Mitt Romney runs from Bain

Excerpt from Mark Halperin's Mitt Romney interview Mitt Romney, one year ago as he launched his presidential campaign:

I am running for president because I have spent my life in the private sector.

Mitt Romney, today:

Mark Halperin: So when the President says he wants to focus a lot of the election and debate on your career at Bain Capital, do you welcome that?

Mitt Romney: Well of course, I'd like to also focus on his record. What is it that he's done as the President of the United States over the last four years? And the American people are interested in, not so much in the history of where I was at Bain Capital, or that I have understanding of the private sector, but instead, has the President made things better for the American people?

Earlier, in a speech at the Chamber of Commerce, Romney also refused to touch Bain, other than to characterize the Obama campaign's criticism of his Bain record as a "war on job creators." Of course, that's baloney: Romney launched his campaign by saying his core qualification for the presidency was his stewardship of Bain. It's perfectly fair for the Obama campaign to point out that Romney's Bain experience has not prepared him for the presidency and does not reflect the priorities most Americans want to see in the White House.

And while you'd think that Mitt Romney would be able to defend himself if he really believed what he said when he launched the campaign, so far, he hasn't. Instead of rebutting the Obama campaign, Mitt's only response has been to punt.