Mitt Romney is standing by his allegation that President Obama has worsened the economic crisis. Appearing at the Galley Hatch Restaurant in Hampton on July 5, Romney repeated an assertion that has become a staple of his campaign.

“The president, in my view, made the recession deeper and longer than it needed to be, and the recovery has been more anemic than it should have been,” Romney said. “Small business, in particular, has been very hard hit.”

The former Massachusetts governor and current Republican presidential candidate was in Hampton to participate in a roundtable discussion with small business owners. Romney, who co-founded the investment firm Bain & Company, touted his own experience in the private sector and criticized Obama for inspiring a lack of confidence.

“Sometimes I think that the president and some of his friends in Washington don’t like you guys very much,” Romney told the lunching crowd at the Galley Hatch. “I say that tongue in cheek to a degree, but the bashing of business of one kind or another obviously causes people to pull back, and many of the president’s policies have had the effect of causing people to be less confident in the future.”

Romney did not elaborate on any specific ideas for improving the economy, instead piling up blame on Obama. He said there are too many bureaucrats in the White House and federal regulations are too stringent.

Fact-checking organizations have refuted claims that Obama deepened the recession, noting that gross domestic product has grown under Obama and that the recession ended six months into his presidency. The national unemployment rate has dropped slightly over the last two years, although it was still over 9 percent as of June.

But Romney said the economic recovery has been too slow. When a guest expressed concern that the nation could be headed into a double-dip recession, Romney said he could not predict the economic future. But he said the concern, alone, reflects sagging confidence in the Obama administration.

“The fact that people are even talking about a double-dip suggests that the policies in Washington have not reignited this economy in the way they should have,” he said.

Several guests at the event, which included a number of Rockingham County officials and a couple of Republican state representatives, said small businesses have suffered from strict government regulations. Rep. Fred Rice (R-Hampton), who owns a company that manufactures valves that regulate landfill gas recovery, said environmental regulations have stifled his business and others.

“The DES here in New Hampshire and the EPA in Washington are two of the most oppressive agencies that we have, and these are things that really need to be loosened up so we’re not afraid of doing anything in business,” Rice said.

Romney agreed, saying over-regulation and the slow decision-making process at the state and federal levels dampen economic growth.

“This is predictable. When you throw molasses over the entire economy, things don’t move as fast, and this is a time when we need to loosen things up,” Romney said. “We need regulation, of course, but we need it streamlined, modernized, updated and a lot fewer bureaucrats, in my opinion.”

Rice criticized Democrats who continue to blame the nation’s economic woes on George W. Bush. Romney again concurred, saying Obama is on track to add more federal debt than all prior presidents combined.

“You know what? We’re now three years later folks. We’re in the third year of this president’s four-year term. You can’t keep blaming President Bush. This is the Obama economy,” he said.

Rockingham County Sheriff Michael Downing, who owns a laundry business in Salem, asked Romney what he would do to lower oil prices. Romney said he would work to reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil by searching for places to drill in the United States and using more natural gas, clean-burning coal and nuclear power. He said he also supports renewable energy sources, but they cannot cover all the nation’s energy demands.

“You can’t run a car with a windmill, and not everyone’s going to drive a Chevy Volt,” he said to the laughing room. “We also have to have carbon-based fuels.”

Romney concluded his visit by running through a list of characteristics for a strong economy. It included making tax rates for employers competitive with those in other countries, streamlining regulations and bureaucracy, establishing fair trade policies with nations like China, reducing foreign energy, eliminating “crony capitalism,” building human capital with good schools and programs to put people to work and, finally, making sure the government does not spend more money than it takes in each year.

“If I’m president of the United States, I’ll go after those seven areas, among others, to try to get our economy going again,” he said.