Mitt has Romnesia, says Obama

Washington, Oct 20 (IANS) President Barack Obama has diagnosed a new condition "Romnesia" for his Republican challenger Mitt Romney for his "slippery" change of positions on key issues while forgetting the hard right positions he took earlier in order to appear more moderate to uncommitted voters.

His opponent was suffering "Romnesia", Obama said at a rally in Fairfax, a Northern Virginia suburb just outside Washington, going by the changes in his stand on issues like contraception, coal, equal pay, and taxes.

"He told folks he was the ideal candidate for the Tea Party," Obama said of Romney's stance during the primary season. "Now suddenly he is saying 'What, who me?"

"He is forgetting what his own positions are and he is betting that you are too. I mean he is changing up so much, back tracking and sidestepping."

Obama, according to CNN, said he and his supporters needed to come up with a term for "this condition he is going through," striking upon "Romnesia".

"That's what it's called," Obama declared. "Now I'm not a medical doctor. But I do want to go over some of the symptoms with you because I want to make sure nobody else catches it."

He continued using the neologism to slam Romney for what he said was a slippery set of positions, including on a set of issues important to women.

"If you say you're for equal pay for equal work but you keep refusing to say whether or not you will sign a bill that protects equal pay for equal work, you might have Romnesia," Obama said.

He was referring to the Republican candidate's stance on the Lilly Ledbetter Act, which strengthens the ability of women to sue employers over unequal pay.

Vice President Joe Biden piled on Friday, saying at a separate event in Florida that "Romnesia" was a "bad disease".

"And it's contagious, because all of a sudden Paul Ryan, the budget hawk, the guy who introduced a whole budget plan that actually already passed, it already passed the House of Representatives. All of a sudden he doesn't remember it, he doesn't remember it," he said, referring to Romney's running mate.

(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)