Hasn't worked? Obama stands up for Romney's wife

Source: AP-Excite

By LAURIE KELLMAN

WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House - and President Barack Obama himself - rushed into a damage control campaign Thursday to blunt the impact of a Democratic consultant's suggestion that Ann Romney isn't qualified to discuss the economy because she "hasn't worked a day in her life."

"It was the wrong thing to say," Obama declared in an interview with WCMH-TV in Columbus, Ohio, standing up for Republican rival Mitt Romney's wife with Democrats suddenly on the defensive over women's issues for the first time this election year. Of the "ill-advised statement" by consultant Hilary Rosen, he added, "It's not something that I subscribe to."

In an interview with Cedar Rapids, Iowa, TV station KCRG, the president said "there's no tougher job than being a mom" and cited the efforts of his wife, Michelle, and his own mother, a single woman with two children.

"That's work," he said. "So, anybody who would argue otherwise probably needs to rethink their statement."

Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20120413/D9U3N0700.html

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In this March 19, 2012 file photo, Ann Romney, wife of Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney talks with audience members after her husbands spoke at the University of Chicago, in Chicago. Ann Romney is firing back at a Democratic consultant who is suggesting that the wife of wealthy presidential candidate Mitt shouldn’t be talking about the economy’s toll on women. "Guess what, his wife has actually never worked a day in her life," said consultant Hilary Rosen on CNN. The remark inspired Ann Romney’s debut on Twitter. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File)