Mitt Romney and Barack Obama

Mitt Romney and Barack Obama (May 14, 2012)

In a harsh two-minute television commercial intended to undercut Mitt Romney's business experience, the Obama campaign features former steelworkers whose Kansas City, Missouri mill shut down after Romney's private equity firm took over.

The ad, airing in Pennsylvania and four other states crucial to a presidential candidate's success, will especially sting in the Lehigh Valley where the mens' tales of decades working at the steel plant only to see it all go away along with their pensions and retirement benefits will be reminiscent of the death of Bethlehem Steel, the more than a century old lifeblood of the Lehigh Valley.

In the ad, Joe Soptic, a former steelworker for three decades says, “They made as much money off it as they could and they closed it down, they filed for bankruptcy, without any concern for the families or the communities."


“It was like a vampire. They came in and sucked the life out of us," says Jack Cobb, who worked at the plant for 31 years. 

“It was like watching an old friend bleed to death," Soptic adds.

The men then muse over Romney as the future president of the United States. Cobb says it angers him to hear Romney campaign on creating jobs, since he "destroyed thousands of people's careers, lifetimes..." Soptic adds he doesn't want Romney in the White House if he runs it like he ran the steel mill, not caring about "the average working person."

Updated with response from Romney campaign. 

“We welcome the Obama campaign’s attempt to pivot back to jobs and a discussion of their failed record.  Mitt Romney helped create more jobs in his private sector experience and more jobs as Governor of Massachusetts than President Obama has for the entire nation," said Amanda Henneberg, Romney spokesperson in a statement. “President Obama has many questions to answer as to why his administration used the stimulus to reward wealthy campaign donors with taxpayer money for bad ideas like Solyndra, but 23 million Americans are still struggling to find jobs.  If the Obama administration was less concerned about pleasing their wealthy donors and more concerned about creating jobs, America would be much better off. ” 

Watch the full Obama ad here: