AdWatch: Romney ad misleads on Obama biz plan

Associated Press

ANDREW MIGA, Associated Press

Updated: Nov 1, 2012 1:09 PM

WASHINGTON (AP) — TITLE: "Secretary of Business"

LENGTH: 30 seconds.

AIRING: Mitt Romney's campaign did not disclose where the ad will run.

KEY IMAGES: Romney's ad opens with an image of President Barack Obama and the words, "Secretary of Business?"

A narrator says: "His solution to everything is to add another bureaucrat. Why not have a president who actually understands business?"

A shop doorway with a "Closed" sign fills the screen, followed by a shot of what appears to be a shuttered plant.

"Under Obama, millions of people can't find work," the narrator says. "And more families on welfare and a record number of Americans on food stamps."

Images of Romney smiling and greeting supporters flash across the screen, accompanied by to upbeat music. "Mitt Romney understands business, knows how to create jobs and get our economy moving. He's done it before. He can do it again," the narrator says.

ANALYSIS: Romney's ad provides a misleading portrayal of Obama's proposal for a secretary of business, suggesting the president is bent on expanding government by adding another bureaucrat. It also ignores recent positive news about the economy.

Contrary to the ad's assertion, Obama suggested consolidating nine agencies that deal with business issues as a way of streamlining the federal bureaucracy. He mentioned the idea in a recent interview on MSNBC.

Back in January, Obama had suggested collapsing six economic agencies into one, an election-year idea intended to halt bureaucratic nightmares and force Republicans to back him on one of their own favorite issues. He was seeking more power to shrink the government.

Obama asked Congress to give him a kind of reorganization power to guarantee the president a vote, within 90 days, on any idea he offered to consolidate agencies, provided it would save money and cut the size of government.

Obama said he wanted to merge six major trade and commerce agencies into a one-stop-shopping department for businesses. He was seeking to counter charges by Romney and other Republicans that he has presided over the kind of regulation, spending and debt that can undermine the economy.

Romney's campaign released the ad as the hotly contested presidential election neared its end. The economy and jobs were the dominant issues.

The ad asserts that Romney's experience as a businessman makes him better suited to improve the economy. It presents downbeat statistics on the economy, including that millions of people are unemployed and that more families are on welfare and food stamps.

But those claims ignore the broader economic picture.

Recent positive economic indicators include a decline in claims for unemployment benefits, rising worker productivity and auto sales, home builders increasing construction, manufacturing expansion, gains in retail sales and consumer confidence at the highest level since a year before Obama took office.

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