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Santorum vows to challenge Obama
Addresses more than 3,500 at church
santorum3
Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum addressed a crowd of more than 3,500 at First Redeemer Church on Sunday night. - photo by Jennifer Sami

Rick Santorum discussed the importance of religion, freedom and adhering to the Constitution during a visit Sunday night to a south Forsyth church.

The Republican presidential hopeful also discussed what he views as the problems with the current administration, including President Barack Obama’s health care law and the administration’s decision to reject the Keystone oil pipeline proposal.

“He has conservative, Christian values,” said Gwinnett resident Betty Garner of Santorum. “He’s very down to earth. I believe him. I trust him … and I believe he’ll try to do what he says with the changes that need to be made with the government.”

Garner is a member of the First Redeemer Church, where Santorum addressed a crowd of more than 3,500 on Sunday night.

On the topic of health care, Santorum said Obama “shoved it down America’s throat and said, ‘Trust me, you’ll like it once you know what’s in it.’

“And so here you have Obamacare, which I felt compelled to come out and fight against, because to me Obamacare is a game changer,” said Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator.

Margaret Boudreaux, a Forsyth pediatrician, said she was eager to hear Santorum’s views on health care and how her future in medicine could change.

“I’m looking for someone who is looking after my rights as a doctor, so I don’t have to be controlled,” she said. “It can change under the next president, depending on who’s voted in office.”

Santorum also talked about the nation’s debt. He said he liked Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget proposal, calling it a good start, but one that doesn’t go far enough. It needs to deal with Social Security and Medicare.

“Folks, we’re going bankrupt,“ he said. “We can’t wait 10 years and we can’t take big parts of the budget off the table.”

Obama said programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security are what make America a better country, Santorum said.

“I believe America was founded great. It didn’t become great because government did these things,” he said. “When my grandfather came in 1925, there were no government benefits. The government benefit was one thing -- freedom.”

Santorum is enjoying a wave of momentum, thanks to recent victories in the Minnesota and Colorado Republican presidential caucuses, as well as the Missouri Republican primary.

During Sunday’s appearance, he focused on his campaign and the faults of the current president, never mentioning his rivals for the Republican nomination, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich, who visited with Forsyth’s Republican Party on Saturday.

Santorum also focused on religion and family, including his wife and seven children, whom he described as his inspiration for joining the presidential race.

“The best way I could be a good father to our children and the best husband I could be was to go out and make sure that this country was one that we’d want our children to be raised in,” he said.

To Santorum, the current government is oppressive and controlling. He encouraged the crowd to defend the church and family values.

He also said the family is under assault, citing a decline of about 20 percent in the marriage rate over the past 30 years.

“I talk to you about what [government] is doing to families and individuals, imagine what it’s doing to businesses,“ he said. “It’s doing the same thing. Crushing them with regulation, taxation, micromanaging their lives and crushing any innovation.

“This is where we are. This is why [the March 6 presidential preference primary] here in the state of Georgia is so important. You’ve got the biggest delegate prize on Super Tuesday.”

In asking for the crowd’s support, Santorum said he would challenge Obama on every issue, hold him accountable and be a clear contrast to current policy.