Obama team slams Republicans with auto-rescue ad
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US President Barack Obama's re-election team released a television ad on Thursday hailing his bailout of US automakers, which contrasts his decision with Republican White House contenders who opposed it.
The 30-second ad, titled 'Made in America', is running in Michigan where Republican hopefuls including Mitt Romney are campaigning ahead of a February 28 primary, and it stated that all four men aiming to unseat Obama turned their backs on the industry.
It also shows a New York Times opinion piece by Romney at the peak of the global financial crisis in 2008, in which he wrote 'Let Detroit go bankrupt'.
The ad then shows footage of Obama during one of his many visits to a car manufacturer, saying: "Don't bet against the American auto industry."
The video's narrator states: 'Now a re-tooled, re-structured industry is back because of the grit and sacrifice of Michigan workers', alluding to a turnaround in the industry made possible by the financial aid.
The Obama campaign says the $80 billion bailout safeguarded 1.4 million jobs up and down the supply chain and the president has repeatedly cited the deal as evidence of his Democratic Party's economic competence.
Romney's team fired off a quick response to the new ad, saying it showed Obama was "desperate to hold onto power."
"The last thing President Obama and his team want to do is face Mitt Romney in the general election. Their factually false television ad proves they are more focused on Mitt Romney than they are on getting Michiganders back to work," Romney spokesperson Amanda Henneberg said in a statement.
The government bailout, deeply unpopular in Washington at the time, has been credited with saving General Motors and Chrysler from going bust.
Obama signed off on the plan after concluding that if GM and Chrysler had failed, the entire auto parts support industry, as well as a third firm, Ford, could have also gone under.
GM last week announced a return to health, with results showing it made a record profit in 2011, as domestic sales and growth in China helped the Detroit firm snatch back the title of world's biggest automaker from Toyota.
The Obama ad also follows a two-minute GM spot that aired during the recent Super Bowl and was narrated by veteran US actor and director Clint Eastwood.
Dubbed 'Halftime in America', the GM ad was slammed by Republicans for being politically biased.
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