SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The likely Republican presidential nominee, Governor Mitt Romney, said this morning that the economy is improving, acknowledging months of economic growth under the Obama presidency.
“I believe the economy is coming back, by the way," Romney said told the crowd of about 90 assembled a local diner this morning, and an overflow crowd of about 100 outside. "We’ll see what happens. It’s had ups and downs. I think it’s finally coming back."
The recovering economy has put Romney in a bit of a pickle — it's easier to campaign against an incumbent when the economy is tanking than when it's doing well. Romney is trying to thread the needle by blaming Obama for growth not being fast enough.
"The economy always comes back after a recession, of course," Romney said. "There’s never been one that we didn’t recover from. The problem is this one has been deeper than it needed to be and a slower recovery than it should have been, by virtue of the policies of this president. Almost everything he’s done has made it harder for this economy to recover. And that's Obamacare, to the failed stimulus, the massive deficits, and Dodd-Frank, the list goes on and on.”