On the strength of his big win in New Hampshire last night, Mitt Romney seemed to be looking ahead to a general election race, using his victory speech to bash President Obama
"He (Obama) wants to turn America into a European-style welfare state," Romney said to cheering supporters. "We want to ensure that we remain a free and prosperous land of opportunity."
Today, with an implicit contrast with Romney, Obama gathered consulting professionals and company chiefs at the White House to talk about insourcing, saying he wants to reward companies that invest in America and eliminate tax breaks for companies that don't.
While the president acknowledged "the bottom line" of profit and competition, he said business executives also had a wider moral and patriotic imperative to spur employment in the United States.
"That's part of the responsibility that comes with being a leader in America –- a responsibility not just to the shareholders or the stakeholders, but to the country that made all this incredible wealth and opportunity possible," Obama said in a speech that doubled as the best, most effective campaign speech he could give today.
"That’s a responsibility that we all have to live up to –- whether we’re in the private sector or the public sector; whether we’re in Washington or we’re on Wall Street."
The Romney-Obama contrast of the past 24 hours could not be clearer.