White House to Romney: Help the middle class

Now that Mitt Romney has dropped out of the presidential race, he should use the sway of his endorsement to nudge GOP candidates toward economic policies benefiting the middle class, the White House said Friday.

{mosads}White House press secretary Josh Earnest said he was confident that President Obama’s former challenger’s announcement not to run, made to a call of donors and supporters earlier Friday, was “a difficult one” and “intensely personal.”

The former Massachusetts governor, who ran for president in 2008 and won his party’s nomination in 2012, had said in recent weeks that he was mulling another bid because President Obama’s policies had failed the poor and middle class.

Earnest said he believed Romney was “genuine in articulating that concern” and that he hoped he would continue to advocate on behalf of those Americans throughout the campaign.

“I’m confident that Governor Romney will be someone whose endorsement will be sought by other Republican candidates,” the White House spokesman said. “And I’m hopeful that Governor Romney will use that influence to try and elevate the debate, and have more attention and focus on policies that actually benefit middle-class families. And surely we’re going to have disagreements about the best way to do that, but if that can at least be our starting point, I think we would feel like we’ve made some progress.”

During a speech in Philadelphia on Thursday night, Obama seemed to mock Romney over his critique.

“We’ve got a former presidential candidate on the other side who suddenly is just deeply concerned about poverty,” Obama told a gathering of House Democrats. “That’s great! Let’s go! Come on! Let’s do something about it!”

Earnest said Obama’s intent was “to note we are seeing more rhetoric from Republicans on what was a previously unstated concern for people who are not at the top.”

The White House declined to say whether they hoped Democratic candidates — including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vice President Biden — would also soon come to decisions on whether to run. Earnest said the potential candidates would need to decide on their own timeline.