RNC hits Obama with ad blasting administration's record on job creation

As President Obama gears up to deliver a major jobs speech on Thursday, the Republican National Committee (RNC) is out with a new ad targeting his record on job creation - by using his own words, and those of fellow Democrats', against him.

The minute-long web-only ad, entitled "Sound Familiar?", features a series of video clips of Mr. Obama espousing his administration's commitment to and "singular focus" on reducing unemployment and creating jobs in America. The sound bites, which span from November 2009 to August 2011, are accompanied by text noting the date Mr. Obama spoke, as well as the unemployment rate at that time.

"This is my administration's overriding focus," Mr. Obama is shown saying, in a November 2009 clip.

According to a December 2010 clip, he repeats a similar pledge: "My singular focus over the next two years is jump-starting the economy."

And in August 2011, he again references "My singular focus."

"Creating jobs is now the number one priority, because the president knows keeping his job may depend on it," a narrator in the ad intones.

Taken in chronological order, however, the unemployment rates shown in each clip denote a steady decline, spanning from 9.9 percent in November 2009, to 9.1 percent in August 2011.

The spot also features fellow Democrat, California Rep. Maxine Waters, criticizing the president in a Congressional Black Caucus-sponsored gathering in August: "Our people are hurting," Waters says in the clip. "The unemployment is unconscionable."

In a Wednesday morning statement timed to the ad's release, RNC chair Reince Priebus blasted Mr. Obama for having "prioritized taxing, spending and regulating" rather than focusing on job creation during his tenure as president.

"For the past two and a half years, President Obama has repeatedly promised to focus on jobs, but, instead, he has prioritized taxing, spending and regulating," Priebus said. "The problem is that job creation was never a priority for this president. He spent the summer filling his campaign coffers, going on taxpayer-funded bus tours, playing golf and jetting off to Martha's Vineyard at a time when 14 million Americans are out of work."

"Expect this president to talk about the same-old economic half-measures that he's championed since taking office and to blame others for his lack of leadership," he added. "The country is yearning for leadership but all we've gotten is failed promises filled with misplaced priorities. With ZERO jobs created in the month of August, it's time to change direction."