After his big win in Florida on Tuesday, Republican hopeful Mitt Romney is looking to move beyond the primary and caucus battle to focus his fire on President Barack Obama -- though, of course, there are still three GOP candidates standing in the way of him and the partys nomination.
Romney jabbed Obama on Friday responding to the news that the national unemployment rate dipped from 8.5 percent in December to 8.3 percent in January.
We welcome the fact that jobs were created and unemployment declined, Romney said in a statement on Friday. Unfortunately, these numbers cannot hide the fact that President Obama's policies have prevented a true economic recovery. We can do better.
Romney pointed to other economic indicators that he said showed that Obama was failing in leading the nation toward recovery.
Last week, we learned that the economy grew only 1.7 percent in 2011, the slowest growth in a nonrecession year since the end of World War II, Romney said. As a result, the percentage of Americans in the job market continues to decline and is now at a level not seen since the early 1980s.Nearly 24 million Americans remain unemployed, underemployed, or have just stopped looking for work. Long-term unemployment remains at record levels. I am running for president because I have the vision and experience to help rebuild the economy and put us on a path toward greater prosperity for all Americans.
While Romney looks to focus on the president instead of his Republican rivals, Democrats are returning the favor. On Friday, South Florida U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, joined Colorado Democratic Party Chairman Rick Palacio and local officials on a call with the media attacking Romney -- while ignoring Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul. Colorado holds its caucus on Tuesday.
Romney also looked to open another line of attack on Obamas handling of the economy this week by unveiling a new website hammering the president on a number of fronts.
You won't hear the White House talk about it, but three years ago today, President Obama told the American people that if he couldn't turn our economy around, he would be looking at a one-term proposition. To honor the anniversary, we created OneTermFund.com for Americans like you to hold the president accountable for his failed leadership and broken promises, wrote Matt Rhoades, Romneys campaign manager, in an email to supporters sent out late on Thursday.
Obama's billion-dollar re-election machine wasn't too thrilled about OneTermFund.com. Shortly after the site was launched, the president did what he does best -- distracting voters from his failed record and focusing on his re-election, Rhoades added. In a series of emails and tweets, the Obama team launched the president's Two-Term Fund with a fundraising goal of $2 million. While most Americans would rather the president focus on creating jobs, he'll say and do anything to save his own. We've seen what three years of an Obama presidency look like -- we're not about to sign up for four more.
The Romney team claims the new site has already raised around $1 million for their campaign.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
