Tuesday Night Video – Obama on Bain as Fair Game

Here’s a little more than a sound bite from President Obama, explaining why he won’t back off from questioning how Mitt Romney’s business experience qualifies him to be President. I still don’t understand why his administration didn’t require much more significant regulatory reform in exchange for handing out free money to the banks. (Or I do understand, and it frightens me.) I think the maximization of profits as a primary goal does a lot of damage to our democracy, but I’m still glad to hear the President say stuff like this.

OBAMA: I think it’s important to recognize that this issue is not a, quote, distraction. This is part of the debate that we’re going to be having in this election campaign about how do we create an economy where everybody from top to bottom, folks on Wall Street and folks on Main Street, have a shot at success….And the reason this is relevant to the campaign is because my opponent, Governor Romney, his main calling card for why he thinks he should be president is his business experience. He’s not going out there touting his experience in Massachusetts. He’s saying, “I’m a business guy and I know how to fix it,” and this is his business. And when you’re president, as opposed to the head of a private equity firm, then your job is not simply to maximize profits….And so, if your main argument for how to grow the economy is, “I knew how to make a lot of money for investors,” then you’re missing what this job is about.