Mitt Romney is edging ever closer to the recent controversial comments made by campaign surrogate John Sununu, who ultimately apologized for saying President Obama needs to “learn to be an American.”

At a campaign stop near Boston Thursday, Romney doubled down on his latest attack based on an out-of-context Obama quote Romney and the GOP has pounced on all week.

Romney said the “you didn’t build that” line he has seized on in speeches and ads wasn’t a “gaffe” but is “instead [Obama’s] ideology.”

Romney explained that Obama doesn’t really understand how the country works.

“I just don’t think the president, by his comments, suggests an understanding of what it is that makes America such a unique nation,” Romney said. “Why people have come here for hundreds of years. It’s because this is the land of opportunity. We welcome people here with dreams and say to them, ‘Come build it.’ Not, ‘Come here because government will give it to you.’”