After all, he asked for it. In a recent campaign appearance in Virginia, the President remarked:
Ultimately, I think, Mr. Romney is going to have to answer those questions because if he aspires to being president, one of the things you learn is you’re ultimately responsible for the conduct of your operations.
The Obama campaign has been in all out assault mode on Mitt Romney since it was discovered that Romney may not have completely severed his relationship with Bain Capital after 1999.
The precise role Romney played at the firm from 1999 to 2001 is important not only because critics have raised questions about his truthfulness, but also because Bain was sending jobs overseas during that period.
But the President has a past as well. The real question is: Is President Obama ready to finally take responsibility for the conduct of his prior operations?
1992-2008: Barack Obama has a close relationship with extremist Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Jr. as evidenced by Obama’s 20 year patronage to Wright’s sermons and his officiating of Mr. Obama’s wedding to Michelle. One Obama spokesman back in 2008 even went so far as to say Obama compares Wright to “a member of his family…”
1995: Despite repeated insistence by the President that controversial figure Bill Ayers is “not somebody I exchange ideas from,” it has been confirmed that it was in Ayers’ home where Barack Obama’s Illinois State Senate bid was made apparent. Although never convicted of a crime, Ayers has been linked to the radical Weather Underground Organization. On the day of attacks of 9/11, a New York Times article ran in which Ayers was quoted talking about his organization’s nefarious activities, “I don’t regret setting bombs…I feel we didn’t do enough.” Ayers had also talked previously of Weather Underground’s philosophy.
Kill all the rich people. Break up their cars and apartments. Bring the revolution home, kill your parents, that’s where it’s really at.
All of this, Ayers now brushes aside as a “joke.”
1999-2002: The Ayers connection persists. Barack Obama serves on the board of the Woods Foundation with Ayers.
1999: Then State-Senator Barack Obama exploits Catholics to garner support for a universal health care bill that he co-sponsors. Illinois voters overwhelmingly reject it.
1999: Obama voted “Present” to dodge a difficult vote that could potentially have drawn a rift between him and his African-American supporters. A strategy he invoked on nearly 130 occasions during his time as an Illinois State Senator.
2001: State-Senator Barack Obama is the sole voice of opposition to an Illinois bill that would protect born-alive babies’ rights under the law when abortions failed to kill the fetus. The persuasive State-Senator, who is also a respected former law professor, quickly begins to garner support to kill the bill by saying it would undermine Roe v. Wade.
2003: Mr. Obama is now the chairman of the committee that the bill is referred to. Although nearly identical to the federal bill which passed Congress without a dissenting vote, and one Obama has said he would’ve supported had he been in the U.S. Senate at the time, the Illinois bill never makes it out of committee, falling on a 6-4 vote along party lines.
As you can see, the President has a long history of questionable relationships and conduct. Yet while President Obama was doing this, Mitt Romney was on a different path trying to save the troubled Salt Lake City Olympics, (h/t NewsMax):
Having faced a budget deficit of $379 million when he took over, Romney ended up with a surplus of $56 million. The money went to fund future Olympics.When he took the job, Romney said he would accept the offered salary of $250,000 a year only if the Olympics made a profit. When it did, he turned his salary over to charity. In addition, he contributed $1 million to the games.
But the Obama campaign doesn’t want to talk about that. They’d rather focus on whether Bain outsourced jobs while Romney was salvaging the seemingly hopeless Salt Lake City Olympics, saving numerous domestic jobs in the process.
It’s also worth noting that unemployment was as low as 3.8% (h/t Bureau of Labor Statistics) during the time Obama accuses Bain of pioneering outsourcing, yet today Obama continues to outsource millions of tax payer dollars while unemployment remains stalled above 8%.
The President appears intent on focusing attention away from his record in the Oval Office, and on to Romney’s past. But both candidates have a past.
So which do you prefer? Past Barack Obama, or past Mitt Romney?
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