Politics notes: Obama ad challenges Romney on China

Updated: July 7, 2012 - 6:37 PM

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OBAMA AD CHALLENGES ROMNEY ON CHINA

President Obama is challenging Mitt Romney's promises to crack down on China's trading practices, saying in an ad released Saturday that the Republican candidate "made a fortune" by allowing China to strip away U.S. jobs.

Obama's ad turns again to a recent Washington Post report that several businesses backed by Romney's former private equity firm moved U.S. jobs to China and India to cut costs. In a parting shot, a narrator says Romney is "not the solution. He's the problem."

The ad follows Obama's two-day bus tour in Ohio and Pennsylvania, where the president announced plans to file a trade complaint against China at the World Trade Organization for unfairly imposing duties on the exports of U.S.-produced automobiles. Romney has accused Obama of failing to live up to promises to get tough on China. Obama's administration says it has taken a broad effort to crack down on what it calls unfair Chinese trading practices, filing seven trade cases with the WTO against Beijing.

The ad represents the latest attempt by Obama's team to discredit Romney's argument that his private sector experience makes him more qualified than the president to steer the economy during high unemployment. Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul said it was "no surprise President Obama would want to distract Americans from the devastating June jobs numbers, but the American people deserve better than dishonest ads."

MURDOCH STEPS OUT INTO POLITICAL SPOTLIGHT

Rupert Murdoch has never been shy about voicing a political opinion, using his empire of television and newspaper outlets -- including Fox News Channel, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post -- to promote conservative causes. Now, with a raft of complaints about Republican Mitt Romney, the billionaire media baron is signaling that he intends to boost his visibility in U.S. politics--even if it comes at the expense of the man conservatives hope can defeat President Obama.

Murdoch, 81, chose to launch his critique of Romney on Twitter, writing: "When is Romney going to look like a challenger?"

Michael Wolff, author of "The Man Who Owns the News," a Murdoch biography, said it reflects Murdoch's determination to carve out a separate identity from Fox News, which has grown more conservative than Murdoch. "He's not a Fox conservative and he's not a Tea Party conservative. That's why he's angry about Romney," Wolff said. "Romney is closer to a Murdoch conservative but he is now pandering to the conservative wing of the party that Murdoch has always had contempt for."

Judd Legum, who has researched Murdoch for the liberal Center for American Progress, a Washington-based think tank, said Murdoch may have another reason. "They've positioned Fox News to be largely supportive of Romney," Legum said. "Murdoch is suggesting another approach. He wants to push Romney into a more aggressive posture."

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