Romney ridicules Obama's "secretary of business" proposal
Mitt Romney gestures while speaking at a campaign event at Integrity Windows in Roanoke, Va., Thursday, Nov. 1, 2012. / AP Photo/David Goldman
ROANOKE, Va. After two days of canceled events and a break from direct attacks on President Obama, Mitt Romney returned Thursday to his pre-hurricane campaign mode --slamming Obama for failed policies and his suggestion that the country should create a new cabinet position for a Secretary of Business.
"I don't think adding a new chair in his cabinet will help add millions of jobs on Main Street," Romney told a crowd of more than 2,000 at a window and door manufacturer in western Virginia.
Obama talked about the idea, part of a consolidation plan he proposed in January, in an MSNBC interview Monday. "We should have one Secretary of Business, instead of nine different departments that are dealing with things like giving loans to SBA or helping companies with exports. There should be a one-stop shop," Obama said.
Romney mocks Obama's "department of business" idea
Romney said Obama's lack of business experience has left him grasping at straws for a new idea that would boost the business community. "We don't need a secretary of business to understand business, we need a president who understands business and I do," Romney said to enthusiastic applause.
The GOP campaign released a TV ad on the same theme, signaling this line of attack will be part of Romney's final push. "His solution to everything is to add another bureaucrat," a voiceover says gravely in the ad, before suggesting that Americans elect "a president who actually understands business."
On the trail here Thursday, Romney also revived some of his best received attack lines from earlier in the season. He told the owners of the manufacturing company that "they did build this," and suggested Obama's slogan of "forward" should really be "forewarned."
He also warned the crowd that they would face a dire situation if the president is re-elected. "If the president were to be re-elected, you're going to see high levels of unemployment continue and stalled wage growth - if any wage growth at all - just like we've seen over the last four years," Romney said.
Obama campaign spokeswoman Lis Smith said Romney is lurching "from false attack to false attack" in the final days of his campaign. "The idea that Mitt Romney would help businesses grow as president doesn't match his record or his policies. When the American auto industry and a million jobs were on the line, Romney turned his back, which is why he's trying to rewrite history by telling desperate falsehoods to Ohio voters," she said. She added that "independent economists agree his plans would do nothing to create jobs and could slow our recovery."
At the White House, press secretary Jay Carney said Obama "very much wants to see action" on streamlining the federal government and his initial proposal on business is backed by the Chamber of Commerce and Republican John Engler, president of the Business Roundtable and the former governor of Michigan. Carney said the consolidation plan would save $3 billion over 10 years and offer "one location, one website, one phone number, one agency that handles all these different issues that have to deal with supporting American business and supporting exports."
Romney's running mate, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, echoed Romney's mocking tone a few hours later in Greeley, Colo.
"Let me ask you a question, can anybody name our current secretary of Commerce?" Ryan asked the crowd. "You know why? We don't have one! It's been vacant for over four months and the president hasn't even proposed to put somebody in the job. We don't need another bureaucrat or another bureaucracy, we need another president."
The position is filled by Acting Secretary Rebecca Blank, who took over after former Commerce Secretary John Bryson suffered a seizure that caused a car accident in June and resigned.
Popular in Politics
- IRS' Lerner: "I have not done anything wrong" 668 Comments
- Obama to view Oklahoma tornado damage Sunday
- Christie: Keep politics out of Oklahoma disaster relief
- Former Miss America might challenge McConnell
- WH says criticism of its handling of IRS story is "legitimate"
- Anthony Weiner comeback try begins: Running for NYC mayor 120 Comments
- Officials on Benghazi: "We made mistakes, but without malice"
- Major immigration overhaul passes first big test 68 Comments
Every time Romney campaigns he ends up wiping his feet on his own constituents.
What a juvenile observation, are you in 2nd grade? They aren't creating some new all-powerful agency with expanded powers, they're just proposing combining existing agencies, which is a stupid waste of time and doesn't address the excessive regulations and taxes imposed by this Administration."
Exactly what excessive regulations are you talking about blockhead? We still have banks "too big to fail." Actually, the RepubliCONs are the true juveniles: "I want it and I won't have anybody telling me no."
So go ahead and tell us, exactly why you far-right GOPhers, are upset that President Obama has proposed to CONSOLIDATE nine different departments of government into one department, making government more streamlined and efficient. I thought it was all about SMALLER GOVERNMENT
__________________________________________________
Thank you for broadcasting your ignorance to the world by simply regurgitating liberal talking points picked out of lib blog drivel.
The complaints by business are not that they have to go to a bunch of different agencies like the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Small Business Administration, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the Export-Import Bank, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, and the U.S. Trade and Development Agency.
Obama's proposal does nothing to eliminate red tape or the regulations which are right now the chief complaint of business, aside from uncertainty regarding taxation and healthcare expenses for new hires.
You libs are the most incompetent bunch of idiots I have ever seen ciggy. Do you have a solitary independent thought in your head or are you just programmed to regurgitate whatever it is your messiah comes up with, no matter how stupid?