At a campaign rally at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines last night, President Barack Obama reiterated his campaign’s message that their criticism of Mitt Romney’s work at Bain Capital isn’t an attack on the private equity industry as a whole. President Obama said the discussion of Bain is about wheter Mr. Romney’s time “engaged in corporate buyouts” was proper preparation for the presidency.

“He should be proud of the great personal success he’s had as a CEO of a large financial firm. There are plenty of good and honest people in that industry, and there’s an important, creative role for it in the free market,” said the president. “But Governor Romney has made his experience as a financial CEO the entire rationale of his candidacy for president. Now, he doesn’t really talk about what he did in Massachusetts. But he does talk about being a business — business guy. Right? He says this gives him a special understanding of what it takes to create jobs and grow the economy. … So I think it’s a good idea to look at the way he sees the economy.” Read More