Obama ‘revenge’ comment referred to Romney ‘scare tactics’ in Ohio: Campaign

MENTOR, Ohio—A campaign aide moved to explain President Barack Obama's comment in which he referred to voting as "the best revenge," saying that Obama was referring in part to a television ad Mitt Romney's campaign released that suggested Chrysler was planning to ship manufacturing jobs out of Ohio to China.

Obama campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki told pool reporters Saturday that the comment was made in the context of what she called Romney's "scare tactics" in the final days of the campaign.

The Romney ad was "frightening workers in Ohio into thinking, falsely, that they're not going to have a job," Psaki said when asked about Obama's "revenge" comment. "And the message he was sending is if you don't like the policies, if you don't like the plan that Gov. Romney is putting forward, if you think that's a bad deal for the middle class, then you can go to the voting booth and cast your ballot."

"It's nothing more complicated than that," Psaki added.

Obama made the comment on Friday during a rally when supporters in the audience booed at a mention of his opponent.

"Don't boo, vote," Obama said. "Voting's the best revenge."

At campaign rallies across Ohio on Friday, Obama criticized Romney's ad directly, accusing his campaign of "massaging the facts" on the auto bailout.

"You don't scare hardworking Americans just to scare up some votes," Obama said on Friday during a rally in Hilliard, Ohio. "That's not what being president's all about."