Yes, I was hoping Romney would come back with: "I won't accept that as a premise. Given a level playing field, we can compete with anyone. America has its people, its freedom, fabulous resources if allowed to tap them, and even many geographic advantages. We can succeed economically against anyone, if we just take off the chains that are dragging us down. I refuse to give up on any jobs, and I will fight every day for good jobs for everyone who wants one."
The point should also be made that once one can create high demand for workers, instead of high demand for work, the businesses needing workers will find ways to accomplish worker training, rather than have the Gov't try to guess what will be needed.
BTW, I am not just talking about in-house training, though much more of that used to occur. Businesses can also harder and contribute more in a variety of ways with local colleges, technical schools, and the like.
When it’s an employers’ market, though, employers will often wait for the “perfect” applicant to show up.