Eyeing Possible 2012 Run, Romney Hits Obama on Jobs
Romney has pointed to his own experience in the business world as a qualification for the government's top job.
"His failure to stem the unemployment tide should not have been a surprise," Romney writes. "With no experience whatsoever in the world of employment and business formation, he had no compass to guide his path. Instead, he turned over much of his economic recovery agenda to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, themselves nearly as inexperienced in the private sector as he. Congress gave him and them everything they asked for, including a history-making three-quarters of a trillion dollar stimulus."
Romney complains in the op-ed that today's White House jobs summit comes "too late for millions of Americans who through no fault of their own have lost their jobs, their homes, their savings and, in many cases, the self-esteem and self-respect that come from work." The former Massachusetts governor says Mr. Obama has made the economy worse and deems the economic stimulus package "a miscalculated failure."
Romney also accuses the administration of trying to "disguise the truth" by misleading the public about jobs saved or created by the stimulus bill.
"Growing government, as was done with the stimulus, inevitably depresses the private sector and job creation," he writes.
He then offers a prescription to "lift the economy" built around a "10-point plan." In it, Romney opposes carbon cap-and-trade and suggests opening "the doors to trade," limiting federal spending, and extending the Bush tax cuts.
"The 10% unemployment crisis hangs like an albatross around President Obama's neck," Romney concludes. "Eventually, as with every recession and recovery, the economy will improve and jobs will be created, but those who were unnecessarily unemployed due to the president's faulty economic program will not forget. In order to most rapidly re-employ all Americans and to speed a strong recovery, the president must change course. If he does not, Republicans will bring a change of their own to Washington in the 2010 elections."