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President Barack Obama took a fresh swipe at Mitt Romney Thursday over the leaked video that shows the Republican nominee dismissing 47 percent of Americans, saying the comments suggest Romney probably hasn’t “gotten around a lot.”
Obama made the remarks during an interview in Miami with Univision, the Spanish language network, a day after Romney had given an interview to the same network.
On Wednesday, moderator Jorge Ramos asked Romney to clarify what he meant on the tape. “Well, first of all this is a campaign about the 100 percent,” Romney said. “And over the last several years, you’ve seen greater and greater divisiveness in this country. We had hoped to come back together but instead you've seen us pulled apart. And politics has driven us apart in some respects. So, my campaign is about the 100 percent in America.”
While courting Hispanic voters on Univision, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney delivered a new message after saying he stood by his beliefs about the "47 percent." NBC's Chuck Todd reports.
On Thursday, Ramos asked the president: “For you, which is the true Mitt Romney?”
The president seized the opportunity to slam his opponent: “When you express an attitude that half the country considers itself victims that somehow they want to be dependent on government, my thinking is maybe you haven't gotten around a lot.”
The president then argued that he has a better understanding of the country. “I travel around the country all the time and the American people are the hardest-working people there are. And their problem is not that they're not working hard enough or they don't want to work or they're being taxed too little or they just want to loaf around and gather government checks.”
Romney has been playing defense since the liberal magazine Mother Jones publicized remarks that were secretly videotaped at a Florida fundraiser in May. The video shows Romney telling an audience of wealthy donors that he isn’t concerned about getting the support of nearly half the country because they’re already Obama supporters who are dependent on the government and view themselves as victims.
For the most part, Romney has stood by his remarks, arguing that they highlight the difference between his economic views and the president’s. Romney has tried to paint the president as a big-government liberal; he recently pointed to a videotape from 1998 which shows then-state Senator Obama saying he supports a “redistribution” of wealth. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney suggested the Romney campaign was “desperate” for highlighting a 14-year-old video.