First Romney TV ad blasts Obama

Mitt Romney's campaign is rolling out its first television advertisement today in New Hampshire.

Romney unveiled the ad on Sean Hannity's Fox News show on Monday evening, reported the New York Times' politics and government blog, The Caucus.

Titled "Believe in America," the 60-second ad begins with a number of audio clips of Obama talking about fixing the economy, clearly creating the impression that the president has failed to steer the country out of the economic crisis. The second half of the commercial shows Romney talking about implementing a "smaller, simpler, smarter approach to government."

"We have a moral responsibility not to spend more than we take in," he says. "I'll make sure that America is a job-creating machine like it has been in the past."

Critics say the ad uses some of the Obama clips out of context, especially when the president says "If we keep talking about the economy, we are going to lose." It appears that in that instance, Obama was quoting an aide to then-2008 opponent Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who had used those words anonymously in an interview.

That might be beside the point though because, as the Washington Post's Aaron Brooks noted on the Post blog The Fix, the clip produces the desired result.

EMAIL: mwhite@desnews.com