Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney gestures while speaking at the Latino Coalition annual economic summit, Wednesday, May 23, 2012, at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney gestures while speaking at the Latino Coalition annual economic summit, Wednesday, May 23, 2012, at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
President Barack Obama delivers the commencement address at the U.S. Air Force Academy, Wednesday, May 23, 2012, in Colorado Springs, Colo.(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
FILE - In this Jan. 26, 2012 file photo, Republican presidential candidates, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney talk during a commercial break at the Republican presidential candidates debate in Jacksonville, Fla. Remember Gingrich calling Romney a liar? Michele Bachmann saying Romney's unelectable? Rick Santorum calling Romney "the worst Republican in the country" to run against Obama? They're hoping you don't. And acting like it never happened _ even though most of their words are just clicks away online. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
President Barack Obama has to tread carefully in targeting Republican rival Mitt Romney's business resume.
He risks reinforcing criticism that he's anti-business. He doesn't want to look like he's assailing free enterprise.
Obama's campaign has put out a biting TV ad featuring laid-off workers from a now-bankrupt steel company that was bought by Romney's Bain Capital. The ad suggests Romney was a "vampire" capitalist.
Obama tried to soften the edges when he told reporters he wasn't questioning private equity firms but Romney's claim that his business experience burnished his presidential credentials. At Bain, Romney worked to "maximize profit" for investors," not to benefit society, Obama suggested.
Even so, some prominent Democrats have questioned the strategy.
Romney responded by telling Time Magazine that "someone who spent their career in the economy is more suited to help fix the economy than someone who spent his life in politics and as a community organizer."
Vice President Joe Biden threw fuel on the fire when he told a New Hampshire campaign event that private-equity experience "no more qualifies you to be president than being a plumber."
That annoyed at least one plumber. "I definitely have a problem with it," said Samuel Wurzelbacher, dubbed "Joe the Plumber" by 2008 Republican presidential nominee John McCain and now seeking to unseat Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who waged a withering primary attack on Romney's tenure at Bain, offered his own take on why Obama should focus his attacks elsewhere.
"We found out when we got in a fight with Mitt Romney over this that it didn't work," he told CNN's Piers Morgan.
Romney spoke Wednesday at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, where he suggested that many Democrats "love the economy, they just don't like business."
Obama addressed graduates at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo.
__
Follow Tom Raum on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tomraum. For more AP political coverage, look for the 2012 Presidential Race in AP Mobile's Big Stories section. Also follow https://twitter.com/APCampaign and AP journalists covering the campaign: https://twitter.com/AP/ap-campaign-2012.
Associated Presswhite sox chuck colson ufc 145 results orrin hatch marlon byrd charles colson humber
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.