A new Obama campaign ad hits Mitt Romney on a familiar theme — the presumptive GOP nominee’s tenure in private equity and his offshore accounts — but this time appears to make a pointed jab at Romney’s patriotism.

How?

By featuring footage of Romney singing “America the Beautiful” — and overlaying it with excerpts from news reports on Romney’s Swiss bank account, the sending of jobs overseas by firms related to Bain Capital and Romney’s record as Massachusetts governor.

So, just in case some of your friends or neighbors or, you know, Uncle Jim, who’s a little stubborn and been watching Fox News, you know, and he thinks that somehow I raised taxes, let’s just be clear. We’ve lowered taxes for middle-class families since I came into office.

Every day, President Obama hits a new low. It is sad and shameful that President Obama would mock America the Beautiful.  But sadly, it’s not surprising for the man who launched his presidency with an apology tour. The ‘Uncle Jims’ of our country – as he condescendingly calls middle-class Americans – don’t believe in mocking America the Beautiful and don’t believe in apologizing for America.

I’m getting the feeling that Romney thinks he is above the level of accountability required in a presidential candidate or even in an average ethical businessman. He seems genuinely offended to be directly challenged with facts – which he still won’t address or rebut in detail. So he simply huffs and puffs and uses words like “disgusting” for a perfectly valid charge in the big boy world of presidential politics.

This does not seem to me to be like a candidate ready for prime time.

For him to do well, the R next to his name has to stand for more than just for Republican, it has to stand for reformer. We got significant swing votes, independents, even some discerning Democrats voting for me … because they like someone who’s willing to take on the tough issues facing our state. I think those are the same sorts of voters that Gov. Romney at least has a shot with. …

I think they don’t see a lot right now. I think they need to see more of him, they need to hear more of that. What he needs to be most aggressive about is point out the fact that the president doesn’t have a record to run on.

What does any of this have to do with running for president? Not much, frankly. Whether Mitt Romney wins or loses, private equity firms will continue to press for more profitability — and in the tough economy of the 2010s, the quest for profitability leads to wage squeezes and job cuts. Whether Barack Obama loses or wins, the likely economic outlook for the bottom 60%-80% of the American workforce will remain grim.

MITT ROMNEY: They announced early on, one of their insiders said that they — their — their campaign was going to be based upon the strategy of — quote — “kill Romney,” end of quote. That’s what they’re doing. It’s disgusting. It’s demeaning. It’s something which I think the president should take responsibility for and stop.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN: And do you believe you’re being swiftboated in this campaign?

Over the past 33 months, his job approval has been lower than George W. Bush’s at a comparable time in his presidency for all but one week. Bush averaged above 50 percent in the quarter before his successful reelection campaign, while Obama has been stuck in the 46-48 percent range for months. And the famous “wrong track” measure now stands at 63 percent, versus 55 percent in the days preceding the vote in 2004. If these two numbers don’t improve for Obama, his presidency will be in jeopardy. And they probably won’t—unless the economy perks up noticeably.