Obama camp: Attack on Romney isn't an attack on private equity industry

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(CBS News) President Obama has had a somewhat rocky relationship with Wall Street over the course of his first term, and his re-election campaign opened a new line of attack against Mitt Romney today for his work as a corporate titan at a private equity firm. His campaign, however, has emphatically emphasized that it's attacking Romney's career specifically and his economic values -- not the private equity industry overall.

"No one is challenging Romney's right to run his business as he saw fit, and no one is questioning the private equity industry as a whole. That's not what this is about," Stephanie Cutter, deputy campaign manager for Obama for America, told reporters Monday. "This is about whether the lessons and values Romney drew from his time as a buyout specialist -- what those values are, what they tell us about what type of President Mitt Romney would be, and whether the voters want that in the Oval Office."

The Obama campaign on Monday rolled out a multi-pronged attack on Mitt Romney's record as the head of Bain Capital, the private equity firm he founded. The attack includes a two-minute television ad that will air in five battleground states, focusing on the story of GST Steel, a Kansas City plant that Bain Capital purchased and subsequently shuttered after more than 100 years of business.

Romney has touted his work at Bain as an example of his business expertise and understanding the economy. The line of attack is a delicate one for the Obama campaign, given that by industry standards, Bain Capital has been a strong performer.

Steven Rattner, Mr. Obama's former car czar, said on MSNBC this morning that the Obama campaign's new ad is unfair.

"Bain Capital responsibility was not to create 100,000 jobs or some other number. It was to create profits for its investors, most of whom were pension funds and endowments and foundations," he said. "And it did it superbly well, acting within the rules, acting very responsibly, and was a leading firm. And so yeah, I do think to pick out an example of somebody who lost their job, unfortunately, this is part of capitalism, this is part of life, and I don't think Bain Capital did anything they need to be embarrassed about."

Even Cutter acknowledged today that Bain is a successful company.

"Bain was and continues to be a very prominent firm," Cutter said. There were some instances, however, in which the company under Romney's leadership "made wrong decisions for long-term economic growth and the wrong decisions for workers invested in those companies," she added.

Once again, Cutter stressed, "At the end of the day this isn't about private equity. Romney says there are winners and losers -- absolutely. But at the end of the day, his partners always won, and somebody else was left holding the bag."

The Romney campaign has pointed out that the layoffs at GST Steel and its bankruptcy happened in 2001 -- two years after Romney gave up running Bain Capital to run the Salt Lake City Olympics.

Cutter said today that it was fair to attack Romney for the management of GST Steel because "he set this in motion. It was his structure that put this in place." She noted that he was still listed as CEO of the company and was "still making profits off of this deal."

The private equity industry has been actively defending itself against negative perceptions in wake of Bain attacks, which started during the Republican primary. The Private Equity Growth Capital Council earlier this year launched the website PrivateEquityAtWork.com, and last week it released a video called "What is Private Equity?"

Ken Spain, a spokesman for the industry group, told Hotsheet that the renewed focus on private equity was to be expected as the general election got under way. "But what is lost in the politically-charged debate is the fact that private equity has pumped hundreds of billions of dollars into the U.S. economy, supporting and strengthening tens of thousands of businesses in all fifty states," he said.

While the Obama campaign insists it's not attacking the industry, the fundraising numbers suggest industry insiders aren't buying it: Democrats received the majority of the industry's donations in 2008, but this year, the money is going to Republicans.

Mr. Obama may try to turn that around today, when he heads to a $35,800-per-head fundraiser in New York City -- a campaign official confirms to CBS News the fundraiser will be hosted by Tony James, president of the private equity firm Blackstone.

[gep1955]

His campaign, however, has emphatically emphasized that it's attacking Romney's career specifically and his economic values -- not the private equity industry overall. bull, all he has done for 3 1/2 years is attack success and threaten higher taxes on the hard working people who create the wealth he attempts to steal.

[marychgo]

Can a private equity firm make a positive contribution to the flourishing of the U.S. economy? Of course. Do all private equity firms make a positive contribution to the flourishing of the U.S. economy? No. THAT's what the discussion is about....

[Liberalslayer]

Obama Attacks Private Equity, Raises Funds from Private Equity Leaders tonight.
Why are Liberals such Hypocrites

[TimeToEvolve]

First part of the Republicon plan: spend the country into oblivion. First your corporate masters make massive money and when it implodes you can just blame the next administration. You can't lose.

[TimeToEvolve]

So on the one hand you have the compensation schedule for the Top 1% and greedy capitalists like Robmee where there is no limit to how much you can make: it's whatever you can get.

And then you have the rest of the 99% whose wages are limited based on education, market conditions, labor supply and economics.

That is why I say here in Amerika we have Socialism for the Rich and Capitalism for everyone else.

[sjc_1]

Everything we have is a product of science and engineering. Scientists, engineers and manufacturers are exploited by the capitalists for profit, they get a pay check and then a pink slip.

[reubenrcbs]

It is kind of sad when people grope around inside the cereal box for a toy or a gift. The story speaks for itself. Romney is an animal and for all intents and purposes, a psychopath. There is no telling what he would do to America, if he felt himself at all threatened. In this regard, we can be sure he would show a profit, but there would be a long trail of dead, dying, decaying, and deceived Americans lying in the gutter along the side the road. The fact that the Christian right has anything to do with this massacre will be a lasting mark on their demise and inability to stay relevant in a world that has long passed them by.

[reubenrcbs]

It doesn't take long before the rats come out of the closet.

[retm-w]

agentzer

And the right's Koolaid is different?

[slightlyoffthewall]

"Bain Capital responsibility was not to create 100,000 jobs or some other number. It was to create profits for its investors."

i think this is the problem, isn't it? the president's economy is creating jobs, far more than 100,000 a month.

[democracy8]

agentzer007: You ARE aware that a number of baby boomers are retiring, aren't you? They are no longer looking for work and are a part of that 552,000 that you misrepresent as still looking.

[retm-w]

According to romney, they were responsable for creating 100,000 jobs. Guess he forgot to say they were all offshore.

[bubba31138]

So it's not an "attack on the private equity industry"? But of course it is, and it is just more of the same from Barack Obama. Throughout his adult life he has displayed contempt for our economic system, using populist code such as "billionaires", "the rich", "greedy corporations", "the 1%" etc. This is nothing more than continued promotion of big government at the expense of private businesses and individuals, especially those that dare to work hard and succeed. The U.S. economy will never improve significantly under the threat of this President's misguided ideology.