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Vote for Romney if you want another Bush, says Obama

The prez attempted to put his faltering campaign back on track, declaring that America faced a stark choice between him and George W.

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Barack Obama attempted to put his faltering campaign for re-election back on track last night (Thursday), declaring that America faced a stark choice between him or a return to the policies of George W. Bush under Mitt Romney.

In a speech billed as a shift in his message amid fresh economic woe, Obama tried to move away from framing November's poll as a referendum on his record, offering instead "two paths for our country".

"This election presents a choice between two fundamentally different visions - of how to stimulate growth, how to pay down our debt and most importantly how to create jobs," Mr Obama said.

Stating that Mr Bush had driven the country into the financial crisis, after turning its budget surpluses into deficits and failing to stimulate job growth, Obama said: "If you want to give the policies of the last decade another try, you should vote for Mr Romney".

Obama repeatedly attempted to tie Romney's plans to those of "his allies in Congress" - whose approval ratings are at historic lows - who have demanded an extension to tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, refused to enact a jobs bill, and blocked investment in clean energy.

The president's remarks to a rally in Cleveland, Ohio, came amid mounting concerns among Democrats that his claim to be overseeing green shoots of economic recovery was not resonating with struggling voters.

Senior advisers to Bill Clinton's presidential campaigns this week urged him to offer "minimal discussion of the recovery and jobs created and maximal empathy for the challenges people face."

Just 69,000 new jobs were created across the country last month - not enough to keep up with the growth in population - and forecasts for annual economic growth were revised down.

The president's ratings in national and swing-state polls have slipped after a miserable fortnight in which he was also overtaken by Romney in the fund-raising stakes for the first time.

His speech came moments after a rival rally by Mr Romney, his Republican challenger, elsewhere in Ohio, which is poised to yet again be a battleground that could decide the election.

"Talk is cheap - actions speak very loud," Romney said. "If you want to see the results of his economic policies, look around Ohio, look around the country. People are hurting."

The former Massachusetts governor claimed that "almost everything the president has done" had made it more difficult for firms to hire workers and had obstructed America's economic recovery.

Obama leads in Ohio by 1.8 percentage points, according to a RealClearPolitics aggregate of polls. The Midwestern state has sided with the losing presidential candidate only once since 1944.

Romney's campaign yesterday continued to hammer Obama for saying during a press conference last week that "the private sector is doing fine", despite the ongoing economic difficulties. An attack advertisement released by Mr Romney yesterday featured the president's remark being repeated after statistics detailing the extent of America's unemployment crisis flashed onscreen.

The clip was virtually identical to a 2008 Obama advertisement attacking John McCain, his Republican opponent, for saying "the fundamentals of our economy are strong".

McCain's comment, at the height of the financial meltdown, was credited with dealing a hefty blow to his election prospects. Obama said yesterday "there will be no shortage of gaffes" in the campaign, adding: "You may have heard I recently made my own unique contribution to that process."

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