After a few days fighting the Bain wars, both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney pivot today — but in telling directions.  While Obama tries talking about senior citizens and veterans, Romney pulls the debate right back to the economy in his new ad, “Stories from the Obama Economy,” which could have been shortened to just “Obamanomics.”  It’s the subject that Obama keeps avoiding, while Romney keeps hammering on it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ih6I0zsyIw0

Earlier today, I got into a polite debate with an editor at Business Insider over job creation over the last three and a half years in the private sector.  He called it “impressive,” which I found to be a puzzling notion.  A look at the BLS data for seasonally-adjusted employment in the private sector since January 2009 shows a grand total of 35,000 additional jobs added.

If one starts from the point of recovery in June 2009, the actual net gain looks a little different, at 3.087 million jobs added.  But that only averages out to 90,079 jobs added per month in the 34 months since recovery, which isn’t nearly enough to keep up with population growth and added workforce-eligible adults, which most economists estimate at 120,000 or more a month.  The rate of growth in the private sector this year has only averaged 137,500 per month, which barely keeps pace with population growth.  It’s hardly “impressive,” unless one means impressive in a significantly negative manner.

As Romney’s ad shows, the real issue in this election is the 23 million left behind by Obamanomics.

On the other hand, if Obama wants to make it about “vampire capitalists,” ABC’s latest on Obama’s own team might make for a couple of uncomfortable questions:

Are “job destroyers” sitting on President Obama’s jobs council?

There could be, if you believe the argument from Democrats and the Obama campaign that private equity executives are profit seekers who often run roughshod over workers, companies and communities.

Two Obama-appointed members of the White House Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, an advisory committee, are leading figures in the private equity industry. …

Obama’s inclusion of these men on his Jobs Council highlights a potential sticking point in his case against GOP rival Mitt Romney, a former private equity executive who says his 15-year experience in the industry qualifies him as a “job creator,” a claim that is a cornerstone of his campaign.

Remember when we used to fear the power and talent of the Obama campaign?