White House: Romney "Desperate" To Change Subject

Thu, 20 Sep 2012 14:39:37 +0000

Dropping in the polls and stung by the release of a video that shows Mitt Romney dismissing the "47 percent" of voters who will probably support President Obama as "victims", Romney's campaign is "desperate" to change the subject says White House Spokesman Jay Carney. The Romney campaign is pointing to an audio tape of President Obama from 14 years ago where he uses the phrase "redistribution" as evidence that the President wants to adopt a "European-style" economy. Carney says a similar charge has been leveled before at Obama in 2008 and failed. "I would say that all of us who follow politics and policy, whether we’re on this side or your side of the podium, have seen circumstances like this where a campaign is having a very bad day or a very bad week. And in circumstances like that, there are efforts made -- sometimes desperate efforts made to change the subject. "The charge based on this 14-year old video sounds very familiar to one that was tried and failed in 2008. Fourteen years ago, then-Senator Obama was making an argument for a more efficient, more effective government, specifically citing city government agencies that he did not think were working effectively. He believed then and believes now that there are steps we can take to promote opportunity and ensure that all Americans have a fair shot if they work hard. "He certainly doesn’t believe, as some apparently do, that any student who looks for a government-backed loan is looking for a handout; or that a senior citizen receiving Social Security is a freeloader; or a combat veteran not paying taxes is a victim. He believes that we need to make government more effective, more efficient. He believed that then, he believes it now." Asked why he is willing to talk about campaign issues when he usually refers reporters to Obama's Chicago campaign headquarters, Carney said " I had a four-shot espresso before I got out here."

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White House: Romney "Desperate" To Change Subject