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Obama, Romney both say the other guy is ‘out of touch’

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The phrase of the day in the 2012 presidential campaign: “Out of touch.”

The slogan was liberally sprinkled Monday in competing conference calls by the campaigns of President Obama and Mitt Romney, in the latest round of sniping over controversial comments made last week by both men.

Let’s start with the presumptive GOP nominee, whose campaign held a call titled “President Obama Is Shockingly Out of Touch With the Middle Class.”

Romney supporters seized upon Obama’s comment Friday, amid several long responses to questions about the economy, that the private sector was “doing fine.” Romney’s campaign said the remark showed that the president did not understand the economy, in part, apparently, because he never owned a business.

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“This president is obviously completely out of touch with reality, completely out of touch with what’s going on,” said Rep. Sam Graves of Missouri, chairman of the House Small Business Committee. “When you’re an individual such as him, you’ve never had to make a payroll, never had to make sure all your bills are paid, never started a small business, much less run a small business.”

The Obama campaign, for its part, sought to highlight Romney’s comment Friday that mocked Obama for wanting to increase the number of teachers, police officers and firefighters.

“He’s simply out of touch, and we welcome a debate on who’s out of touch,” deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter said.

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seema.mehta@latimes.com

michael.memoli@latimes.com

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