Obama Says ‘Appropriate’ to Focus on Romney at Bain

President Barack Obama said that if Mitt Romney’s basic premise for his presidential candidacy is “I’m Mister Fix-It on the economy,” then he would scrutinize Romney’s record at the private-equity firm Bain Capital LLC.

Asked on “CBS This Morning” about the presumptive Republican nominee’s work at Bain, Obama said, “I think it’s entirely appropriate to look at the record and see whether in fact, his focus was creating jobs and he successfully did that. And when you look at the record, there are questions there that have to be asked.”

Romney’s record at Bain is being examined anew as a result of disclosure of Securities and Exchange Commission documents showing him as the firm’s head and sole shareholder for several years after he said he left the company to run the 2002 Winter Olympics. Obama said that Romney’s experience running Bain required a different set of skills and priorities than serving as president.

“That doesn’t necessarily make you qualified to think about the economy as a whole, because as president my jobs is to think about the workers,” he said. “My job is to think about communities where jobs have been outsourced.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Hans Nichols in Washington at hnichols2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Steven Komarow at skomarow1@bloomberg.net

Enlarge image

President Barack Obama

Luke Sharrett/Pool via Bloomberg

President Barack Obama said that if Mitt Romney’s basic premise for his presidential candidacy is “I’m Mister Fix-It on the economy,” then he would scrutinize Romney’s record at the private-equity firm Bain Capital LLC.

President Barack Obama said that if Mitt Romney’s basic premise for his presidential candidacy is “I’m Mister Fix-It on the economy,” then he would scrutinize Romney’s record at the private-equity firm Bain Capital LLC. Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Pool via Bloomberg