US Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has blasted President Barack Obama’s economic policies, saying Obama is “more intent on punishing people” with higher taxes than “getting people back to work.”
Speaking on Thursday against the backdrop of a shuttered drywall manufacturing factory in Lorain, Ohio, Romney said “had President Obama’s [economic] plans worked, it [the factory] would be open by now.”
“But it’s still empty and it underscores the failures of this president’s policies in regards to getting the economy going again,” the former Massachusetts governor added.
The National Gypsum plant closed in the summer of 2008 in the height of the recession during President George W. Bush’s tenure.
A senior Romney aide acknowledged that the facility stopped operating during Bush’s second term, but called the shutdown a “testament to the failed leadership of this president” that made it impossible to reopen the factory in the past three years.
Romney also argued that Obama’s vision to bring economic prosperity to Americans has failed, leading to “lost jobs, lost homes, lost dreams.”
Obama spokeswoman Lis Smith said in a statement, “Mitt Romney actually didn’t tell the truth about President Obama’s record and his own failed record in Massachusetts.”
” … Contrary to Romney’s rhetoric today, under President Obama’s leadership, every working American has received a tax cut, fewer new regulations have been approved than under President Bush, and we’ve gone from losing 750,000 jobs a month when he took office to creating over 4 million private sector jobs in the last 25 months. On the other hand, Mitt Romney’s record in Massachusetts was one of fewer jobs, higher taxes, more debt, and bigger government,” Smith pointed out.
Romney’s appearance in Lorain was part of his campaign attempts called “bracketing” tactic which is to go wherever the president goes to offer Romney’s rebuttal and alternative policy vision.
Earlier on Wednesday, Obama delivered an economic speech at a nearby community college where he called for more government-funded job training programs.
Even though former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul continue their bids for the nomination, Romney is generally considered the presumptive nominee after the withdrawal of his chief rival Rick Santorum.
The Republican Party’s convention in late August will officially determine the nominee. The eventual winner will contend with President Obama for the White House in November.
——Agencies