The presumptive Republican presidential nominee ticked through a series of proposals that he said would foster a friendlier business climate — repealing Obama’s health-care law, authorizing more oil and natural gas drilling, halting all Obama-era regulations and lowering corporate and individual tax rates.
But Romney employed particularly stinging rhetoric in a sort of campaign “prebuttal,” a day before the president is expected to deliver a major campaign speech in Ohio in which he tries to reframe the economic debate.
Seizing again on Obama’s comment last week that “the private sector is doing fine,” Romney said, “the incredulity that came screaming back from the American people, I think, has caused him to rethink that.”
“I think you’re going to see him change course when he speaks tomorrow, where he will acknowledge that it isn’t going so well, and he’ll be asking for four more years,” Romney continued. “My own view is that he will speak eloquently but that words are cheap, and that the record of an individual is the basis upon which you determine whether they should continue to hold onto their job.”
That there are 23 million Americans out of work or underemployed, Romney said, “is a compelling and a sad statistic. These are real people.”
Romney painted a dire portrait of the U.S. economy under a second Obama term. He warned that Obama would “stifle” energy resources in coal, oil and natural gas, as well as raise the cost of health care through the implementation of “Obamacare,” increase the regulatory burden on businesses and raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans.
“I think this election is a watershed reelection, which will determine the relationship between citizen and enterprise and government,” Romney said.
Obama campaign spokeswoman Lis Smith responded that Romney was “dishonest” in his attacks on the president’s record, saying Obama helped the country create 4.3 million private sector jobs over the last 27 months.
“In another in a long line of ‘major’ economic speeches, Mitt Romney made dishonest after dishonest claim about the president’s record and failed to offer any new ideas of his own on how to improve the economy and strengthen the middle class,” Smith said in a statement.
Romney, himself a former CEO, seemed at ease addressing the members of the Business Roundtable, a lobby organization made up of chief executives. He waved hello to a former consulting colleague from Bain and sprinkled through his speech references to some business titans he had met with recently, including August Busch, the former CEO of Anheuser-Busch.
“Government has to be the partner, the friend, the ally, the supporter of enterprise, not the enemy,” Romney said. “Too often you find yourself facing a government that looks at you like you’re the bad guys, and if you’re hiring people and employing people and paying taxes, you’re the good guys. I want you to do well.”
Romney says Obama’s policies are most ‘anti-business’ in modern history
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Oklahoma City Thunder's Kevin Durant reacts after making a shot during the second half of game one in the NBA Finals on June 12. Oklahoma City struck first …
"For this whole playoffs, I'm just trying to play my game, be aggressive, and if I see a shot I have to take it," said Durant. "I have to go back tomorrow and watch film and see how I can get better and hopefully have a better game."
The 2012 NBA finals is defined by the two best players in the game -- Miami's James and three-time scoring champion Durant.
Durant finished with 36 points, eight rebounds and four assists as Oklahoma City came from behind to defeat James' Miami Heat 105-94 in game one Tuesday in front of a crowd of 18,203 at the Chesapeake Energy Arena.
Durant and James were given the task of guarding each other during portions of game one and for awhile, especially in the second quarter, it looked like James might get the better of Durant.
James had 10 of his team-high 30 points in the second quarter for the Heat who shot 51 percent from the field in the first half.
"I'm not worried about the one-on-one match-up, it's just about the team, and he (James) does such a great job of guarding everybody," said Durant, whose 36 points matched his 2012 playoff high.
Miami and Oklahoma City are not complete strangers to the final series but just three teams, Dallas, Los Angeles and San Antonio are responsible for 10 of the last 13 NBA titles.
James has essentially spent the past five years answering for his playoff failures. Now he's determined to prove he can close this out in his third trip to the NBA finals.
The Thunder are only thing standing between King James and his crown.
"Obviously, LeBron wants to win a championship," Miami teammate Dwyane Wade said. "I can't say that he wants to win more than the next man, than anybody on OKC. I can't say that. But obviously he wants to win and get another opportunity. I'm sure he will try to seize it a little bit better than he did the first two times."
James said there is no panic in the Miami locker room and the Heat will come back with a better game plan in Thursday's game two.
"This was the feel out game," said James, who registered his fourth straight contest of scoring 30 or more points. "We come out with a lot of energy, and tried to steal game one. And now we get an opportunity to go to the chalkboard and go to the film. We've already seen what they are capable of doing."
These two franchises have never met in the NBA playoffs previously and each have one NBA championship to their credit.
The Heat defeated Dallas in six games in 2006 while the Thunder won a title in 1979 as the Seattle SuperSonics, beating the Washington Bullets in five games.
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