Obama Says Romney Is Dishonest For Bailout

Obama Vs Romney

 

 

Lima, ohio—barnstorming across ohio on friday,president obama threw off the appeals to bipartisan harmony that had suffused his response to the east coast storm two days earlier to mount a fiery attack on mitt romney’s attempt to discredit his bailout of detroit.

The comforting commander in chief replaced by the political warrior, mr. Obama hopscotched across this electoral battleground, accusing mr. Romney at every stop of dishonesty for claiming that the president’s auto-industry bailout had resulted in jobs moving to china.
At issue is a romney ad airing in ohio that asserts that chrysler, under new italian owners, moved jeep production to china after being bailed out by the obama administration in 2009.
“that’s not true,” mr. Obama said to a crowd of 2,800 in a cavernous barn in the town of hilliard, as they chanted “liar” and “lying” about mr. Romney. “everybody knows it’s not true. The car companies themselves have told governor romney to knock it off.”

 The commercial, mr. Obama said, amounted to a cynical ploy to make up for the fact that mr. Romney opposed the bailout and has struggled ever since with voters in ohio, where one of every eight jobs is dependent on the auto industry.

“this isn’t a game: these are people’s jobs, these are people’s lives,” the president said. Claiming that the ad had unnerved some employees at the jeep plant in toledo, ohio, he said, “you don’t scare hard-working americans just to scare up some votes.”
Mr. Obama’s harsh words, in a voice that grew raspier as the day went on, sounded like the stretch run of a marathon campaign, with the president pleading for every vote in a state where he is clinging to a narrow but steady lead in polls against mr. Romney.
Mr. Romney is putting up a fierce challenge, kicking off a major rally in ohio with his running mate, representative paul d. Ryan, and an array of prominent republican officials. The bitter confrontation between the candidates over the auto bailout illustrates the enormous stakes, and it has dominated headlines here and in michigan.
The romney campaign countered the president’s criticism by insisting that the ad was accurate.
“the facts are clear: despite his false and misleading attacks, president obama took the auto companies into bankruptcy,” said a spokeswoman, amanda henneberg. “his mismanagement of the process has exposed taxpayers to a $25 billion loss.”
To try to offset rare public criticism from chrysler and general motors, the romney campaign corralled an endorsement from a former president of chrysler, hal sperlich, who said mr. Romney would make the american auto industry more competitive.
But mr. Obama seemed energized, fortified by a better than expected jobs report and his experience in the storm, when he won an endorsement from mayor michael r. Bloomberg of new york and made a political bedfellow of the republican governor of new jersey, chris christie.
“i’ve got a lot of fight left in me,” mr. Obama said to 4,000 people in a high school gymnasium in springfield, ohio. He also went after mr. Romney’s claims that he, not mr. Obama, was a change agent.
“governor romney, he’s a very gifted salesman, so he’s been trying in this campaign as hard as he can to repackage these ideas that didn’t work, the very same policies that did not work, and he’s trying to pretend they’re change,” mr. Obama said.
The show of harmony in new jersey on wednesday seemed a world away from the chilly midwestern fairground in hilliard. Even the minister offering the invocation jabbed mr. Romney for his remarks about the 47 percent of americans whom he claimed support mr. Obama and rely on government handouts.Warming up the crowd, former gov.ted strickland of ohio characterized a canned-goods drive that mr. Romney held in dayton for storm victims as little more than a cheap photo opportunity. And he described ohio as “the firewall for president obama” — a state he cannot afford to lose.
So much attention has been lavished on this state that it sometimes seems as if the candidates have been wooing ohioans one at a time. Mr. Obama used his limousine, helicopter and a smaller version of air force one to reach ohio’s nooks and crannies, traversing the flat landscape from hilliard to springfield and then north to lima.

The obama campaign has projected steadfast confidence that it will hold on to a victory in ohio, citing public polls that show mr. Obama ahead of mr. Romney by a nearly two-to-one ratio among the 23 percent of registered voters who have already cast ballots.

Campaign aides also brushed aside mr. Romney’s plan to campaign in pennsylvania, saying it reflected the challenger’s weakness in ohio. “it’s a desperate ploy, in the last throes of a campaign, to put another state in play,” said david plouffe, a senior white house adviser.

Backs Obama Bloomberg

 Backs Obama Bloomberg

MR. BLOOMBERG, A POLITICAL INDEPENDENT IN HIS THIRD TERM LEADING NEW YORK CITY, HAS BEEN SHARPLY CRITICAL OF MR. OBAMA, A DEMOCRAT, AND MITT ROMNEY, THE PRESIDENT’S REPUBLICAN RIVAL, SAYING THAT BOTH MEN HAD FAILED TO CANDIDLY CONFRONT THE PROBLEMS AFFLICTING THE NATION. BUT HE SAID HE HAD DECIDED OVER THE PAST SEVERAL DAYS THAT MR. OBAMA WAS THE BETTER CANDIDATE TO TACKLE THE GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE THAT HE BELIEVES MIGHT HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO THE VIOLENT STORM, WHICH TOOK THE LIVES OF AT LEAST 38 NEW YORKERS AND CAUSED BILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN DAMAGE.

“THE DEVASTATION THAT HURRICANE SANDY BROUGHT TO NEW YORK CITY AND MUCH OF THE NORTHEAST — IN LOST LIVES, LOST HOMES AND LOST BUSINESS — BROUGHT THE STAKES OF NEXT TUESDAY’S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION INTO SHARP RELIEF,” MR. BLOOMBERG WROTE IN AN EDITORIAL FOR BLOOMBERG VIEW.

“OUR CLIMATE IS CHANGING,” HE WROTE. “AND WHILE THE INCREASE IN EXTREME WEATHER WE HAVE EXPERIENCED IN NEW YORK CITY AND AROUND THE WORLD MAY OR MAY NOT BE THE RESULT OF IT, THE RISK THAT IT MAY BE — GIVEN THE DEVASTATION IT IS WREAKING — SHOULD BE ENOUGH TO COMPEL ALL ELECTED LEADERS TO TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION.”

MR. BLOOMBERG’S ENDORSEMENT IS ANOTHER INDICATION THAT HURRICANE SANDY HAS INFLUENCED THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN. THE STORM AND THE DESTRUCTION IT LEFT IN ITS WAKE HAVE DOMINATED NEWS COVERAGE, TRANSFIXING THE NATION AND PROMPTING THE CANDIDATES TO HALT THEIR CAMPAIGNING BRIEFLY.

THE ANNOUNCEMENT IS ALSO THE LATEST IN A SERIES OF STEPS MR. BLOOMBERG HAS TAKEN IN A BID TO ASSERT HIS INFLUENCE NATIONALLY AS HIS FINAL TERM AS MAYOR ENTERS ITS TWILIGHT — AND AFTER HE APPEARS TO HAVE ABANDONED HIS OWN HOPES OF ONE DAY BECOMING PRESIDENT.

LAST MONTH, THE MAYOR SAID THAT HE WAS CREATING HIS OWN “SUPER PAC” TO SUPPORT CANDIDATES FROM EITHER PARTY, AS WELL AS INDEPENDENTS, WHO HE BELIEVES ARE DEVOTED TO HIS BRAND OF NONIDEOLOGICAL PROBLEM SOLVING, AND HE HAS INCREASINGLY USED HIS PERSONAL WEALTH AND THE BULLY PULPIT OF HIS OFFICE IN AN EFFORT TO PERSUADE ELECTED OFFICIALS TO SUPPORT SAME-SEX MARRIAGE, GUN CONTROL AND EDUCATION REFORM.

THE IMPACT OF MR. BLOOMBERG’S ENDORSEMENT IS UNCLEAR; HIS CITY AND HIS STATE ARE OVERWHELMINGLY DEMOCRATIC, AND ALTHOUGH HE IS A WELL-KNOWN AND LONG-SERVING PUBLIC OFFICIAL WHO FREQUENTLY APPEARS IN THE NATIONAL MEDIA, HIS INFLUENCE IS DIFFICULT TO MEASURE: AN ABC NEWS/WASHINGTON POST POLL CONDUCTED IN DECEMBER FOUND 30 PERCENT OF AMERICANS HAD A FAVORABLE VIEW OF MR. BLOOMBERG, 26 PERCENT HAD AN UNFAVORABLE VIEW, AND MANY — 44 PERCENT — HAD NO OPINION OF HIM ONE WAY OR THE OTHER.

BOTH THE OBAMA AND ROMNEY CAMPAIGNS HAD AGGRESSIVELY SOUGHT THE MAYOR’S ENDORSEMENT, IN LARGE PART BECAUSE THEY BELIEVED HE COULD INFLUENCE INDEPENDENT VOTERS AROUND THE COUNTRY. MR. BLOOMBERG HAD RECENTLY SIGNALED HE WOULD NOT MAKE AN ENDORSEMENT, TELLING REPORTERS SEVERAL WEEKS AGO THAT HE HAD DECIDED WHOM HE WOULD VOTE FOR, BUT THAT HE WAS NOT SURE HE WOULD SHARE THAT DECISION WITH THE PUBLIC.

JOHN WEAVER, A PROMINENT REPUBLICAN POLITICAL STRATEGIST, SAID THE TIMING OF THE MAYOR’S ENDORSEMENT WAS NOTABLE.

“HIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS SANDWICHED BETWEEN THIS HORRIFIC CALAMITY AND THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION,” HE NOTED. “SO THE TIMING COULD NOT HAVE BEEN MORE SIGNIFICANT FOR HIM AND HIS VIEWS.”

STEVE MCMAHON, A VETERAN DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST, SAID HE BELIEVED THAT NOW THAT MR. BLOOMBERG HAD COME TO TERMS WITH NOT RUNNING FOR THE PRESIDENCY, HE WAS INTERESTED IN CEMENTING HIS POLITICAL LEGACY.

“MANY POLITICIANS REACH THE POINT IN THEIR CAREERS WHERE THEY HAVE BUILT UP CONSIDERABLE POLITICAL EQUITY AND THE ONLY QUESTION IS HOW THEY USE IT TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE,” HE SAID. “IN ENDORSING PRESIDENT OBAMA, THE MAYOR SEEMS TO HAVE DECIDED TO USE SOME OF HIS EQUITY.”

EVEN BEFORE THE HURRICANE STRUCK, MR. BLOOMBERG HAD BEEN CONCERNED ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE. HE IS THE CHAIRMAN OF AN ORGANIZATION CALLED C40, A NETWORK OF CITIES SEEKING TO REDUCE GREENHOUSE-GAS EMISSIONS.

YET UNTIL THE STORM, CLIMATE CHANGE HAD NOT BEEN MUCH OF AN ISSUE IN THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN. THE TOPIC DID NOT COME UP DURING THE THREE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES, AND THE CANDIDATES HAVE NOT PROVIDED DETAILED LEGISLATIVE OR REGULATORY PLANS OUTLINING THEIR STANCES ON THE ISSUE.

SINCE THE HURRICANE, A NUMBER OF ELECTED OFFICIALS HAVE COME FORWARD, CHIEFLY IN NEW YORK, TO SAY THAT THEY HAVE CONCLUDED THE PLANET IS UNDERGOING CLIMATE CHANGE, THAT HUGE STORMS ARE NO LONGER FREAK OCCURRENCES BUT EXPECTABLE REALITY, AND THAT PUBLIC POLICY MUST BEGIN TO PREPARE FOR THE IMPACT.

GOV. ANDREW M. CUOMO OF NEW YORK SAID TUESDAY, “ANYONE WHO SAYS THERE IS NOT A DRAMATIC CHANGE IN WEATHER PATTERNS I THINK IS DENYING REALITY.” SENATOR CHARLES E. SCHUMER, DEMOCRAT OF NEW YORK, SAID WEDNESDAY, “WE’RE GOING TO PAY A PRICE FOR THE CHANGE IN CLIMATE.” AND REPRESENTATIVE JERROLD NADLER, DEMOCRAT OF MANHATTAN, ECHOED THE CONSENSUS OF LOCAL OFFICIALS ON THURSDAY, SAYING SIMPLY, “THERE WILL BE A STORM OF THIS MAGNITUDE AGAIN.”