Post date: Sep 19, 2012 8:28:23 PM
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, UNITED STATES (SEPTEMBER 19) (NBC) - Presidential candidate Mitt Romney said Wednesday (September 19) he would do a better job of helping the poor than President Barack Obama as the Republican tries to recover from a secret video that showed him dismissing nearly half the electorate as dependent on government help.
Mitt Romney says he's the best answer for America's poor, as the Republican presidential hopeful reels from a fundraiser video that shows him dismissing nearly half the electorate as dependent on government help.
The video, recorded in May at a luxurious Florida home, shows Romney telling wealthy campaign donors that 47 percent of Americans will back Obama no matter what. "I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives," he says.
Romney hopes to recover by framing the presidential election as a choice between big government and economic growth. At an Atlanta fundraiser, Romney said he wants to spur job creation by encouraging private enterprise.
"We measure compassion, not just how we care for one another, important as that is, we measure compassion not just by how many people who are able to get unemployment benefits because they are out of work and how many people are on food stamps, we measure compassion by how many people can get off unemployment, by how many people can get a good job, how many people can off of food stamps, that's compassion, having an economy so strong that it lifts all Americans," Romney said.
Romney's campaign argues that Obama has presided over a stagnant economy, forcing more Americans to rely on food stamps and other government assistance.
"We help one another in need but we don't create a circumstance that it's easier to get a government subsidy than it is to get a job because if we do that we will eliminate or put in jeopardy the hallmark of America's economic success which is upward mobility. It's free people pursuing their dreams. They lift themselves and their families and they lift our society, that's how it works. You crush that, you say if you're successful we're going to take from you to give for others, you make the that the hallmark of America and you kill the power of our economy," Romney said.
In an apparent attempt to deflect attention from the video, Republicans are pointing to a recording that surfaced this week of Obama discussing his belief in "a certain level" of wealth distribution.
"He really believes in what I will call a government centered society. I know there are some people who believe that if you simply take from some and give to others we'll all be better off. It's known as redistribution. It's never been a characteristic of America. Just a tape came out a couple of days ago with the President saying, yes he believes in redistribution. I don't. I believe the way to lift people and to help people have higher incomes is not to take from some and to give to others but to create wealth for all of us. To create an economy so strong it lifts everybody."
Romney had hoped to spend the week fleshing out his plan to bolster the economy until the video of the Republican went viral on Monday and pushed the campaign into damage-control mode.
A Reuters/Ipsos daily tracking poll showed Obama leading Romney 48 percent to 43 percent among likely voters. Among all registered voters, Obama led 49 percent to 38 percent.