Gloves Come Off as Obama Rips Into Romney's Record in Private Sector

On Monday, the teams behind President Barack Obama and presumptive Republican nominee former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts fired away at each other over economics as the campaigns continue to move into general election mode.

The Obama camp launched a new website and television ad being aired in battleground states -- including Colorado, Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia -- that the Democrats want to keep in their column in November. Both the website and the ad slam Romney’s record in the private sector.




Laura Wilson from Obama’s team took aim at Romney’s tenure at GST Steel on Monday.

“In 1993, Mitt Romney and his partners bought majority ownership of a 103-year-old steel mill in Kansas City, Mo.,” Wilson insisted. “Less than a decade later, GST Steel declared bankruptcy, and hundreds of workers were left without their jobs, their full pensions, and their health insurance. Yet somehow, Romney and his partners walked away with millions in profits.

“This was just one example of ‘Romney Economics’ -- buying and selling companies for short-term gain and quick profits for Romney and his partners, with little regard for the workers who could get hurt in the process," Wilson added. “It's this experience that Mitt Romney now cites as his key qualification to be president.”

The Romney team quickly fired back at Obama on Monday, insisting they were glad to turn the campaign focus to the economy.

“We welcome the Obama campaign’s attempt to pivot back to jobs and a discussion of their failed record,” Andrea Saul, a spokeswoman for Romney, said on Monday. “President Obama has many questions to answer as to why his administration used the stimulus to reward wealthy campaign donors with taxpayer money for bad ideas like Solyndra, but 23 million Americans are still struggling to find jobs. If the Obama administration was less concerned with pleasing its wealthy donors and more concerned with creating jobs, America would be much better off.”

Saul also took a swipe at Obama’s record on spending and the national debt on Monday.

“For the last three and a half years, President Obama’s liberal policies of wasteful spending and skyrocketing debt haven’t lived up to his own promises to control our nation’s mounting deficits,” Saul added. “As president, Mitt Romney will finally change Washington and stop passing our financial burdens on to the next generation.”



Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.