Axelrod: Romney not 'qualified to call himself a job-creator’

[bigtree]

06/03/12

Speaking on CBS’s Face the Nation, David Axelrod, a senior adviser to President Obama’s reelection campaign, said the former Massachusetts governor shouldn’t be considered an expert on the economy. Romney’s record in government and in the private sector was not about creating jobs, according to the Obama adviser.

“No one’s arguing whether Mitt Romney’s qualified to be president. What we’re arguing is whether he’s qualified to call himself a job-creator,” Axelrod said. “That’s not what he did in business. That’s not the purpose of his business. And that’s not certainly what he did in Massachusetts, where they had one of the worst economic records in the country.”

Mr. Axelrod dismissed suggestions that the Obama campaign would dial back its attacks on Romney’s time at private-equity firm Bain Capital. The Obama adviser talked about one Obama campaign commercial that focused on Bain’s involvement with GST Steel, a company which went bankrupt.

“No. First of all, It’s part of a piece. Is Mitt Romney’s background, are his ideas the ones that could move our economy forward?” Axelrod said. “That’s not an economic strategy that’s going to rebuild the middle class in this country, that’s going to grow our economy in the long run, and that’s the point we’re making.”


read: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/230599-obama-adviser-axelrod-romney-not-qualified-to-call-himself-a-job-creator

[fishwax]

1. he's a "wealth for the already wealthy" creator

And that's about it.

[orpupilofnature57]

2. He's a poster-boy for the 1%

[hughee99]

3. Agree on 99% of this, but I don't recall Massachusetts having

one of the worst economic records in the country.

[emulatorloo]

6. State was 47th in job creation during Mitt's term

[hughee99]

7. So when he says "one of the worst economic records",

he's referring to job creation, not the overall economy of the state? During Mittens time in office, Massachusetts didn't do a great job with economic growth, but I'll bet there are a number of states that would have still rather swapped economies with us.

[bigtree]

10. He left Massachusetts taxpayers with more debt per person than any other state

Romney left behind a $1 billion budget deficit for the next governor,

Massachusetts' long-term debt went up by more than $2.6 billion under Romney—a 16 percent increase in just four years. On top of that, Massachusetts had the highest per capita debt in the country.

Taxes and fees: Increased by $750 million per year

Long-term debt: Increased more than $2.6 billion



http://www.democrats.org/news/blog/broken_promises_romneys_massachusetts_record

[hughee99]

12. A couple of things, the deficit was PROJECTED

to be possibly as high as 1 billion dollars, but actually came in at well below that. Massachusetts does have the highest per capita debt in the country, but Romney "started on third base" as Massachusetts was a close third the day he took office (behind AK and NY).

We'll just leave aside that Democrats have had veto-proof majorities in both state houses for years now. How much influence Romney had over the budget is a matter for a different debate.

Romney was shitty at creating jobs, no doubt, but he didn't single-handedly collapse the MA economy either. Not trying to defend Romney, but rather MA.

[bigtree]

14. I guess it will all flesh out later in the campaign

We'll get to the bottom of what he's actually responsible for.

[hughee99]

15. He's certainly NOT responsible for job creation.

I don't think the review of MA needs to go any further than that. He's billing himself as a job creator, but when he had a chance to do this as governor, he didn't. Attempting to blame him for the entire MA economy muddies the waters (how much was HE responsible for) but keeping the discussion at job creation makes for an easily understandable election issue.

[madokie]

4. Axelrod is fearless

He truly believes in our President same as many of us do. He won't take any shit from anyone. I like that.

[Life Long Dem]

5. From 2003-2007, Massachusetts,

when Romney governed, ranked 47th among the 50 states in job creation.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

8. They need look no farther than his support for the Ryan plan

Romney wants to privatize social security and medicare and practice trickle down economics which has a dismal track record for job creation.

[SunsetDreams]

9. K&R Love Axelrod!

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

11. Sure Mitt's created a lot of jobs.

In China.

[Initech]

13. Stephen Colbert was right - Romney is a serial killer (of jobs).

[BootinUp]

16. Axelrod has come up with a good way to frame the argument there.nt