Romney: Credit Bush, Not Obama, for Saving Us from Great Depression
by David Atkins
Not content with just one horrible gaffe by his campaign today, Mitt Romney steps in it again:
"I keep hearing the president say he's responsible for keeping the country out of a Great Depression," Romney said at a town hall in Arbutus, Maryland. "No, no, no, that was President George W. Bush and [then-Treasury Secretary] Hank Paulson."
How very like Mitt Romney to think that bailing out Wall Street vultures with TARP was a great idea, but that creating infrastructure jobs through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was not. In Mitt Romney's world, only the Mitt Romneys of the world actually matter.
Jonathan Chait has even more insight:
Politically, though, this new emphasis seems problematic for Romney. For one thing, Obama’s plan is to depict Romney as continuing the failed policies of the Bush administration. Praising Bush’s economic stewardship is probably not the wisest strategy.
Second, the Wall Street bailout is actually a huge political liability for Obama because it’s incredibly unpopular and most Americans think Obama, not Bush, signed it. So having Romney run around reminding people that Bush bailed out Wall Street is actually Obama’s prayer answered.
This does not seem to be Romney’s best day on the trail.
No kidding. But the irony is that it might be his most honest day on the trail.
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