CHICAGO — Sounding every bit the presidential candidate, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour used President Barack Obama’s hometown as a backdrop Monday to blame the Democrat for enacting policies that “created economic uncertainty or directly hurt the economy” — and to argue that he could do better.
“The policies embraced by this White House show little understanding of how our economy actually works,” Barbour told the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce in a speech that previewed his probable campaign pitch.
Trying to draw a contrast, the two-term Republican governor of a state bruised by Hurricane Katrina also boasted of his own record on economic growth and job creation in Mississippi, which has long been ranked at the bottom on personal income and education. “We still have more to do in Mississippi, but we have made great progress,” he said.
Barbour delivered the lunchtime speech in Chicago at the start of a week in which he’ll travel to the early caucus state of Iowa and the fundraising hot spot of California.
The swing coupled with the recent hiring of key aides signals the increasing likelihood that Barbour, a veteran GOP operative and longtime Washington lobbyist, will enter the presidential field this spring.
It’s all but certain to include former governors Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota and Jon Huntsman of Utah, as well as former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania.
