国际英语新闻:Romney slams Obama over August jobs report

Obama also called on Republicans in Congress to pass the American Jobs Act, which he said would immediately create 1 million new jobs, and then returned to the themes similar to those of his DNC address, such as tax cuts for middle income Americans, Medicare, clean energy and education.

But meanwhile at a Romney campaign event also on Friday afternoon, Romney remarked that he was "surprised" by the topics outlined in Obama' s DNC speech, charging that the president shied away from the facts of the current economy, and instead only offered empty promises.

"I was surprised by his address because I expected him to confront the major challenge of the last four years, which is an economy which has not produced the jobs that the American people need," Romney told supporters, again placing the focus of his campaign on the sluggish U.S. economy.

"Instead, it was a whole series of new promises which he also won't be able to keep because the policies he believes in and the direction he's pulling will not make America stronger," Romney continued, pledging he would get the economy moving again and offering voters his own promise that he would create 12 million new jobs by the end of his first term.

While Obama enjoys an advantage over Romney in personal favorability, the president has been shown by recent polls to be weak in voters' perceptions on his ability to handle the economy.

Romney is therefore likely to continue to hammer the president on the U.S. unemployment rate and slow economic recovery, as he hopes to gain the upper hand in the American presidential race.

According to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released August 21, 44 percent of respondents said they thought Romney had better ideas to fix the economy, compared to 38 percent who thought that Obama did.

Obama meanwhile topped the likeability category, with those surveyed favoring him a full 58 percent to Romney' s 23 percent.

Overall, the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll gave Obama a four percentage point lead in the presidential race, with respondents polled at 48 percent for Obama and 44 percent for Romney.