Obama pushes back with ‘doing fine’ ad

Multiple Republican groups have launched TV ads highlighting President Obama’s comment at a recent press conference that “the private sector is doing fine.” Now Obama’s campaign is pushing back, arguing that “Mitt Romney and his billionaire allies” are distorting the president’s words.

The 30-second ad begins with Obama talking about his conversations with unemployed workers, saying: “You can tell it wears on them.” A narrator touts Obama’s economic plan which would “keeps taxes down for the middle class, invests in education, and asks the wealthy to pay their fair share.” Images appear showing Obama touring factories and talking to unemployed workers.

“Mitt Romney and his billionaire allies can spend millions to distort the president’s words,” the narrator continues. “But they're not interested in rebuilding the middle class. President Obama is.” Romney is juxtaposed with a screenshot of an ad attacking the president; Obama’s press conference is shown with the quote beneath him.

Romney has been running “doing fine” ads in English and Spanish. Restore our Future, a pro-Romney super PAC, released its spot highlighting the line last week. And Americans for Prosperity, a conservative outside group, aired yet another spot. So millions of dollars have been spent to spread the quote far and wide.

“President Obama has had over three years to turn around our economy, but his big-government policies have not helped the middle class like he promised,” said Romney spokesman Amanda Henneberg. “Mitt Romney knows we can do better, and he will put in place policies that will unleash the private sector and spur job creation.”

The buy, first reported by the Huffington Post, has not been announced in a press release, but the ad is on YouTube and a campaign official confirmed that it is running in Colorado, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Iowa, Virginia, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Florida. No word on the size of the buy.