President Obama: Mitt Romney Has Taken 'Extreme Positions' On Economic And Social Issues

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President Obama went after Mitt Romney in an interview with the Associated Press for taking 'extreme positions' in the presidential race on economic and social issues that align him with 'a number of House Republicans.' The president denied that he has any animus towards Romney, and said that in his second term, he is willing to make further compromises with Republicans in Congress in order to get more done in his second term.

RELATED: Lacking Strategy Against Romney, Democrats Revert To Tried And Failed 'Extreme' Charge

Obama denied claims that he has a strong personal dislike of Mitt Romney, but did make the case that his Republican rival is far from moderate.

The president suggested that whatever Romney really stands for in life is secondary to the promises Romney has made in the campaign.

In explaining his accusation of 'extreme' positions, the president cited Romney's call for across-the-board tax cuts that Obama said would mostly help the rich at the expense of everyone else and cost the nation $5 trillion. Obama singled out Romney's opposition to tax credits for producers of wind energy, the kind of issue that carries large political resonance in a battleground state such as Iowa.

And Obama alluded to the provocative issue of abortion, suddenly thrust to the fore this week when Republican Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin said the female body has a way to 'shut that whole thing down' when a woman is the victim of 'legitimate rape.'

Obama acknowledged the economy is not where it should be, but argued that Romney hasn't even 'offer[ed] serious proposals' to help middle-class families. And as for the idea that he has a strong personal dislike of his Republican rival, he said that his issues with Romney 'have to do with where we take this country forward.'

h/t USA Today

• Obama is right. Romney today is NOT the moderate republican he was when he was governor.

  Romney is pandering to the right wing base of tea party.

  If Romney is elected president and the Republican's keep the house, and if by some chance a bill gets through outlawing women's rights and eliminating all capital gains taxes for the wealthy.

  Does anyone think Romney will veto any of that. No. He will do whatever the republicans in congress tell him to do. Along with the Koch brothers and the wealthy billionaires like Sheldon.

  Romney has proved over and over again that he flip flops on every major issue.

  If elected, he will flop back to the conservative anti women and anti middle class.

  Yes, he might create more jobs,,,,.overseas with his foreign supporters.

  Romney has lied on many things, and will say anything to get elected.

  Anyone who refuses to release his taxes..because people would not vote for him if they saw them'his words..not mine'.he can not be trusted.

• Romney wants to force women to give birth.

• President Obama wants to kill them babies, even up to the last second

• Romney's view on abortion' opposes except in cases of rape, incest, or danger to the mother.

  obama's view on abortion' supports 3rd trimester abortion along with partial birth abortion.

  Which one do you consider extreme?

• For three decades the Party of NO has been playing a charade. They have sold their soul to the anti-choice crowd because they knew the courts would strike down their laws. However, the protection the courts gave is starting to wane. American women are beginning to learn their true agenda and are leaving in mass. This is just the start. Wait until President Obama nails Mittens on all his flip-flops on reproductive freedom in the debates. 

• anti-choice = pro life

  pro-choice = pro abortion

  reproductive freedom = freedom for women to kill babies

• 'and cost the nation $5 trillion'

  A tax cut doesn't 'cost' the nation anything. Spending is a cost.

  72 days till the election. Tick, tock.

• And Obama is NOT the centrist Democrat he claimed he would be when he ran 2008.

  Romney doesn't flip-flop. He 'evolves' just like Obama.

• I see. You really have a low opinion of women, don't you?

• In 1994, Mitt Romney ran to the left of Ted Kennedy (a Catholic) on the issue of abortion, and actually defended Roe v. Wade. Skip ahead 18 years (or ever since since he started running for the Republican nomination) and now he calls for its repeal.

  Mitt Romney is basically a slimy toad, the worst sort of politician who stands for nothing but whatever amalgam of positions which could currently get him elected. In short, everything the Right accuses Barack Obama of being, but mostly isn't, is embodied in the likes of Mitt Romney. Gingrich, Santorum, Perry, all knew that too but couldn't quite convince enough republican voters that any of them could beat Obama. Which is why we're here with this most inadequate of Republican nominees.

• Mitt's idea of what's wrong with America: 'Hey, how come the middle class still has some of my money?!' 

• I'm sure the 8.3% of Americans on unemployment, and the thousands of business owners really care what some dipshit in Missouri said once

•  What is it with democrats and making up quotes?  First Little Debbie, now CheesyGrits

•  He just evolves on certain issues' just like obama on gay rights