Politics
Election 2012: Obama launches re-election campaign
President Barack Obama arrives for a campaign rally at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Va., Saturday, May 5, 2012. PHOTO/Steve Helber/AP
President Barack Obama plunged into his campaign for a new term and tore into rival Mitt Romney on Saturday as a willing and eager “rubber stamp” for conservative Republicans in Congress who want to cut taxes for the rich while slashing spending on programs that benefit an embattled middle class.
Mr. Romney and his “friends in Congress think the same bad ideas will lead to a different result, or they’re just hoping you won’t remember what happened the last time you tried it their way,” the president told an audience estimated at over 10,000 supporters at Ohio State University in Columbus. Aides insisted it was his first full-fledged political rally of the election year.
Six months before Election Day, the polls point to a close race between Mr. Obama and Mr. Romney, with the economy the overriding issue as the U.S. struggles to recover from the worst recession since the 1930s. Unemployment remains stubbornly high at 8.1 percent nationally, although it has receded slowly and unevenly since peaking several months into the president’s term. The most recent dip was due to discouraged jobless giving up their search for work.
Mr. Romney has staked his candidacy on an understanding of the economy, developed through a successful career as a businessman, and his promise to enact policies that stimulate job creation.
But Mr. Obama said his rival was merely doing the bidding of the conservative powerbrokers in Congress and has little understanding of the struggles of average Americans.
Mr. Romney “doesn’t seem to understand that maximizing profits by whatever means necessary, whether it’s through layoffs or outsourcing or tax avoidance, union busting, might not always be good for the average American or for the American economy,” the president said.
“Why else would he want to cut his own taxes while raising them for 18 million Americans,” Mr. Obama said of his multimillionaire opponent.
