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The Obama campaign's assault on Mitt Romney's private sector career is meant to accomplish two goals: tarnish the cornerstone of the presumptive GOP nominee’s political biography, and play into middle class voters' economic anxieties over the actions of large financial institutions.
The president's re-election team sent notice Monday morning that its new ad, which took aim at Bain Capital's involvement at a Kansas City steel plant, was only the first in a sustained wave of attacks on the company Romney co-founded.
David Karp / AP
President Barack Obama arrives at JFK International Airport May 14 in New York on his way to deliver the commencement address at Barnard College in New York City.
"Most Americans know that, even in the real world, when you bankrupt a company, you don't walk away with millions of dollars for yourself and others while workers are left holding the bag," said Stephanie Cutter, the deputy campaign manager for the Obama team, in a conference call Monday morning.
"That's simply wrong, especially if you're using those lessons and values learned from that experience as the central premise of your campaign for president. Romney didn't care about rewarding hard work and responsibility, he didn't care about everyone playing by the same set of rules; he cared about making money for him and his partners at all costs," she said.
RELATED: Obama campaign criticizes Romney's 'economic values'
The Romney team cried foul in response, accusing the president of diverting attention from the anemic performance of the economy. “We welcome the Obama campaign’s attempt to pivot back to jobs and a discussion of their failed record. Mitt Romney helped create more jobs in his private sector experience and more jobs as Governor of Massachusetts than President Obama has for the entire nation,” said Andrea Saul, Romney’s press secretary.
Later in the day, the Romney campaign released its own web video touting Steel Dynamics, one of the success stories during Romney's time at Bain, as a countervailing example.
(Bain, in its own statement this afternoon, emphasized its neutrality in the election and decried how its "exemplary 28-year record will be distorted and complex business situations will be portrayed in a simplistic way.")
The Daily Rundown's Chuck Todd talks about the new ad which is trying to make Mitt Romney's strength in this economic election a weakness.
Nonetheless, the Obama campaign’s new plan to conduct a sustained assault on Romney’s record represents an effort to turn what’s regarded as one of the Republican’s greatest strengths – his economic expertise – into a liability.
As NBC Politics previously explored, Romney has an advantage versus Obama on the economy, though not by as wide of a margin as his campaign might hope. Moreover, the data in last month’s NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll suggested that voters didn’t expect the economy to perform much better in a Romney administration vs. a second term from Obama. In short, neutralizing Romney’s advantage on the economy would throw the election to other factors, and Obama holds the advantage on many of those.
Romney sells economic acumen - are voters buying?
But the Obama campaign’s attack also plays into broader themes of fairness and equality on which the president has staked his re-election effort.
"We have to move forward, to the future we imagined in 2008, where everyone gets a fair shot, and everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same rules," he said earlier this month at his campaign launch in Columbus. "That’s the choice in this election, and that’s why I’m running for a second term as president of the United States."
An early April Washington Post/ABC News poll suggested that this message, versus a more generic Republican argument about overregulation, might have more political traction. Fifty-two percent of Americans in that poll said they viewed unfairness in the economy that favors the wealthy as a bigger problem than overregulation, named by 37 percent of Americans as a bigger problem.
That message is necessitated partly by the sluggish growth in employment in recent months; while the economy is improving, the rate at which hiring has improved makes it more difficult for Obama and Democrats downballot to run on the economy.
But the Obama campaign is betting that diminished faith in major institutions – and outright skepticism toward Wall Street and the rest of the financial sector – might be enough to stave off Romney’s attacks, especially if they can link the former buyout guru to the excesses of corporate titans.
Obama himself noted that banks and other financial behemoths hadn’t been “model corporate citizens” in his commencement address Monday at Barnard.
There are plenty of examples toward which Obama and his party can point, and already, some of the party’s candidates have gotten the memo.
Elizabeth Warren, the Democratic Senate candidate in Massachusetts who had earned plaudits from liberals for her efforts to rein in Wall Street, seized on news that J.P. Morgan had lost $2 billion in a hedging scheme to call on CEO Jamie Dimon to resign his position as director of the New York Federal Reserve Board.
“There’s been a guerilla war out there in which the largest financial institutions have been doing everything they can to make sure that financial regulations don’t get put in place, and if they do get put in place, that they’re loaded with loopholes, and not very effective,” she said Monday on CNN.
Addressing the Barnard College graduating class, President Obama gave the grads examples of how women helped shape who he is, and gave advice to get involved, lead by example and to persevere.
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This is a net plus for conservatives who applaud raking in millions on the backs of workers then firing them en masse. True family values from the party who knows the least about them.
I think Romney forgot to mention the Mormon philosophy that marriage can also be a relationship between one man and many women!
Romney is going to have to defend his Bain experience. He has to put it out there in black and white, the jobs he created, the jobs he lost, the amount of money he shifted to the government in failed pensions. Saying he did a good job is not going to work, he needs a Bail balance sheet of jobs won and jobs lost, income won and income lost. This isn't going away.
Jobs created,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,ZERO
Jobs ended,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Thousands
That's business. Sometimes it is profitable, and sometimes you lose. Fact of life. Obama - in our state took jobs out not in. I seen Romney at work in SLC at the olympics, and was impressed with his leadership skills and reigning in the spending. I just thought Obama would have been more of a leader and not a politician.
"Must you always reduce everything to how it will affect the polls? Why don't you try reporting straight-up on the issue for a change?"
LOL! Did you see the big banner above the story? It says "NBC Politics."
I love the post were someone pays $2000 dollars in taxes and gets $12,000 dollars back. I never in my life got that amount back when I was making $40,000 dollars a year. I was lucky to get just enough back as not to pay taxes, cause I never claimed myself as a dependent. When I got married in 2008 I didn't take the marriage deductions from my paycheck so I wouldn't have to pay at the end of the year. My wife didn't and we ended up paying $500.00 dollars that year. Since we have no children we don't have built in deductions as most married people do, and our combimed incomes are less than $70.000 dollars a year. I am tired of hearing how many don't pay their fair share. A family earning less than $40,000 year and taking the legal tax deductions have every right as the top 1% to not pay one more $1.00 than they are allowed to as Willard explains so nicely when he released his 2011 income taxes.
Same here, married for a lot longer though. Never got that kind of money when I was raising my kids.
Romney has his refrain for the simple minded, Failed policies, Failed policies, Jobs, Economy
Exactly what does failed policies mean to Romney? We have had over two straight years
of economic and job growth,,,,,,,,,,So exactly how is that an example of "failed" policies??
Maybe,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Obama's failed policies involving wars?? Iraq is over, Afghanistan is ending,
Libya was freed from Kaddafi's rule without risking a single American life, More failed policy??
How about,,,,,,,,Obama's failed healthcare policies? 30 million more Americans covered with
health insurance, College students able to stay on parents insurance until their 26, No one
can be dropped or rejected for pre-existant illness,,,,,,,OK, Maybe thats the failed policies??
Wake up, Gasoline never hit $5 and Republican rhetoric is NOT going to pull us out of Bush's
recession, Obama IS!!!!
Bo knows nothing. The economy is in bad shape. Even the WH admits it.
The Iraq war is far from over and the situation in Afganistan is much worse since Obama has taken over.
And, BTW, the Obama administration continued Bush's policies.
Obamacare is another political liability for the WH. Don't hear them making it a campaign issue, do you?
Hahahahaha,,,,,,,,,Sure Billy,,,,Sure
Strange Obama only cares about things when its time for him to be re-elected, if that ever happens.
Such as??
Women's rights?? First thing he passed when he gained office
Gay rights?? DADT ring a bell??
Economy? WSR
Healthcare? HCR
WAKE UP!!!
The Obama record is dismal, at best. The economy is in bad shape.
It's laughable that the WH strategy is to attack a private record when their own public record is so pathetic.
While there is lot of substance in your observation, All Obama needs is 3 months of excellent job growth
numbers in August, September and October 2012 - These three months are crucial for his election. Assuming we can trust the numbers that DOL publishes on first Friday of every month (jobs report), this could make or break his reelection prospects. I am afraid public memory is very short and one event can change his presidency.
The external factors could be - Iran, Israel etc.
Just see how the market manipulated the oil prices and now it is back to $95 per barrel. Say, Europe gets weaker, dollar gets stronger and oil falls to $3.25 and the jobs report prints couple 250K numbers, it is clear Obama might win...
The person with the best message, luck (past deeds) wins and not necessarily the best qualified (Gore and McCain were more qualified than Bush and Obama).
LOL @ Billy
Bend over, under Obama, and laugh louder.
What is laughable is the altered universe you live in!
Billy the fact that you hate Obama does not make any of his policys or his accomplishments bad. You sound like a troll and if he walked on water you would yell about him not being able to swim. Blaming him for the bad economy (which all the real experts say is getting better) is like blaming the firefighters for the cost of putting out what the arsonist started.
While Americans are lead by the end of their nose the country is being torn apart. While the media focuses Americans on pointing fingers strategy of them and us the country is being torn apart.
Reality check: the same corporations fund both the Democrat and Republican candidates. Both parties are being paid to do what these Corporation want them to do. These two parties are two sides on one coin and their agenda is the same.
I think it sad that with the multitude of evidence out there and available the American people pathetically hold on to these two parties like they are their only hope. Our forefathers would have been appalled by what has become of America and how easily its citizens are being manipulated.
If you don't count the Auto Industry bailouts at least one Obama stimulus did work. The Broadband bill which allowed me to stayed employed during the whole time the recession was going on. I am glad it got passed. I feel for those who didn't have the opporunity to stay employed cause the Teapublicans wanted so badly to keep the American public unemployed so Obama would fail. Hat's off to you Mr. President.
If we don't count a lot of Obama's record, then unemployment is at 4% and the economy is buzzing.
The Broadband bill is how we literally "saved the farm". I was able to get on line find a job and sell stuff to stay alive. But the rest of his record is why I needed a job off the farm and a commute of 100 miles a day. Obama has a bandaid to keep us on life support and that's it.
During the Republican primaries Romney's fellow Republicans brought up Bain Capital and they were threatened off that subject. It must really scare the real players who pull Romney's strings. Romney has a few hundred million $$$$-not real money to the uber rich. If you don't have Billions(plural) you are not a player. The Bain subject must be his real achilles heel.
American needs to dig deeper into Bain-Mitt is worse than he seems.
America needs to focus on Obama's dismal record.
OK, Which part is dismal?
I'd like to hear Romney's economic plan for the country.
*crickets*
Precisely the problem.
And what is Obama's economic plan for the country? ...precisely the problem.
6 yrs of continuous growth? Two down four to go
What is Obama's plan for 'continuous growth'? Or is that 'evolving' with the campaign to get re-elected?
2 straight years of growth so far, Whats your plan? Reverse that?
Zeta, he'll let us know what his plan is after election. That is, if he knows. Unless someone shakes up his Etch-A-Sketch
Bo knows nothing. What is Obama's plan?
2 straight years of pathetic growth? Pee Wee Herman could have done that if he were in office.
We know what Romneys plan is. Privatize ss/mc, increase taxes on poor, keep middle class taxes the same, and cut taxes on the weathy. People need to pay attention and ask themselves how that is going to benefit them.
Sure he could Billy, Sure he could, But,,,,,,,,,,,,Obama has done it
I guess Obama was feeding the crickets - because that is all that is left between US and bankruptcy
Bo knows nothing. What is the unemployment rate? How many have given up looking for work?
this is the same guy that wasted 500 million on salyndra right
lets see romney made money obama lost money hum who has a better track record when it comes to making money. certainly not obama he never ran a business in his life
take it one step more P.. what wall street did back in 2008..?. I'll see your 1/2 billion and raise you a couple of trillion... !
the alternate universe keeps growing!
Why Billy? Before he took office the country was bleeding jobs and the stock market was closing in on it's lowest levels in years. After 2 years the country has stop the bleeding of jobs. Although not at the rate it could be, but excuse making companies are the blame for not hiring when there are incentitives out there for them to hire. Can't blame the president on that one. The Stock Market is almost at the level it was before the Great Recession started, and companies are making record profits. If you got someone to blame....point the finger at the corporations who like to send jobs overseas. Enough said!
Why cmichd? 'Excuse-making companies' are the blame? How about excuse-making presidents?
So, you're saying that no corporations are backing Obama?
What excuse does Obama need to make for over 2 straight years of job growth?
Oblunder doing what Oblunder does best. Feeding fears, unsubstantiated by factual information. Deflect, divert and divide.
I know you did not say "feeding fear" you guys cornered that .. remember the color coded terror alert!?
Obama slams Romney for his Bain Capital business experience. At the same time he is taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from a Bain Capital bundler.
Left unmentioned (and blameless) is Jonathan Lavine.
Lavine, according to the Los Angeles Times, is a top Obama bundler and a managing director at Bain Capital. Lavine, who has raised over $100,000 for the president, was at the firm when GST Steel declared bankruptcy. So according to the Obama team’s logic, Romney, who had left Bain, is responsible for GST Steel’s demise, but Lavine, who was there, is not? Expect to hear more about this connection.
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/299858/hypocrisy-obama-s-bain-bundler-robert-costa#
Here's the truth for all the Obama fans. Obama=Bush.
Wow, Thats a stretch of imagination
The truth hurts, right where it counts.
Nana please explain why the Teapublicans are back tracking on what they agreed to last August. I mean the Speaker of the House...Mr. Tan said he got 98% of what he wanted. They even agreed to a Super Committee to in which the President would have no involvement with to see if they could find debt reductions so those so call poison bills would not go into effect. It didn't happen. So now they don't want to follow through on what they agreed on. Talk about feeding fears, unsubstantiated factual information, deflect, divert and divide is what the Teapublicans do so best at.
What Obama forgot to tell you Romney left Bain in 1999 and the Steel company was closes in 2001. Jonathan Lavine a bundler for Obama that raises 100 to 200 thousand dollars a year for Obama and is currently the Chief Investment Officer for Bain, is more responsible than Romney for the closing of the steel plant. Obama minions keep believing his lies.
What right wing idiocy. President Obama will fight back against the right wing attack machine and he will not stand for being swift-boated by liars and snakes who are the most corrupt and wicked republican billionaires against America.
"The Romney team cried foul in response, accusing the president of diverting attention from the anemic performance of the economy."
NOT foul. Voters need to know Romney's business history so they can judge for themselves whether someone who made his riches by gutting businesses and firing employees is someone they want running this country. He couldn't turn around those businesses, so look at how much more of a mess he could put taxpayers in.
Couldn't be much more of a mess than Obama, could it?
Actually it was a MUCH bigger mess when Obama took over. Not all of us have forgotten.
MUCH bigger mess when Obama took over - bigger mess now because we just print money, pay unemployment and social programs thousands for months on end, and have doubled our debt. Yep that's change alright.
Yeah, too bad President Obama didn't have an unprecedented surplus and a thriving country handed to him like Bush did. Instead he got a country on the brink of destruction and greatly in debt and was expected to rebuild it over night with no money. Yeah right.
Actually spending has been cut by hundreds of billions, Wars costing hundreds more billions are ending, Taxcuts equaling $500 billion are about to end, 4 more years and we are looking at a balanced budget with a HUGE surplus,,,,,,,,,,A lot like the last Democratic President passed on to Bush
Laura
Are you saying that Obama either didn't know what was happening, or is incapable of dealing with this economy. Either way, he's failing.
What is failing?
The economy is growing
Jobs are growing
Wars are ending
You keep talking about failures but your not saying what is failing
Bo knows nothing.
Pathetic growth is still pathetic. And you still haven't said what Obama's economic plan is. Do you know?
Wars are ending? If you use that assanine logic, then the wars were ending under Bush, too. We just don't know when, right?
2014 is not ending a war - other than when it was scheduled. And he's wanting to leave troops there - not what he promised, he wanted to keep soldiers in Iraq and was told no deal - that's how that ended. Economy is stalled - Jobs in banking not manufacturing were we need them. Jobs back in US - no. Endless unemployment, Double downed the debt, has no budget but more spending. Never really commits to balancing the budget - blames everybody else for his woes. Except the people who can afford his $40,000 a plate fund raisers. He should keep using a teleprompter to keep up with this crap.
The Romney team cried foul in response, accusing the president of diverting attention from the anemic performance of the economy.
Oh my, he doesn't want us to talk about how he made millions while he fired employees and cut their pensions.
laura, the firms that Bain took over were going bankrupt. If Bain had not bought them and restructured to cut costs, they were going down the toilet anyway. There is no way to save a bankrupt firm without getting costs under control.
Most all business owners have been forced to cut staff at some point. They cannot keep on employees that are not needed and stay solvent.
I believe there were staff cuts when Obama took over GM.
And those costs include milking the employees, so those at the top rake in millions? Not my idea of a leader.
Yes, no one who was an executive at a major corporation ever fired employees. Please let us know what kind of crack you're smoking.
I am not smoking crack. No one said that employees would not have to be fired. But most leaders would try to minimize it as much as possible. Remember, Romney is the guy who likes to "fire people" and walk away with a huge profit. Which is exactly what he did. That is exactly the kind of leadership we will get with Romney. Those on the top get richer as they stomp on those at the bottom.
No Don, The firms Bain took over were low profit, high value, Some had been in business for over 100 yrs without ever making huge profits, They paid well and supported entire communities which was not on Bain's priority list, Making money at the workers and communities expense was
I personally don't care for Romney. But Obama, as president, has done very little for the middle class, small business, or for African-Americans, for that matter.
On the other hand, he's done remarkable well to stuff his campaign coffers.
Billy,,You are HILARIOUS :)
Yes, if we don't laugh under Obama, then we'd all be crying.
I assume that your paid position with the Obama campaign is working out well?
Billy why?...I guess your critical thinking skills or reading skills are lacking. We do not have qualified people in America to do the jobs they want, but they can go to China and train those who have no manufacturing experience to do the job. Laughable! Billy if they were not making record profits I could say your explanation is valid, but sorry no leg to stand on. So Billy come back and talk to me when you have a decent excuse to say the President is failing.
It's the economy, stupid.
Obama has stated that he owns this economy. This economy is failing. It may not be his fault, but, by his own admission, it certainly is his responsiblity.
Every president, like it or not, takes the hit for the bad economy.
I, personally, do not side with Romney or the Republicans. But, Obama has to man up and do his job, rather than campaign as if it isn't as bad as it is.
Billy then blame the party that was in control from 2000 to 2006 for the mess we are in. Not the sitting President. If you remember Billy unless you have short term memory loss the Great Recession started in December of 2007 and when the current President took office the country was bleeding 500,000 to 750,000 jobs a month. The Stock Market was down in the 7000 range and the average Joe was losing everything he gained in his 401K. I can't and will not say everything Obama has done worked, but he also had the help of a angry Republican Party who vowed to make him a one and done President, even if it hurt those who had the most to lose. Billy you do not have to like this sitting President and you can vote to get him out, but he is not the only one to blame. Billy at least he is taking responsiblility for the situation and knows it is on his head.
I could care less who is to blame. My opinion is that it is both parties over a period of time.
When you say taking responsibility, then I assume you mean that Obama will campaign on what he intends to do to fix this pathetic economy and improve unemployment. Of course, one has to wonder what he had done in his first term that hasn't moved the dial.
Now I understand Romney's type of business acumen that he expects to bring to the American people as President. Like he told reporters concerning the Bank Bailouts, he would have allowed them to slide into bankruptcy as the American workers and taxpayers would have been left holding the bag with lost jobs, lost pensions and lost insurance packages.
Romney needs to understand (cuz he really don't know, y'all) that his style of business dealings won't work on a wide scale like a country. He did as much as he did with his businesses because he had more control. As President, a good many hands would be in the decision making. He will not have the same type of business autonomy like he did at Bane or as Governor of his state.
HE WOULD SOON LEARN, MUCH TO HIS CHAGRIN THAT BEING THE LEADER OF AMERICA IS "ON A WHOLE--NUVER--LEVEL"
Yes, that may be true. It sure looks like Obama hasn't learn that, either.
There is no reason to vote for a job killer like MR!
Gingrich, Perry, and Santorum tried to point this out during the primaries but they were quickly hushed by their superiors.
Gingrich, Santorum were really beaten down by Romney's great amount of money for ruthless ads that vilified them one by one until they ran out of money.