Romney Senior Adviser Ed Gillespie Tells Chris Wallace How the GOP Candidate's Economic Plan Differs from Bush

Mitt Romney campaign adviser Ed Gillespie joined Fox News Sunday to talk about the grim economic news last week. Host Chris Wallace noted that employers added the fewest jobs in a year and the stock market wiped out all the gains it had made in 2012. He asked Gillespie what Mitt Romney thinks is going wrong. Gillespie answered, "This is a hostile environment for job creation in our economy. And that's why, frankly, it adds a sense of urgency in terms of this year's election to be able to turn things around because the only thing that's going to change it are changing the policies and that means changing the person in the White House."

President Obama has said, “Congress hasn’t acted on enough of the other ideas in that bill that would make a difference and help create jobs right now. There’s no excuse for that, not when so many people are still looking for work.”

Wallace asked Gillespie if Romney should support passing some of the Obama jobs act and take early action to deal with the tax increases that are going into effect at the end of the year. He responded, “The problem is not what the Congress hasn’t done with Republicans in control of the house, the problem is what Congress did do

when Democrats controlled the House and the Senate and the White House in the first few years of this presidency. The stimulus bill, and the health care bill, and the Dodd-Frank excessive regulations are part of what’s stifling our economy today.”

When Wallace pressed Gillespie on whether Romney would support taking early action to prevent what some refer to as “taxmageddon,” he replied that Romney thinks there needs to be stronger presidential leadership and “he would wait to see what they came up with.”

Gillespie addressed the assessment that Romney’s economic plans are President George W. Bush’s polices “on steroids.” He said, “I think there’s a very clear distinction on Governor Romney’s policy toward China for example and currency manipulation. When you look at Governor Romney’s support for entitlement reform, it’s different in nature from President Bush’s entitlement reform proposals.”