The well-worn stereotype of Democrats being more cautious about India than Republicans are raised its head again this week, as both U.S. President Barack Obama and Vice-President Joe Biden slammed election rival Mitt Romney for outsourcing American jobs to India.
In campaign speeches in Miami, Florida, and Waterloo, Iowa, the President and Vice-President respectively tore into the former Massachusetts Governor’s alleged record of job destruction during the latter’s tenure as head of private equity firm Bain Capital.
In both instances, they named India as one of the top destinations for the jobs that Mr. Romney was said to have taken away from the U.S.
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“Last week it was reported Governor Romney’s old firm owned companies that ... were pioneers in the business of outsourcing American jobs to places like China and India. And yesterday his advisors were asked about this, and they tried to clear it up by explaining that there’s actually a difference between outsourcing and off-shoring,” Mr. Obama quipped.
Similarly, in his speech, Mr. Biden said Bain Capital made a lot of money facilitating the outsourcing and off-shoring of American jobs, “but in the process, they devastated American communities.”
He struck a sarcastic note, adding, “So give Mitt Romney credit: He is a job creator — in Singapore and China and India.”
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With unemployment hovering at above eight per cent, job creation is at the very top of the election campaign agenda, and the run-up to the race for the White House in November is likely to see an intensifying war of words around this issue.
While Republicans have generally trained their guns on the Obama administration’s failure to create jobs at home and linked it to over-regulation choking out the private sector, Democrats have tended to shift blame to industry practices such as outsourcing.