Obama team: Romney must rebuke 'extreme voices' after 'treason' call at rally

President Obama's campaign is looking to seize on a pair of controversial comments by supporters at Mitt Romney's town-hall meeting in Cleveland Monday, calling on the presumptive Republican nominee to "stand up to the extreme voices in his party."

“Today we saw Mitt Romney’s version of leadership: standing by silently as his chief surrogate attacked the President’s family at the event and another supporter alleged that the President should be tried for treason," said Obama spokeswoman Lis Smith in a statement. "Time after time in this campaign, Mitt Romney has had the opportunity to show that he has the fortitude to stand up to hateful and over-the-line rhetoric and time after time, he has failed to do so. If this is the ‘leadership’ he has shown on the campaign trail, what can the American people expect of him as commander-in-chief?”

The statement was prompted by remarks by Ohio state auditor Dave Yost, one of the local politicians warming up the crowd for Romney before his event Monday. Yost said Obama claiming credit for the bin Laden raid was like "giving Ronald McDonald credit for the Big Mac you ate for lunch." Yost continued on to say "the guy at the griddle deserved credit."

Yost went on to mock the president for taking a trip to New York City with his wife, Michelle, saying Obama was "lecturing" the middle class while spending lavishly.

"Anyone get three vacations in 2009 at the depths of the recession?" he asked. "Anyone fly to New York just to have a date night with your spouse? I didn't think so. Mr. President, That's not middle class, and you stop lecturing us about our lives."

Later during the town-hall meeting, a supporter asked Romney about the separation of power in the United States, remarking in an aside that she believed Obama "should be tried for treason."

Romney ignored the comment, instead speaking generally about the role of the Constitution and criticizing the president for remarks in which he said an overturn of his signature healthcare law would be "unprecedented."

"I happen to believe that the Constitution was not just brilliant, but inspired," Romney said.

Campaign press secretary Ben LaBolt posted a series of posts on Twitter blasting Romney's response.

Once again today, @MittRomney stood by silently as his surrogates and supporters made extreme statements & attacked the President's family

— Ben LaBolt (@BenLaBolt) May 7, 2012

When will @MittRomney stand up to the extreme voices in his party?Where's the leadership he keeps calling for?

— Ben LaBolt (@BenLaBolt) May 7, 2012

When Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom noted reports of supporters at an Obama event calling Romney a "traitor," LaBolt highlighted positive remarks Obama made about the former governor.

.@EricFehrn POTUS on Sat:Now, Governor Romney is a patriotic American.He's raised a wonderful family, and he has much to be proud of.

— Ben LaBolt (@BenLaBolt) May 7, 2012

The Romney campaign circulated a list of instances in which Romney praised the president's order on the bin Laden raid to reporters during the event, and Romney himself told The Washington Post after the event that he did not believe the president should be tried for treason.

"No, of course not," Romney said.

But the Obama campaign believes the incident plays perfectly into a narrative they sought to establish early Friday morning, in which senior campaign strategist David Axelrod and campaign manager Jim Messina contended the Romney campaign were "basically reduced to running a negative campaign."

Axelrod went on to rip prominent Republican backers — including Karl Rove and the Koch Brothers — as "contract killers."

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