Filed by KOSU News in Politics.
August 23, 2011

How better for Mitt Romney to show that he intends to take it right at President Obama on the jobs issue than to plan a major post-Labor Day speech on jobs, just like the president?

Romney announced Monday on Fox News that he intends to provide his job-creation plan on Sept. 6 in Nevada, a battleground state, the day before the next scheduled Republican presidential candidates’ debate.

But it’s also within days of when Obama has said he will his new and improved job creation plan.

For Romney, a speech that week accomplishes the following: It gives him another chance to allow voters envision the race as one between himself and Obama.

His campaign clearly aims to give Republican voters desperate to beat Obama the sense that Romney is the only one capable of doing that.

It’s a strategy that wants Republican voters to look past the current mini-dramas heading into next year’s primaries to focus on the end game.

A major jobs speech now also demonstrates Romney’s national campaign experience and organization. It takes a staff and access to economic experts to come up with a credible jobs plan.

And it takes informed and credentialed surrogates to talk about it after a speech. Again, this is all meant to get voters to see in Romney the strongest Republican candidate against Obama.

The White House has not yet provided a date for the president’s jobs speech. But with Romney now planning to give his pre-buttal to Obama on Tuesday and the GOP debate at the Reagan Library on Wednesday, that leaves the rest of the week for Obama’s speech.

Waiting until the end of the week would also give Obama the chance to criticize the approaches of Romney and the other GOP candidates. [Copyright 2011 National Public Radio]