Dems Paint Romney as “Outsourcer-In-Chief,” But Will Obama’s Trade Deal Blow It? [View all]

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http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/13453/dems_puncture_romneys_job_creator_image_but_will_obama_blow_credibility_via/

By Roger Bybee
Friday Jun 29, 2012 12:33 pm

The Obama administration and Democrats have been busily puncturing Mitt Romney’s record as an experienced “job creator,” with a multi-pronged attack on Romney’s role as a “pioneer” in offshoring jobs while heading up the private-equity fund Bain Capital.

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Yet recent leaks reveal that the Obama administration has been secretly negotiating with Pacific Rim nations the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, based on the job-destroying NAFTA model. Obama—as with his trade deals last year with South Korea, Panama, and human-rights pariah Colombia—is once more falling into line behind CEOs in promoting what he as a candidate fiercely denounced in 2008 as “trade deals like NAFTA and China [that] have been signed with plenty of protections for corporations and their profits, but none for our environment or our workers who've seen factories shut their doors and millions of jobs disappear.

Thus, the Obama administration’s efforts to pass the TPP muddle the partisan divide on the offshoring issue, which his campaign is now using so effectively against Romney. With 86% of Americans convinced that the offshoring of jobs contributes significantly to the nation’s economic problems, the 2012 election’s outcome may very well hang on the perception of Obama as the defender of the public interest on this issue.

Fortunately for Obama, Romney’s well-documented support for the offshoring of jobs has monopolized the media's attention, thanks to an effective Democratic and labor onslaught. New polling from NBC/The Wall Street Journal show significant gains for Obama in swing states, where a new ad campaign is being focused. A combination of front-page revelations about Bain Capital, powerful rhetoric from Obama (plus this video comparing Bain Capital to the Sopranos’ Mafia operation), skillfully crafted ads, and cleverly–timed legislation are keeping the spotlight on Romney.