The Republican super-PAC American Crossroads is trying to flip the script on the Obama campaign's repeated attacks on Mitt Romney's private-equity past.
American Crossroads, the outside spending group affiliated with Karl Rove, released a new Web video Tuesday blasting the president for his "failed investment strategies" with public funds, most notably the now-bankrupt solar company Solyndra.
"Obama's attacking private equity, but what's his record on public equity investing?" asks a narrator in the video.
The attack ad came on the same day that the Romney campaign revived GOP criticism of Obama's green-energy programs.
The Obama team has portrayed Romney's work in private equity at Bain Capital as harmful to workers in an attempt to turn his business experience into a campaign liability.
The Crossroads video, titled "Public Equity," turns the argument back on the president, and hits him for job losses suffered during the federal auto bailout.
"Under the government auto bailout investment 2,000 dealerships were shuttered, wiping out over 100,000 American jobs. One U.S. auto maker sold off to a foreign competitor," says the video.
The super-PAC ad admonishes the president for encouraging taxpayer support of green-energy companies.
"Obama invested our tax dollars in Solyndra, lost half a billion, 1,100 workers laid-off without fair warning ... Public Equity President Obama, playing Wall Street games with our money," says the video.
Obama administration officials have strongly defended the billions of dollars in loan guarantees issued through the 2009 stimulus law — using authority first provided in a bipartisan 2005 energy bill — such as those given to Solyndra, the bankrupt California company that made advanced solar panels.
Defenders of the loan guarantees say that while Solyndra's demise was unfortunate, the overall program has succeeded in backing companies that have created jobs and helped expand renewable component manufacturing and green-power generation.
Read more on the Energy Department loan guarantee program on The Hill's E2 Wire blog.
— Ben Geman contributed.
