Anti-China sentiment, which both the Romney and Obama campaign say polls well among economically frustrated Americans, rears its head to bite President Obama in a new ad that claims America has joined Greece, Rome and England as a failed world power, leaving China at the top of the heap.
The ad from Citizens Against Government Waste and Americans for Prosperity Foundation features a professor in China lecturing students on America's failure as they laugh in satisfaction.
"They all make the same mistakes turning their back on the principles that made them great," the professor says of world powers now in history's trash bin. "America tried to spend and tax itself out of a great recession. Enormous so-called 'stimulus' spending, massive changes to health care, government takeovers of private industries, and crushing debt. Of course, we owned most of their debt. So now they work for us."
The $2 million ad campaign began running Sunday on cable stations. Below is the transcript.
"The Professor"
PROFESSOR: [subtitles] Why do great nations fail? The Ancient Greeks...the Roman Empire...the British Empire...and the United States of America.
PROFESSOR: They all make the same mistakes turning their back on the principles that made them great. America tried to spend and tax itself out of a great recession.
PROFESSOR: Enormous so-called "stimulus" spending, massive changes to health care, government takeovers of private industries, and crushing debt. Of course, we owned most of their debt...so now they work for us.
NARRATOR: America can determine our own future but only if we own it. For American independence, we must cut spending and waste.
