Romney: Obama ‘more intent on punishing people’ than creating jobs

Mitt Romney continued his assault on President Barack Obama's record Thursday, insisting he's "more intent on punishing people" with higher taxes and government regulation than "getting people back to work."

Speaking at a closed drywall factory in Lorain, Ohio, near where Obama delivered an economic speech Wednesday, Romney said the factory, which shuttered in the summer of 2008 as the recession began, would be open if the president's economic policies were successful.

"Had President Obama's plans worked, it would be open, but it's still empty," Romney declared, speaking against the backdrop of a vacant warehouse decorated only with a massive sign that read, "Obama Isn't Working."

Citing Obama's assertion that the 2012 election will come down to "vision," Romney warned his audience of where a second Obama term could take the country.

"If you want to know where his vision leads, open your eyes," Romney said. "Lost jobs, lost homes, lost dreams."

Romney's speech comes as his campaign attempts to "bracket" his candidacy against Obama's re-election message. On Wednesday, Romney delivered a speech in Charlotte, N.C., just blocks from where Obama will accept his party's nomination for a second term this September. The remarks were described as a "prebuttal" to Obama's convention speech.

In the "prebuttal" speech, Romney accused Obama of attempting to blame the country's struggling economy on others—a theme he sounded again on Thursday in Ohio.

"His campaign will not be about vision, but division," Romney declared, insisting the president is out of touch with struggling Americans.

He slammed Obama for his "unwillingness to take responsibility."

"By his own record, he has failed," the presumptive Republican nominee said. "I will not."

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