Post-debate, Romney keeps up Obama hits

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney laughs this morning as he shakes hands with a breakfast diner during a campaign stop in Derry, N.H. Charles Krupa/AP

By Matt Viser

June 14, 2011

4 minutes to read

DERRY, N.H. – A buoyant Mitt Romney took something of a victory lap this morning, after receiving positive reviews for his performance in a debate among the Republican presidential contenders .

He seized the spotlight and continued trying to distinguish himself from the rest of the field – and from President Obama – by highlighting his business background.

As he returned here to a pair of businesses he visited during his first White House campaign in 2008, Romney sought to focus on an ailing economy that is at the top of voters’ minds.

As if on cue, as the former Massachusetts governor walked down the street here with a horde of media trailing him, a woman approached Romney and said her husband, a civil engineer, had gone to Saudi Arabia after getting laid off.

“My husband’s lived for three years in Saudi Arabia ‘cause there’s no jobs in this country,’’ Marry Ellen Zarba, a 51-year-old from Derry, told Romney. “What can you do to bring him home?’’

Romney did not offer many specifics, but said, “If I’m president of the United States, there will not be a day that I’m not getting briefed on and thinking about bringing American jobs into America.’’

During a 10-minute press conference this morning, Romney also appeared to take a swipe at former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, who so far has offered the most detailed prescription for fixing the economy.

“I was once asked, ‘Who do you think would win a debate about running a business, between Jack Welch and a second-year business student,’’’ Romney said, referring to the former chief executive of General Electric. “I’m not 100 percent sure about that, but I sure know who would be able to run a business a lot better, and that of course would be Jack Welch.’’

“A lot of people could say the same words,’’ he added. “But to understand what those words mean, and to actually craft solutions that work to create jobs – in that circumstance, it’s helpful to have actually created jobs.’’

When asked whether he was referencing Pawlenty, he said he was attempting to focus on Obama.

“I make no comments about anybody on our side of the aisle, but I do make a comment about President Obama,’’ he said. “He had no experience in the private sector, and he surrounded himself in his Cabinet with virtually no one who had private sector experience, and it shows.’’

Romney’s analogy had an ironic element.

In an interview with CNN last week, Welch praised Pawlenty and his economic program when host Piers Morgan asked if he saw a leader emerging from the GOP pack.

“If you asked me that a month ago, I would have said, ‘Well, Mitt Romney might be best guy, et cetera. The most obvious guy,’’’ said Welch. “But everything I see Tim Pawlenty say in the last month appeals to me. He’s not the jazziest guy in town. He’s not the most exciting. But if you look at what he says, and his vision for America, and that plan he put out in the last 48 hours, every time I see him on an interview, whether it be your show or somebody else’s, the guy makes sense.’’

Romney’s campaign visits this morning came hours after the first major debate of the Republican nominating contest last night.

“It was a very good debate for everyone there,’’ Romney said. “We were respectful to one another, and we aimed our rhetoric towards the president, where it was deserved.’’

Romney this morning also attempted to downplay any differences he has with his GOP rivals over his health care plan.

“We all agree that Obamacare is the wrong direction for the nation,’’ he said. “I’m not running for governor of Massachusetts, I’m running for president of the united states, and my plans for the nation are like those of the other governors, just a little more specificity.’’

When asked if he thought the issue was put to rest in the debate, where none of the candidates challenged him on it, Romney said, “I don’t think there are any questions that will be put to rest until somebody’s won.’’

Romney also elaborated on a point he made last night, about withdrawing troops from Afghanistan.

“We will be looking to the Afghan people and the Afghan military and the Afghan civil leadership to step up to preserve what has been won for them,’’ Romney said. “Our soldiers have cleared, for the most part, the Taliban in major parts of the nation. Holding that independence, securing an independent nation is going to … have to come from them. It’s not something that we can give.’’

In between stops at two New Hampshire diners – one in Manchester, one in Derry – he dropped by McDonald’s.

At one point, Romney posed in front of a jukebox with several waitresses at Mary Ann’s Diner in downtown Derry. He squirmed, shouted, “Oh, my goodness!’’ and acted as though some had grabbed his backside. He said later he was playing a joke.

“It was just funny,’’ Romney said. “I was just teasing the girls.’’

He said that one time four years ago a donor had grabbed him while posing for a photo with him.

“They gave me a good grab, and made me jump,’’ he said. “I got such a rise out of everybody in the room that I thought, ‘Well that’s kind of fun to do.’’’