Romney aims direct hits against Obama

Speaking Saturday evening in the key primary state, New Hampshire, Mitt Romney showed that his presumptive campaign for the Republican presidential nomination is getting underway in earnest as he relentlessly attacked President Obama's performance in office.

He described Mr. Obama as  "a president that is unprepared and unequal to the task of leading the free world."  

He further criticized the Obama administration's handling of turmoil in the Middle East:

"And now, with the entire Middle East in turmoil, he and his administration were caught off guard. The President and his team look like deer in the headlights. Instead of leading the world, the President has been tiptoeing behind the Europeans. Newsweek magazine this week said that he hasn't just lost his foreign policy map for the Middle East--he doesn't even have one. This is the first time in a quarter of a century that America has had no discernible foreign policy. Not since the days of Jimmy Carter have we had such a foreign policy vacuum in Washington. And it could not have come at a worse time."

Romney, who has not yet declared that he will seek the nomination,  also hit Mr. Obama on the economy and health care.  He remarked on the trillion dollar debt that the U.S. has amassed since Obama went into office.

"Senator Obama campaigned hard in New Hampshire, but he apparently didn't like what he saw," Romney says in prepared remarks. "He certainly didn't learn from it. Instead of lowering taxes, he raised them. He wrapped businesses in red tape, he grew government, he borrowed trillions of dollars, and he made it clear that he doesn't like business people very much."

He blamed the soaring numbers of unemployment, foreclosures and bankruptcies on Obama, calling it the "Obama Misery Index".

"He created a deeper recession, and delayed the recovery. The consequence is soaring numbers of Americans enduring unemployment, foreclosures and bankruptcies. This is the Obama Misery Index, and it is at a record high. It's going to take more than new rhetoric to put Americans back to work -- it's going to take a new president," said Romney.

Romney also said he would repeal the health care bill passed by Congress.

"I would repeal Obamacare, if I were ever in a position to do so. My experience has taught me that states are where healthcare programs for the uninsured should be crafted, just as the Constitution provides. Obamacare is bad law, bad policy, and it is bad for America's families," he said.