Mitt Romney's campaign released a new web video Saturday hitting President Obama for comments he made and later walked back saying the private sector was "doing fine."
The video opens with a clip of Obama's remark to reporters in the White House Friday that "The private sector is doing fine. Where we’re seeing weaknesses in our economy have to do with state and local government.”
While the president quickly corrected the statement hours later, Romney's campaign moved to use the remarks to pain the president as out-of-touch.
The video ad follows Obama's remarks with clips of workers discussing their struggles with the weak economy.
“We’ve seen layoffs, cutbacks," says one woman.
“I’ve been looking for a job for two years haven’t found any," says another.
“I had to file my own personal bankruptcy and had to close my business," says a man.
The video closes by repeating clips of Obama’s quote, before an on-screen graphic reading, "No, Mr. President, we are not 'doing fine.'"
"Since the president is completely out of touch, these middle class workers talked about their experiences to remind him of the realities of the Obama economy," said a statement from the Obama campaign announcing the new video.
Both Romney and Obama have stepped up attacks on their rival's economic record following a disappointing May jobs report which showed unemployment creeping upward and the economy only 69,000 jobs last month.
On Saturday, Obama's campaign released a video blasting Romney for criticizing a proposal to give cash-poor states more funding to retain teachers and emergency responders, saying “Romney economics” would lead to fewer police and firefighters on the job.
He wants another stimulus, he wants to hire more government workers. He says we need more firemen, more policemen, more teachers. Did he not get the message of Wisconsin? The American people did. It’s time for us to cut back on government and help the American people," Romney had said while campaigning in Iowa.
On Sunday, senior Obama campaign adviser David Axelrod said Republicans were jumping on the “doing fine” remark to avoid debating the president’s jobs growth proposals.
"They're more eager to have a debate over an out-of-context clause in his remarks than the substance of what he said," Axelrod said on CNN's "State of the Union."
But the Romney campaign quickly responded. “When even your own chief strategist can’t defend your comments, it indicates that your assessment of the economy might be wrong," said Romney spokesman Ryan Williams in a statement.
