President Barack Obama attempts to portray his rival Mitt Romney as extreme as he praise former Republican presidents, from Ronald Reagan to Abraham Lincoln and Dwight Eisenhower. He said that the formers presidents were good examples of how the two parties can work together for the good of the nation. Republican Icons

Election Day is just seven months away and the president hopes that he could convince voters that he is the moderate choice. He describes Romney as having too conservative policies that doesn’t click with most Americans.

President Barack Obama mentioned former President Reagan’s name four times in a speech before the Associated Press during the group’s annual meeting. He said that Reagan was never accused of being a tax and spend socialist and yet still recognized the need to increase tax rates as well as curb federal spending to solve the nation’s deficit problem. He concluded that the conservative hero couldn’t win a Republican primary today.

He then described Romney as an ideological extremist. But this is a curious strategy by Obama’s camp because the Republican frontrunner has been considered the moderate candidate in the GOP primaries. Romney doesn’t have the full support of the conservatives in the party.

President Obama’s team wants to make Romney the bad guy before the former Massachusetts governor has the chance to fully focus his campaign towards the general election in November. The president wants to get the attention of the moderates of both parties as well as the independent voters. These are the swing votes that can decide the winner of the race.

President Obama has mentioned Reagan more than 40 times in public events and speeches since 2009. But Eisenhower is his favorite Republican president because he was referenced more than 90 times. Lincoln is second with 80 mentions in public events covered by transcripts.