No apologies: Obama campaign continues attacks on Romney

GLEN ALLEN, Virginia—President Barack Obama barnstormed through this swing state on Saturday as his campaign relentlessly hammered at Mitt Romney’s business record, releasing a mocking new ad that shows Romney singing “America the Beautiful” as it accuses his former firm of shipping US jobs overseas.

Obama, speaking to a drenched crowd during a downpour in this Richmond suburb, accused Romney of investing in “companies that have been called pioneers in outsourcing.” He ignored Romney’s demands for an apology about the campaign’s tone, which the Republican candidate had called for in interviews on Friday.

“My opponent and his allies in Congress, they believe in topdown economics,” Obama said. “If you cut through all the stuff, what they are really saying is tax cuts for the wealthy, roll back regulations. That is essen- tially their plan.”

The president’s campaign has spent more than a week hammering Romney’s personal wealth and calling on him to disclose information about his personal finances by releasing more years of his tax returns. They have also raised questions about Romney’s offshore investments and accounts.

The new ad reminds viewers of those issues as it shows a clip of Romney singing at a campaign event in Florida this year.

It says Romney shipped jobs to Mexico, China and India—accusations that Romney’s cam- paign vehemently denies. And it notes that Romney had “millions” in a Swiss bank account and “tax havens” in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands.

“Mitt Romney’s not the solution,” the ad states. “He’s the problem.”

On Saturday, the Republican campaign repeated Romney’s angry comments about what they said are untrue allegations surrounding Romney’s personal finances.

“As the failures of his presidency become more evident, Barack Obama has resorted to the tactics of a typical politician: Dishonest and totally unsubstantiated attacks meant to distract from his own record by smearing the reputation of his opponent,” said Amanda Hennenberg, a Romney campaign spokesperson.

Romney’s campaign has repeatedly defended the offshore accounts, saying that he paid all the taxes legally required. On Fri- day, Romney again refused to release multiple years of his tax returns. He has released a return for 2010, and an estimate for 2011.

“I know there will always be calls for more. People always want to get more,” Romney said on CNN. “And, you know, we’re putting out what is required plus more that is not required. And those are the two years that people are going to have. And that’s—that’s all that’s necessary for people to understand something about my finances.”

He characterized the Obama campaign’s allegations “reckless” and “absurd.”

But if Romney’s campaign hoped that his rival’s campaign would back off its aggressive tone, they were disappointed. Traveling with the president on Air Force One, Obama’s top aides went out of their way Saturday morning to highlight their continued attacks.