Prominent Democrats keep undermining President Obama?s central attack on Mitt Romney, in an unusually open show of defiance against the party?s presidential nominee.
On Thursday, former President Bill Clinton become the latest and by far the most prominent Democrat to suggest the strategy of criticizing Mr. Romney?s career in private equity is misguided.
Appearing on CNN Mr. Clinton described Mr. Romney?s tenure at Bain Capital, a Boston private equity firm, as ?sterling? ? a message directly at odds with that of Mr. Obama?s re-election campaign, which has sought to portray the Republican as a rapacious capitalist who is out of touch with ordinary voters.
?I don?t think we ought to get into the position where we say this is bad work; this is good work,? Mr. Clinton said.
?There?s no question that, in terms of getting up, going to the office, and basically performing the essential functions of the office, a man who?s been governor and had a sterling business career crosses the qualification threshold,? Mr. Clinton said.
Mr. Clinton called for the two campaigns to instead focus on their contrasting visions for the country.
During Mr. Romney?s time as chief executive of the firm, it bought and sold dozens of companies. Many of those deals, which frequently generated big profits for Bain?s investors and partners, resulted in layoffs, in some cases because the companies were in deep distress and in others to cut costs.
The layoffs at Kansas City steel plant owned by Bain became the subject of a searing campaign advertisement produced by the Obama campaign recently.
Mr. Clinton?s praise for Mr. Romney?s work at Bain puts him in a small but growing camp of Democrats who have challenged the president?s strategy.
Cory Booker, the mayor of Newark and a surrogate for the Obama campaign, last week called attacks on private equity ?nauseating.? (He later backtracked slightly, after Republican?s seized on his remarks.)
And this week, Deval Patrick, the governor of Massachusetts, said that Bain Capital was ?a perfectly fine company.?
The resistance from well-known Democrats highlights the party?s ambivalence about ?picking a fight with an industry whose role in the economy has expanded significantly in recent years and that has traditionally provided huge amounts of campaign contributions to the party.
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