Mitt Romney this week fought back on critics’ description of him as an aloof corporate raider by denying that Americans resent him for being successful.
“[We’re] not a nation that divides people based upon whether they’ve been successful or not,” he told Fox News in an interview set to air Wednesday on “America’s Newsroom.”
“We don’t say, 'Oh, boy, this person won the lottery and therefore they can’t understand me,' " he continued. “We instead look at people and celebrate their success and their achievement, and we look for people who have the skills we think will make our lives better.”
He also described himself as “just a kid that wants to make a difference for America.”
“It has always been American to believe the future’s brighter than the past, and we have to have a president who believes that,” he continued.
Romney, who has faced a new wave of attacks this month over his record as CEO at Bain Capital, went on to say that he didn’t “see myself as a boss” during his time there.
“I saw myself as someone that would help organize extraordinary people,” he explained. “And I wasn’t always the highest compensated. I was the guy that set the compensation, but I paid other people more than I paid myself because I thought they were doing a better job.”
Romney is expected to officially lock down the GOP presidential nomination Tuesday night in the Texas primary. President Obama's campaign has attacked him over his time at the private equity firm Bain Capital, saying his business history shows a record of profit-seeking.
In response, the Romney campaign has accused Obama of waging a war on businesses.
