Clinton: Romney presidency ‘calamitous,' Republican economics ‘crazy'

ByABC News
June 5, 2012, 12:58 PM

— -- Days after praising Mitt Romney's "sterling" business career, former President Bill Clinton warned Monday that a Romney presidency would be "calamitous for our country and the world."

Clinton, speaking at a fundraiser for President Barack Obama at the Manhattan home of billionaire hedge fund founder Marc Lasry, said the embattled incumbent has "the right economic policy and the right political approach," while "the politics is wrong on the Republican side, the economics are crazy."

The former two-term president's remarks were collected by the pool reporter traveling with Obama to three fundraisers in New York, Agence France-Presse's Tangi Quemener.

"The Republican Congress and their nominee for president, Governor Romney, have adopted Europe's economic policies," Clinton charged.

"Their economic policy is austerity and unemployment now, and then a long-term budget that would explode the debt when the economy recovers so the interest rates would be so high, nobody would be able to do anything," Clinton said.

Romney has frequently said that Obama's approach risks plunging the American economy into a Greece-like crisis. But Clinton said that Obama's "economic policy is job growth now, and long term budget restraint."

Obama "has good politics, he's got a good record, he's made the best of a very challenging situation, he deserves to be reelected," said Clinton, who drew laughter and applause when he praised Obama's "pretty good secretary of state" — his wife, Hillary.

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