Politicking resumes as Romney pledges to help the middle class

ASPEN, Colo. -- Holding up a report card that gave President Obama a string of red marks on unemployment, housing foreclosures, the deficit and other measures, Mitt Romney said Thursday that the president has failed to carry out the promises he made when accepted the Democratic nomination not from far where he spoke.

“I know in a campaign talk can be cheap, you can say anything. But results, if they’re not done the right way, they can be real expensive,” Romney told supporters in Golden, Colo. “And you look at this president and he talked about a number of things he was going to do.

“I remember watching him speak in front of those Greek columns; he won’t want to remind of us of Greece these days, but it got a lot of people excited. A lot of people said ‘Boy, if he can do those things, that’s going to be terrific.’ Those people are disappointed.”

“And if you look at his report card … you look at the results and it’s been a disappointment,” Romney added. “His policies have not worked. They have not got America back to work again. My policies will work,” he said, standing in front of a banner that “The Romney Plan For a Stronger Middle Class.”

His two-city appearance in this battleground state marks a return to politicking, which was put on hold after a gunman killed a dozen people and wounded scores more in a midnight movie screening in Aurora, Colo. Romney acknowledged the tragedy as soon as he took to the podium, saying he met a survivor Thursday morning who had been in a neighboring theater and was shot in the mouth.

“But she is here and doing well. I guess, maybe by applause we show how united we are with the tragedy of those people. How much we love them. How much we care for them,” he said as the crowd rose to its feet. “I’m sure you know this -- this tragedy has impacted the community of Aurora. I’m sure it’s impacted the entire state. The trauma here has got to be extraordinary. But across the country, people are thinking about Aurora and the tragedy there and the lives that have been lost and lives changed forever. We love you and we pray for you.”

Romney, who just returned from an overseas trip, struck a less partisan tone than he had just before he left, criticizing the president’s policies but talking of bipartisan solutions.

“We’ve got to have someone that goes to Washington that buries the hatchet and says you know what, there are good Democrats, there are good Republicans that care about America, let’s work together to get the American people working, get some growth again,” he said.

He pledged to help the middle class and increase take-home pay by implementing his five-point plan -- making the nation energy independent, improving schools, increasing trade, helping small businesses by reducing taxes and shrinking regulation, and tackling the nation’s budget deficit.

“This is important. Getting America working, this isn¹t a statistic we¹re talking about -- 23 million Americans out of work or underemployed. Twenty-three million. It’s a tragedy,” he said. “It’s a moral failing for a country as successful and wealthy as ours to have had policies that kept people from going to work.”

The Obama campaign responded that Romney’s plan would cut taxes for the wealthy while increasing the burden on average American families.

“This isn’t a recipe to make the middle class stronger or create jobs -- it’s part of the same scheme that devastated the middle class and crashed our economy in the first place,” said spokeswoman Lis Smith. “No attempt to rebrand these failed policies can change that simple fact.”

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Seema.mehta@latimes.com

Twitter: @LATSeema