Romney: Layoffs In Bain Takeovers Weren't Any Different From Obama Laying Off Thousands When He Took Over GM

A fair point, for the general election, I guess.

“In the general election I’ll be pointing out that the president took the reins at General Motors and Chrysler — closed factories, closed dealerships laid off thousands and thousands of workers — he did it to try to save the business,” Romney said Wednesday on CBS.

But this is like Obama's stance on gay marriage. The left doesn't hold it against him because they know he's a dirty goddamned liar.

As regards GM, everyone knows the socialist in office just would have hit the taxpayers for more money to keep his clients in their jobs. But he didn't have the political heft to do more.

In Romney's case, it's known (or believed) that he's a capitalist, so he set out to fire lots of people (albeit, in dying companies that would lose lots of employees one way or the other).

So, for those who care about this, and for those who think that companies exist to provide them money -- Obama still wins out and Romney's liability remains a liability.

Now, I'm not one of those people who think that CEOs get up in the morning wondering, "What further public service can I provide via hiring workers I don't need?," but many less sophisticated people think they do think that, or should think that.

And Obama, armed with an unlimited credit card from the Bank of You, does think that way. Being unsophisticated himself.

@bendomench sent this. He thinks it shows Romney is a bit clueless about as far as what conservative opinion is. I don't think so, because Romney did say he'd offer this argument "during the general election." He knows conservatives aren't happy about the bailouts. He just means that Obama can't throw bombs about laying people off, because Obama's first foray into the business world -- coming, of course, during his term as president -- also involved a lot of layoffs.

Still, it's a general liability for Romney, this whole thing of being the Big Capitalist Banker-type Guy in a period in which such guys are pretty unpopular.

posted by Ace at 01:30 PM

| Access Comments