Bill Clinton: Romney had a 'sterling business career'

Former President Bill Clinton has become the latest high-profile Democrat to undermine the Obama campaign's message that presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney would be bad for the economy because he had a record of killing jobs as the CEO of Bain Capital.

"I don't think that we ought to get into the position where we say 'This is bad work. This is good work,'" Clinton told CNN on Thursday. "I think the real issue ought to be, what has Governor Romney advocated in the campaign that he will do as president? What has President Obama done and what does he propose to do? How do these things stack up against each other?"

"The man who has been governor and had a sterling business career crosses the qualification threshold," the former president added.

During a recent appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, Newark Mayor Cory Booker (D) had said that the Obama campaign should stop criticizing Romney for job losses caused by Bain Capital, a firm that he founded. The Newark mayor later released a YouTube video walking back his remarks. But by Monday afternoon, Romney’s campaign had released a web advertisement featuring Booker and other prominent Democrats as evidence the attacks had backfired.

Former DLC chair Harold Ford Jr. and former Obama adviser Steve Rattner have also defended Romney's record at the private equity firm.

Watch this video from CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight, May 31, 2012.