CINCINNATI — Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney took aim at President Obama today, saying his rival’s speech on economic improvement the same day was being made “because he hasn’t delivered a recovery.”

“Don’t forget, he’s been president for three-and-a-half years and talk is cheap,” he said. “Action speaks very loud.”

Romney made his remarks during a campaign stop at Epcor Foundry, a Seilkop Industries company, to several employees and scores of business leaders from throughout southwest Ohio.

“If you want to see the results of his economic policy, look around Ohio, look around the country,” he said. “You’ll see that a lot of people are hurt, a lot of people have had some real tough times and the policies the president put in place did not make America create more jobs. As a matter of fact he made it harder for America to create more jobs.”

Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, said if elected, he would eradicate Obamacare and do the opposite of what he said Obama neglected to do during his presidency so far: protect American companies from intellectual property theft overseas, especially in China, and take advantage of the nation’s natural resources, especially oil, coal and natural gas.

Romney blasted the president for not creating the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline.

“I can guarantee you if I’m president on Day One we’re going to get that approval for that pipeline from Canada and if I have to build it myself to get it here I’ll get that oil to America,” he said to enthusiastic applause.

Obama spokeswoman Lis Smith called Romney’s positions on China a “campaign-year conversion.”

“Threatening to label China a currency manipulator is reckless and unnecessary,” Smith said in a statement.

Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern said what Obama and Romney said during their campaign stops in Ohio on Thursday were “two very different directions in which our country can go.”

“In Cleveland, President Obama displayed a clear vision of how he would continue to move our country forward,” Redfern said. “Mitt Romney on the other hand, laid out plans to take our country backward, to the failed policies that crashed the economy and devastated working families in the first place.”

Romney said that as president, he would reduce America’s economic deficit, something he said Obama had created almost as much debt as all prior presidents combined.

“Do you want four more years of that?” he said. “You call that forward? That’s forward over a cliff? That’s forward on the way to Greece? I don’t want that. I will finally get America on track to a balanced budget and we will limit the size of government.”

He also took issue with Obama’s statement last week that the private sector is “doing fine.”

The current administration’s policies, including the stimulus package and the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act have made it more difficult for U.S. business owners to boost employment levels, he said. A Romney presidency, he said, would make American the most attractive place in the world for job creators.

“It’s not just because I love job creators, it’s because I love jobs,” Romney said. “I want more good jobs for the American people and I want such competition for good, hard workers that salaries and wages go up so people make more money. I want to help the middle class of America and I’m going to do it.”

David Lippert, president of Hamilton Caster in Butler County, said that in contrast to Obama, Romney’s remarks today included “things he actually could do to improve business.”

“It frustrates me when any politician at any level says he or she creates jobs because I know they can’t,” Lippert said. “The best they can do is to create a climate that helps us create more jobs and that’s the kinds of things he talked about, getting rid of the burden of the healthcare plan that most of us are pretty afraid of.”

Redfern disagreed.

Ohio is seeing things turn around because of the leadership of Obama and Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, and “especially because of their courageous decision to save our auto industry.”

“Because President Obama and Sherrod Brown bet on Ohio workers and American companies, nearly 850,000 auto industry jobs were saved,” he said. “Ohioans know that is crucial in a state where one in eight jobs are tied to the auto supply chain.”