Romney goes after Obama's core campaign message

LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- Mitt Romney is turning President Barack Obama's campaign message on its head.

The expected Republican presidential nominee says Obama wants to return America to "old-school liberal" policies of the past. Romney says he alone would guide the country in a new direction away from bigger government and higher taxes.

Obama has argued that Romney is the one who would take the country back to the past and to Bush administration policies. Obama and other Democrats say those policies didn't work and blame them for causing the recession.

Romney commented Monday during a campaign appearance in Lansing, Mich.

He also invoked Bill Clinton and said Obama should be more of a "new Democrat" like the former president who declared an end to "the era big government."

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