Romney attacks Obama's ‘doing fine' comment in new TV ad

ByABC News
June 14, 2012, 6:58 AM

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Mitt Romney is using President Obama's "doing fine" comment against him in a new television ad that suggests the president is out of touch with the nation's economic struggles.

Cast against footage of people on unemployment lines and homes slapped with foreclosure signs, the ad features gloomy messages about record job loss and struggles of the country's middle class.

The ad then segues to "the president's response" and plays footage of Obama's now-infamous June 8 White House news conference in which he suggested the private sector is "doing fine."

Obama later clarified his remark, telling reporters the "economy is not doing fine," but the footage of the initial comment airs twice in a row in Romney's ad for apparent dramatic effect. And the audio repeats twice in a row at the ad's conclusion.

"How can the president fix our economy," a message on the screen reads, "if he doesn't understand it's broken."

The ad is Romney's fourth general election TV spot, but it's the first to go explicitly negative against Obama. Romney's previous ads, focusing on a "day one" theme of what he would do if elected, had been largely positive.

The Romney campaign declined to say what the campaign is spending on the ad and where it will air. But its release comes just a day after Republican sources told CNN the campaign had made a $3.24 million ad buy in seven key battleground states, its biggest media investment so far.