Consider this the new “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” Almost that long ago, Barack Obama laid down a few metric markers for successful economic policies during the Democratic convention in Denver, Colorado. He probably won’t repeat them this year at the 2012 Democratic convention in Charlotte, North Carolina — because his record there (and across the nation) on those metrics demonstrate the abysmal failure of Obamanomics. The Romney campaign also uses the ad to launch a new microsite, ObamaIsntWorking.com:

The microsite comes as good news, as the focus over the last couple of weeks seems to have drifted from economics. Obama is very vulnerable on the economy, which is why Team Obama keeps trying to change the subject — to “fairness,” a “war on women,” even Romney’s dog Seamus. Christian Heinze explains this strategy at The Hill today:

In a Fox News poll released last week, Obama scored higher on four of five character traits, besting Romney on trust, smarts, honesty and optimism. Meanwhile, Romney only led on one question, but it was a huge one — “which candidate do you think has the best experience to fix the economy?” In this case, Romney’s strength on the economy was enough to give him a 46-44 percent overall lead, despite Obama’s greater personal appeal.

Meanwhile, a CNN poll released Monday revealed a similar pattern, although with less sanguine overall results for Romney. Obama scored higher than his GOP rival on 13 personal attributes, but the divide was most pronounced on likability vs. the economy. Obama held a 29-point advantage on likability, but that fell to a statistically meaningless 2-point lead on the economy.

In other words, Obama was strongest on personal appeal and weakest on the economy, while Romney was the inverse.

Romney needs to make sure that the campaign message never drifts far from Obama’s sorry record on the economy and jobs. This is an excellent early effort.