Fact-checking Obama, Biden convention speeches

(CBS News) Upon accepting the Democratic nominations for president and vice president, President Obama and Vice President Biden on Thursday night made several assertions about their own records and about Mitt Romney's.

 

Here's a look at those assertions and whether or not they hold up under scrutiny:

 

Biden on job creation: "And because of the decisions he's made, and the strength the American people have demonstrated every day, America has turned the corner. After the worst job loss since the Great Depression, we've created 4.5 million private sector jobs in the past 29 months."

 

According to data gathered from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the economy has created 4,517,000 private sector jobs since January 2010, 29 months ago. 

The peak of private sector employment was in January 2008, when 115 million private sector jobs filled the economy. From the peak - the last year of President Bush's term - until when President Obama took office in January 2009, 4.66 million jobs were lost. Between January and March 2010, when the private sector began adding jobs again, 4.15 million jobs were lost.

 

Biden on the auto bailout: "When I look back now on the President's decision, I also think of another son of an automobile man--Mitt Romney. Mitt Romney grew up in Detroit. His father ran American Motors. Yet he was willing to let Detroit go bankrupt. It's not that he's a bad guy. I'm sure he grew up loving cars as much as I did. I just don't think he understood--I just don't think he understood what saving the automobile industry meant-to all of America. I think he saw it the Bain way. Balance sheets. Write-offs."

 

There's no argument that the auto industry bailout worked in the long term. However, the decision was not solely Mr. Obama's. Biden other Democrats praising Mr. Obama this week on the bailout and its benefits are neglecting to acknowledge the initial decisions of former President George W. Bush and the Democratic-led Congress to pump $13 billion into the automakers in December 2008.

 

In fact, talks between the automakers and Congress began months before, when Mr. Obama was still a presidential candidate. Where Mr. Obama put his real stamp on the bailout was setting the parameters in March 2009, allocating General Motors and Chrysler an additional $4 billion in exchange for agreeing to major restructuring of their operations.

 

Romney did grow up in the Detroit area, and his father was CEO of American Motors. It's also true he famously penned a New York Times op-ed in which he said the automakers should have declared bankruptcy before receiving aid. Bankruptcy was not off the table for Mr. Obama: in his March 2009 restructuring announcement, Mr. Obama gave GM and Chrysler one month to shape up or face bankruptcy. In fact, Chrysler did file for bankruptcy at the end of April 2009, GM shortly thereafter, though both emerged from bankruptcy stronger than before.