According to Bill Clinton. Doesn't look like attacking Romney's business background is working out too well for Obama.
Romney smiles at Clinton complimentPosted by
CNN's Ashley Killough
(CNN) – Mitt Romney on Friday embraced a comment made by Bill Clinton the previous night, in which the former president praised Romney's private equity career, despite a recent flood of Democratic attacks against the presumptive nominee's corporate resume.
Romney defended his former firm, Bain Capital, on Friday and pointed to its record of successful investments compared to its small minority of buyouts that later went bankrupt.
"I think Bain Capital has a good and solid record," Romney said in a CNBC interview. "I was happy to see President Clinton made a similar statement today and called my record superb."
The former president, however, used the word "sterling" to describe Romney's business career instead when he discussed the candidate in an interview on CNN Thursday.
"The man who has been governor and had a sterling business career crosses the qualification threshold," Clinton said on CNN's "Piers Morgan Tonight." The comment raised eyebrows among many Democrats, who have been highly critical of Romney's business experience over recent weeks.
"I don't think that we ought to get into the position where we say 'This is bad work. This is good work,'" Clinton continued.
He later added: "I think the real issue ought to be, what has Governor Romney advocated in the campaign that he will do as president? What has President Obama done and what does he propose to do? How do these things stack up against each other?"
While Republicans have since seized on the comments, using them to counter recent Democratic attacks, the White House brushed off Clinton's remarks on Friday. A spokesman told reporters aboard Air Force One that he didn't see any news in the remarks.
And the president's re-election team also glossed over the remarks, focusing instead on one line where Clinton described the tactics some private equity investors use.
"Invest in a company, run up the debt & force people to lose their retirement and fire them," a senior campaign official pointed out in paraphrase.
However, Clinton was making a comparison of two kinds of investors. Those who buy, strip and destroy companies for profit, and others also driven by profit, but with the goal of making the companies better, even though they too can fail with equal consequences.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/06/01/romney-smiles-at-clinton-compliment/
