Fmr. Commerce Sec. Gutierrez: Romney Must Keep Focus on Jobs

Moving forward from his victory in the first presidential debate, GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney must continue to focus on his core message of creating jobs, former U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez tells Newsmax.TV.

Gutierrez, who is an advisor to the Romney campaign, said in the exclusive interview that the former Massachusetts governor must continue to focus on his “five point plan which, essentially, is going to create 12 million jobs over the next four years.”

He also pointed to Romney’s plan to be energy independent by 2020, a plan that will use all the tools at his disposal from drilling for shale oil and shale gas, clean coal and an increase in drilling permits.

“Now when President Obama says he also believes in that energy plan it’s just that the actions and the history do not bear that out,” he said. “What they show is a president who is enamored with wind and solar and, for some reason, seems to have the impression that the numbers will add up and that that will make us energy independent.”

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He also said that Romney wants to increase trade.

“President Obama has not been a trade president and we need trade to export to consumers around the world, to create jobs, to help small businesses,” he said. “Jobs that are involved in trade pay more than the national average. This is good for the country but for some reason he hasn’t done it.”

Gutierrez said that a higher percentage of the Hispanic vote is in play for Romney and he has been gaining since posting a low of 22 percent.

“As Hispanics understand not just attitude towards immigrants and the fact that a President Romney would be extremely pro-immigrant, they’re realizing that his position on immigration is not as extreme as people painted it out to be,” he said. “There are three million Hispanics looking for work. There are two more million Hispanics in poverty since President Obama took office. Unemployment among Hispanic youths is 30 percent. So Hispanics have not done well with President Obama and they’re realizing that Gov. Romney is a very different individual than what had been painted in the Obama propaganda machine.”