Mitt Romney and his wife, Ann, sat down with Parade magazine to answer questions from the publication's readers on a myriad of topics.
Here, the Republican presidential hopeful explains why he can understand what it's like to live on food stamps and opines about President Obama's patriotism.
Governor, your campaign speeches talk about the middle class, but the vast majority of the questions we received from readers asked about your ability to relate to their struggles. In essence, how do you know what it's like to be someone without means, someone, as one reader puts it, trying to scrape by, living on food stamps?
Governor Mitt Romney: Each of us faces struggles of one kind or another. Our life was not characterized by financial stress as much as it was by health issues. I served as a pastor of a congregation and saw people with various challenges and did my best to help them. I believe my experience in the private sector, the voluntary sector, and government has helped teach me what it takes to help people with different types of challenges …On the topic of respect, former New Hampshire governor John Sununu has said that President Obama needs to learn to be American. You've referred to his policies as 'foreign.' Do you believe that President Obama is un-American in any way?
MR: Governor Sununu was not suggesting he [wasn't] American, nor do I. I believe he's making us far more like Europe, with a larger, more dominant, more intrusive government. I believe if we keep going on that path, we will end up like Europe, with chronic high unemployment, no wage growth, and economic calamity at the doorstep. I think you have to return to celebrating success, encouraging entrepreneurship, and finding ways to get government out of the way.
Read more at Parade.