Obama Jobs Council Member Endorses Romney

Paul Otellini, Intel’s chief executive officer and a member of President Barack Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, is the newest high-profile business leader to announce his support for Mitt Romney, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Otellini, who also serves on the board of directors of Google Inc., joined the president’s jobs council in 2011 after he had criticized the administration for being too slow to create jobs. Obama formed the council in January 2011, as he sought to repair his damaged relationship with the business sector and to show his commitment to address the country’s unemployment epidemic. General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt heads the group.

The Council on Jobs and Competitiveness hasn’t held an official meeting since Jan. 17 despite continued weakness in the labor market

Other business leaders who are backing Romney include Charles Schwab, Cisco Chief Executive John Chambers, and Bernie Marcus, the co-founder of Home Depot. Romney will campaign with the business leaders.

The Otellini endorsement comes as Romney makes his business experience, and Obama’s lack of it, front and center on the campaign trail on Thursday. The GOP nominee jumped on Obama’s support for a “secretary of business” with a new campaign ad and referenced it throughout speeches.

“I don’t think adding a new chair in his Cabinet will help add millions of jobs on Main Street,” Romney told a crowd in Roanoke, Virginia. “We don’t need a secretary of business to understand business. We need a president who understands business.”