Romney Visits Empty Factory to Mock Obama

April 19, 2012, 5:31 PM
WSJ.com

Mitt Romney speaks at the closed National Gypsum drywall factory in Lorain, Ohio, Thursday, April 19, 2012. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

LORAIN, Ohio — Mitt Romney, shadowing President Barack Obama on the campaign trail, went to the battleground state of Ohio to appear at a shuttered industrial warehouse to dramatize his complaints about the incumbent’s economic policies.

“It underscores the failure of this president’s policies with regard to getting the economy moving,’’ Mr. Romney said standing in a cavernous, empty warehouse festooned with a banner that read `Obama Isn’t Working.’ “If you want to know where his vision leads open your eyes.’’

The setting, however, sent a mixed if not misleading message: The National Gypsum Co.’s warehouse closed not on Mr. Obama’s watch but during the presidency of George W. Bush, in June 2008, during the depths of the recession.

Also on Thursday, Mr. Romney picked up the endorsement of Ohio Gov. John Kasich – a mixed blessing because he is popular among conservatives but has had a controversial tenure due to his efforts to limit the rights of public sector unions.

Mr. Kasich was neutral during the state’s hotly contested March 6 primary, which Mr. Romney won only narrowly over former Sen. Rick Santorum, who drew on the state’s sizable population of blue-collar workers and evangelical Christians – voter groups that have been slow to support Mr. Romney. Mr. Obama won Ohio in 2008 by four percentage points, but the state is likely to be bitterly contested this year.

However, Ohio is no longer ground zero for the nation’s economic woes. In part due to a rebound in the auto industry, Ohio’s unemployment rate was down to 7.6% in February – below the national average.

Mr. Kasich, who has been touting the state’s economic improvements, said in announcing his endorsement of Mr. Romney, “The progress we’ve made in Ohio is hampered by a White House that can’t make up its mind and which can’t set the right course for our economy. Mitt Romney’s got what it takes to get us back on track.’’

Chris Redfern, chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party, said that the state’s economic improvements had more to do with Mr. Obama’s efforts to shore up the auto industry than with his state policies. He said Messrs. Romney and Kasich “both stubbornly refuse to acknowledge the improving Ohio economy that is largely due to President Obama’s policies and in spite of Kasich and the right-wing legislature.’’

The Romney campaign chose the warehouse because Mr. Obama held a campaign event there during the 2008 campaign. What’s more, the Romney event was scheduled just one day after Mr. Obama appeared at a community college less than 10 miles away, part of an intensified Romney effort to highlight the contrast between the two general election foes.

At his college appearance, Mr. Obama seemed to take a veiled dig at Mr. Romney’s wealth when he said, “I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth.” White House spokesman Jay Carney said Thursday that Mr. Obama uses the phrase regularly, and it wasn’t aimed at Mr. Romney.

Mr. Romney, in his warehouse speech, accused Mr. Romney of “punishing’’ people who succeed.

“You will see him attack success day in and day out,’’ he said. “And one thing you know is if you attack success, you’re going to have less of it.’’