Romney Campaign Press Release - Mitt Romney: Time for President Obama to Take Responsibility for His Failures on Unemployment, Energy, and Debt

"I wish, as a president, he would finally take responsibility. Take responsibility for 24 million people out of work or underemployed in this country. Take responsibility for not having drilled for more oil when he could have. Take responsibility for home values having gone down, down, down. And take responsibility for the national debt having, well, he's almost doubled the amount of our public national debt by the end of his first... his only four years. ... It's time for this president to be held responsible and, because of that responsibility, he's going to be out of office this coming fall."— Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney

Remarks

St. Louis, MO

March 13, 2012

Click Here To Listen To Mitt Romney

MITT ROMNEY: "All of them said that things are tough right now. That under the Obama economy, it's been harder—and particularly with high gasoline prices. These gasoline prices are really crushing a lot of people because folks have long distances to get to work, small business, oftentimes, uses a lot of energy—in the bakery business you're heating things up. That uses energy. You're delivering things with trucks. That uses energy. If you're in the landscape business, your equipment uses energy and your trucks use energy to get to the homes where you're mowing the lawns. And so people are really struggling. And at a time like this, the President is looking around for someone to blame. You know, it seems to be part of his nature. He's out of ideas. He's out of excuses. And in 2012, we're going to get him out of office. That's got to get done. But he said something—I think it was yesterday—he said the reason we have high gasoline prices is—and then he was seeking around. What could it be? What could it be? Now I have some suggestions for him. Maybe it's related to the fact that you stopped drilling in the Gulf. Maybe it's related to the fact, Mr. President that you were not drilling in ANWR. Maybe it's related to the fact that you said we couldn't get a pipeline in from Canada known as Keystone. Those things affect gas prices long-term. But instead he came up with this: he said it's because Republican presidential candidates are talking in a very muscular way about Iran and their nuclear program. Now that's a pretty tough one to follow, all right. And frankly, it's disappointing to have the President of the United States take a serious foreign policy issue, which is Iran, the state-sponsor of terror in the world becoming nuclear, and trying to turn that into saying we're somehow responsible for high gasoline prices in this country. It's a real stretch, even for a guy who's gotten pretty good at making excuses. I wish, as a president, he would finally take responsibility. Take responsibility for 24 million people out of work or underemployed in this country. Take responsibility for not having drilled for more oil when he could have. Take responsibility for home values having gone down, down, down. And take responsibility for the national debt having, well, he's almost doubled the amount of our public national debt by the end of his first... his only four years. By the end of his first four years, he will have put in place almost as much public debt as all the prior presidents combined. It's time for this president to be held responsible and, because of that responsibility, he's going to be out of office this coming fall."