Obama to use state of the union address to divide America, claims Romney

Mitt Romney said: 'Tonight we're going to be treated to more divisive rhetoric from a desperate campaigner-in-chief'. Photograph: Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images

Mitt Romney homed in on Barack Obama's most vulnerable political spot – the continued struggle for economic revival – in accusing him of creating "shameful" divisions and overseeing three years of decline in a prebuttal of the president's state of the union address on Tuesday night.

Obama is expected to focus on his call for a new economic stimulus package aimed at creating millions of new jobs. But speaking in cavernous Tampa warehouse belonging to a company that was closed by the recession in 2008, Romney said that will only make things worse.

"Three years ago, we measured candidate Obama by his hopeful promises and his slogans. Today, President Obama has amassed an actual record of debt, decline and disappointment," he said. "This president's agenda made these troubled times last longer. Instead of solving the housing crisis and getting Americans back to work, President Obama has been building a European-style welfare state."

Standing under an 'Obama Isn't Working' banner - adapted from Margaret Thatcher's successful 1979 election campaign in the UK – Romney went on to accuse Obama of class warfare.

full: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/24/obama-state-of-the-union-romney