Romney knocks Obama for no mention of 'unemployment' in acceptance speech

Mitt Romney blasted President Obama during a speech Monday in Ohio for failing to mention either unemployment or food stamps during his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention last week.

"I was surprised in the president’s speech at the Democrat convention he didn’t mention unemployment," Romney said. "He didn’t mention 47 million people on food stamps. By the way, that’s a record number. And not a good record."

Romney added that the president did not provide a specific enough plan for an economic recovery in what would be his second term.

"Not only did he not mention these people, he did not mention what he was going to do to help people get back to work," Romney said. "He does not have a plan. His idea is that ObamaCare and a stimulus are all we need."

The lines drew a loud reaction from the crowd at the machine shop warehouse in Ohio, a crucial swing state in November. Romney was animated relative to his normal stump stops, speaking quickly and playing off the crowd.

At one point while attacking the president's jobs numbers, an audience member yelled, "It's not Bush's fault!" earning an enthusiastic "Yeah!" in response from the Republican nominee.

He also debuted a new line about the president's "forward" campaign slogan, a theme around which Democrats organized their convention last week.

" ‘Forward’ is his campaign slogan. I think ‘Forewarned’ is a better term," Romney said. "We know what would happen if he were reelected. We’d see more years of unemployment."

Romney himself came under fire for failing to mention the word "troops" in his acceptance speech — a point which Democrats seized on during their convention.

Romney told NBC News in an interview that aired Sunday that it's "interesting that people are curious about mentioning words in a speech as opposed to policy." And while Romney did highlight increases in poverty and unemployment in his acceptance speech, he also avoided the words "unemployment' or "food stamps."

In a statement Monday from the Obama campaign, spokeswoman Lis Smith accused Romney of being "evasive" on what his plans for fixing the economy were.

"What we saw today from Mitt Romney is more of the same evasiveness that has defined his campaign ... Mitt Romney knows it’s political suicide to level with the American people about his ‘secret’ agenda, so he’s evading the truth at every turn. The American people don’t want to go back to the same formula that crashed the economy and devastated the middle class in the first place — they want to go forward," Smith said.

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