Romney: Obama should've been a governor before president

ByABC News
June 16, 2012, 10:28 AM

— -- WEATHERLY, Penn.—Several hundred people lined up to hear Mitt Romney speak at a small machinery company here, as the Republican nominee began day two of his battleground state bus tour by railing against President Obama's handling of the economy.

"I know the president wants to talk about the economy a little," Romney said. "But he doesn't want to talk about the economy like I want to talk about the economy."

As he regularly does on the stump, Romney argued that he's best positioned to help revive the economy because of his resume as a private businessman. He reminded voters here of Obama's "declaration a week ago that the private sector is "doing fine" and pointed to it as sign that the president is out of touch with the struggles of average Americans.

Speaking in a county that Obama narrowly won in 2008, Romney tried to pair his criticism of the president with some backhanded compliments, telling his audience here that Obama is an "eloquent speaker."

[Get more updates from Romney's bus tour by following @hollybdc on Twitter]

But in noting Obama's lack of legislative experience before winning the White House, Romney suggested the president might have been more successful if he'd started "perhaps at a lower level."

"Governor may have been a better job for him to have started with," Romney suggested.