President Obama on Why Bain is Relevant

In case you can’t watch the video, this is President Obama responding to a reporter’s question at yesterday’s NATO summit about why at criticism of Mitt Romney’s record at Bain Capital is relevant to the 2012 campaign:

The reason why this is relevant to the campaign is that 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, your job is not simply to maximize profits. Your job is to figure out how everybody in the country has a fair shot. Your job is to think about those workers who get laid off, and how are we paying for their retraining. Your job is to think about how those communities can start creating new clusters so they can attract new businesses. Your job as president is to think about how do we set up an equitable tax system so that everybody’s paying their fair share, that allows us then to invest in science, and technology, and infrastructure, all of which are going to help us grow.

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. It doesn’t mean you weren’t good at private equity. But that’s not what my job is as president.My job is to take into account everybody, not just some. My job is to make sure the country is growing not just now, but 10 years from now, 20 years from now.

He also said that this is not a distraction, instead “this is what this campaign is going to be about.” Not Bain per se, but about the two competing ideological visions concerning our economy.

2:21 PM PT: Oh, and as it relates to Cory Booker, here’s what Obama said:

I think Cory Booker is an outstanding mayor, he’s doing great work in Newark, and obviously helping to turn that city around.
Republicans reacted to Booker’s comments with such glee that they probably have already forgotten that Obama still supports Booker, and that Booker still supports Obama