By Callum Borchers and Glen Johnson Globe Correspondent and Globe Staff

Mitt Romney, speaking this afternoon in Roxbury, accused President Obama of misunderstanding the nature of American entrepreneurship by suggesting that government assistance plays an equal role as hard work in creating small businesses.

“I don’t think the president, by his comments, understands what makes this country great,” Romney said after touring Middlesex Truck & Coach. “It wasn’t a gaffe; it was, instead, his ideology.”

The company performs work on trucks, buses, and equipment.

Romney said: “This was not the result of government. This is the result of people who take risk.”

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee also complained that Obama had held 106 fund-raisers during the past six months. During that same span, the president did not meet with his business-advisory Jobs Council, which is supposed to be providing private sector insight for plotting the nation’s economic recovery.

“I think you learn something about his priorities. The job he’s interested in protecting is his own,” Romney said.

A group of about 70 protestors gathered outside, which a company official lamented.

Romney replied, according to a Reuters reporter accompanying him on his tour: “Oh, that’s the nature of politics. There’s always two teams. We’re always bothering each others’ teams.”

Employee Rodney Hollis, who said he voted for Obama in 2008, was asked about the chance of voting for the former Massachusetts governor this time around.

“It’s a possibility,” Reuters reported.

Romney did not take questions after his appearance and left without talking to reporters.

Among those outside were Boston City Councilors Tito Jackson and Felix Arroyo, two Democrats supporting Obama.