AGGRESSIVE ROMNEY TAKES FIGHT TO OBAMA.
DENVER As storm clouds gathered around the first presidential debate, Republican challenger Mitt Romney wasted little time in attacking U.S. President Barack Obama’s economic record, charging that “middle income families are being crushed” by Obama’s economic policies.
Echoing the words of VicePresident Joe Biden, he said Obama’s policies were burying the middle class under the weight of mounting energy costs and debt.
He attacked Obama for his failure to reduce the $16-trillion deficit, saying each year he is adding to it and that Obama’s policies are “not going to cut it with the American people.”
His criticism of Obama was sweeping and unrelenting and easily deflected Obama’s counter punches, which often seemed hesitant and seemed as if they might lose listeners in a sea of details.
Romney promised to award the middle class substantial tax cuts that he said will help them pay for rising energy and utility costs and “put the country on a path of growth.”
He charged that Obama’s economic plan will harm small business and thereby not create jobs.
“I’m not looking to cut massive taxes,” he said, adding that his “underlining principle” is not to hand out tax cuts that will increase the deficit.
Obama remained calm throughout the onslaught, pressing forward with his charge that Romney’s proposal for $5 billion in tax cuts will increase the deficit, further stall the economy and, in the longterm, burden the middle class.
Romney denied that he is looking for a $5-billion tax cut, saying “that’s not my plan.”
“My priority is putting people back to work. . . . We have 23 million people out of work,” he said.
Obama said taxes have to be increased for people earning more than $200,000 a year and that this will help lower the deficit and help finance important education and publichealth programs.
Romney said he will cut any program that will increase the deficit. “I’m not going to keep on spending money on things we need to borrow money from China to pay for.”
Obama blamed former president George W. Bush for the deficit. He said it came from two wars “that were paid for on a credit card ... and then a massive economic crisis.”
“You have been president for four years and you said you would cut the deficit in half and you haven’t done it,” Romney said. “We still show trillion-dollar deficits every year.”
“We all know we have to do more,” Obama said, adding that his program will cut the deficit in half by 2016.