Romney Hits Obama Over Failure to Meet with Jobs Council

(Newsroom America) -- A reinvigorated Mitt Romney pounced on President Obama Wednesday during a speech before small-business owners following a report earlier in the day saying the nation's chief executive hasn't met with his own jobs council in six months.

Romney, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, accused Obama of being disinterested in creating jobs, even as the nation is mired in stubbornly high unemployment rates and tepid economic growth.

"You know what he's been doing over the last six months?" Romney asked supporters in a crowded gymnasium in the blue-collar town of Bowling Green, Ohio. "In the last six months he has held 100 fundraisers. And guess how many meetings he has had with his jobs council? None. Zero. Zero in the last six months."

Romney was responding to an earlier report in Politico that said Obama had disregarded a jobs council he created for months, noting that the last time he met with council members was Jan. 17.

Asked to respond to the report, White House spokesman Jay Carney said Obama "has obviously got a lot on his plate," adding that he "solicits and receives input and advice from members of his jobs council and others about economic initiatives all the time."

Carney, however, did not mention specific initiatives the president was interested in.

Politico added that some members of the employment council were not endorsing the president for reelection.

Romney, who ran the successful equity firm Bain Capital - tenure which has been attacked by the Obama campaign - has been hammering the president over comments he made last week when he said during a campaign speech in Virginia, "if you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen."

Obama made his comments after saying government-funded roads, bridges and other infrastructure were needed to make businesses successful.

Romney argued that the comments show how out-of-touch Obama is with the "character of America."

Asking the audience who owned a business, and to stand if they did, Romney said, "Take that, Mr. President!" to cheers.

Several of the audience sported signs, some of which read, "I built my own business," and, "I created my business, not the government."

"Those who made those signs, thank you for reminding us who it is in America that creates jobs," Romney said.

© 2012 Newsroom America.

Newsroom America Twitter feed