Gotcha Morning | Did Obama 'Gut Welfare Reform?'

Earlier this week, Mitt Romney's campaign released an ad that accuses President Obama of "quietly announcing a plan to gut welfare reform by dropping work requirements." The ad explicitly compares welfare under President Clinton to this new plan under Obama, in which Romney's saying "you wouldn't have to work."

But now people from all sides are saying that Romney's ad simply isn't true. Bill Clinton quickly released a statement calling the ad "disappointing" and "misleading." The former Democratic president defending the current one is no surprise, but Romney could have expected a little more support from his one-time adversary and current ally Newt Gingrich who spoke to Anderson Cooper about the ad last night on CNN. Gingrich says he would have worded the ad differently and admits "we have no proof today" to support Romney's welfare attacks on Obama.

The biggest problem for Romney is the same one he has on the health care issue. Once again his past in Massachusetts, which he often conveniently chooses to forget, has come back to haunt him. As Governor in 2005, Romney signed a very similar welfare waiver intended to give his state and others more flexibility. The consensus is that neither Obama's new provision, nor the one Romney signed in Massachusetts will allow people to receive more free money without work. And since the ad came from the official Romney campaign, he and his advisors can't hide behind super PAC's on this one.

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