President Barack Obama told Americans on Monday to punt away Mitt Romney's economic game plan, in a new swipe at his Republican rival on the road to this week's Democratic National Convention. Obama surrounded himself with union members in Ohio, the crucial swing state that Republicans must historically win if they are to reach the White House, on Labour Day, an annual holiday honouring achievements of US workers.
He also freshened up his stump speech with American football metaphors, playing off Romney's self portrayal as a new coach that would lead the country to a winning season.
"The problem is everybody has already seen his economic playbook, we know what's in it," Obama said, accusing Romney and his running mate Paul Ryan of plotting middle class tax hikes and cuts in health care for the elderly. "I have got one piece of advice for you about the Romney-Ryan game plan Ohio - punt it away, it won't work, it won't win the game. You don't need that coach, that's a losing season," Obama said.
Romney, who was in Ohio on Saturday on the first day of the US college football season, portrayed Obama as the coach of a losing team, and suggested himself as an alternative. "It's time to get a new coach ... it's time for America to see a winning season again, and we're going to bring it to them," Romney said in Cincinnati. Toledo is home to General Motors and Chrysler factories whose workers benefited from a multi-billion-dollar auto industry bailout championed by the president and opposed by Romney in 2009.
Vice President Joe Biden was also on the road Monday, visiting Michigan - another state renowned for its ties to the US auto industry. "Folks you can't say you're going to create jobs in the United States of America when you're willing to let one million jobs go under with the liquidation of the automobile plants that he suggested," Biden said in Detroit.
Romney chose not to campaign on Labour Day, which fell the weekend after the intensity of his own nominating convention in Florida, spending time with his family, and taking a turn on his boat near his New Hampshire vacation house. But he issued a statement saying Labour Day was a chance to celebrate the strong American work ethic. "For far too many Americans, today is another day of worrying when their next paycheck will come. Over 23 million Americans are struggling for work and job creation has not returned to our economy the way it should," Romney said. Obama is on a four-day "Road to Charlotte" tour taking in territory that will decide November's election, in which his prospects are clouded by a painfully slow economic recovery and a 8.3 percent unemployment rate.
He has already visited Iowa and Colorado and plans to make a trip to hurricane-stricken Louisiana later on Monday. Obama will travel to another swing state, Virginia, on Tuesday, before flying into Charlotte, North Carolina, on Wednesday on the eve of his big Democratic National Convention address.