Romney previews more general-election themes

BROOMALL, Pa. – Proceeding with his pivot toward the general election, Mitt Romney on Wednesday elaborated on the economic-based themes he will use to attack President Obama and Democrats.

Hours after blasting Obama in a speech to the American Society of News Editors, he rebuked the president for promoting a “government-centered society” and of “crushing the dreams … crushing the dreamers” through an overabundance of regulations, taxes and bureaucrats. And he accused the Democratic Party of being hostile to business.

“I listen to some of our out-of-touch liberal friends,” Romney told an enthusiastic crowd in this Philadelphia suburb. “And they always say they want a strong economy, but they don’t tend to like business very much. What they don’t understand is that the economy is the addition of all the businesses in the country together.”

As Romney has continued to pull away from his rivals in the Republican field, he has shifted back to depicting Obama as someone who is in over his head. "He just doesn't understand … he doesn't see how many people are struggling amidst his policies," Romney said.  

And he did not bother to ask audience members for their help in Pennsylvania’s Apr. 24 primary, but in helping him to "defeat Barack Obama next November."