Romney begins to tell the story of Romney
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney shakes hands with students at Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio, April 27, 2012.
/ AP Photo/Jae C. Hong(CBS News) WESTERVILLE, Ohio - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Friday began the process of introducing himself to a general election audience by peppering his stump speech with personal anecdotes aimed at helping the wealthy former venture capitalist connect with every day people.
Speaking to students and staff at Otterbein University in central Ohio, Romney described his career as the head of Bain Capital, a private equity firm that he said provided the impetus for a number of successful start-ups, including the Staples office supply chain.
In the 1990s, Romney said, most companies purchased their pens, paper clips, copy toner and other supplies from merchants who delivered straight to their offices but at high prices. Bain was considering a proposal from an entrepreneur to sell office supplies in bulk at discount prices.
Though "experts" told him it was a bad idea, that no manager wanted to worry about making a shopping run for office supplies, Romney said he hired analysts to look into actual office supply purchases by companies and discovered that the firms were spending far more than they thought on office supplies. "And so after a lengthy analysis, we decided that we would invest in this office super store. It's called Staples," Romney said to murmurs of recognition. "It now employs ... I think 90,000 people."
The story, Romney said, demonstrates that his data-driven approach in business will carry over to running the government. The anemic rate of the economic recovery under President Obama, he said, was due to a lack of such skills. "The impact of gathering facts, gathering information, learning about the reality behind the words, has proven to me, in the business sector, that facts are more important than words and that results are more important than words," he said. " ... You will hear words from people running for office that sound great. But sometimes what people say is not a perfect example of what they're going to do."
Several supporters recently urged Romney to open up about his personal life and professional success, in an effort to tie a positive message to the barrage of criticism he throws at the president in every campaign speech.
Romney on Friday blamed Obama for high unemployment rates, falling median income, reduced housing prices and a soaring national deficit. "We are on track to becoming Greece," he said, referring to that country's debt crisis. "No question in my mind that if this president were to be reelected, we will ultimately face a Greece-like setting, where people will wonder whether they want to loan money to America, and loan money to America at low interest rates."
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In the early '50s, (a) Europe was flat on its back after WWII (remember the Marshall Plan!); (b) Japan was occupied (by the U.S.); China's Maoists had just won a revolution; (c) India had just declared its independence from Great Britain; (d) the Soviet Union was our main geopolitical opponent but was very weak economically. The U.S. was essentially the ONLY engine of the global economy.
I can understand why the rich white men (here and in Europe) who ran the world in 1950 might want to go back to that decade, but it's hard to imagine why anyone who isn't rich and white and male would think it was a particularly appealing period to restore....
ex animo
batazoidz
ex animo
davidfarrar
Obama is taking this country in the wrong direction. He is incompetent and will go down in history as one of the worse or the worse presidents.
I am 65, have always been a democrat but after seeing what is happening to this country I will now support Romney. We now need a leader who loves this country and know what he is doing.
Of course if you listen to news on CBS you don't get the full picture.
Gone are the days when the reporters reported the news and were unbiased.
One more thing, we need more Paul Ryan's at the helm of this country. It is not that he wants to take away from anyone, he is trying to get this country back on his feet. The spending needs to stop. But again you listen to the propaganda and believe it as the truth.