Republican White House hopeful Mitt Romney unleashed a hard-hitting campaign ad Monday blasting President Barack Obama's handling of the economy, the top issue on voters' minds in the 2012 race.

Romney himself does not appear in the video, which turns Obama's June 3 comment that "there are always going to be bumps on the road to recovery" into an attack highlighting historically high unemployment of about 9.1 percent.

Instead, the ad shows people lying in a road, then standing up each in turn to declare "I'm an American, not a bump in the road" and holding up a placard with their name followed by "stands with Mitt."

The ad drew an immediate response from the White House, with spokesman Jay Carney telling reporters that "as we emerge from this recession it is not going to be a straight road, there are going to be some bumps on the road."

"These are common phrases in the English lexicon and I think that his meaning is clear, which is that we are heading in the right direction, but it is not necessarily a smooth path," said Carney.

"That is precisely because of the devastating impact the recession did have on the economy and the unemployment in this country," said the spokesman.

Romney's camp released the video ahead of a Republican presidential debate in New Hampshire, where the former Massachusetts governor was sure to face criticism tied to his health care overhaul, which conservatives have charged closely resembles Obama's own health law which they despise.

With Americans overwhelmingly singling out the economy and joblessness as the top issue on their minds, the president and his Republican rivals were sure to battle over the issue right up to the November 6, 2012 elections.

Romney has repeatedly hit Obama over the "bumps in the road" remark, made in a speech to automotive workers in Toledo, Ohio, in which he listed "some headwinds that are coming at us."

The president listed high gas prices, "economic disruptions" in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, and instability in the Middle East among the "bumps in the road" and said the economy was "taking a while to mend."

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