Similarities seen between 2008 Obama ad, 2012 RNC video

(CNN) - If a web video released by the Republican National Committee on Friday looked familiar, no, that's not an old link from four years ago.

The web video, which hits President Barack Obama's comment on Friday that the "private sector's doing fine," bears certain similarities to an economy-themed television advertisement produced by the Obama campaign in 2008.

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Both videos open with headlines showcasing economic and employment troubles.

Then, text on the 2012 RNC video asks, "And President Obama says?" The 2008 Obama ad read, "And John McCain says?"

Each features a candidate making what his opponent considered an appraisal out of sync with voters' views on the economy.

"The private sector is doing fine," Obama says in the RNC video. He made the comment to reporters at the White House on Friday, also saying, "Keep in mind that the private sector has been hiring at a solid pace over the last 27 months. But one of the biggest weaknesses has been state and local governments, which have laid off 450,000 Americans. These are teachers and cops and firefighters."

In the 2008 presidential campaign, Sen. John McCain, then the Republican presidential nominee, told voters in Florida, "The fundamentals of the economy are strong." That part appeared in Obama's television ad, while the rest of the sentence - "but these are very, very difficult times," did not.

McCain went on to walk back the statement in television appearances, including a debate just over a week later. He acknowledged "we've got fundamental problems in the system," but said he was pointing to "a fundamental belief in the goodness and strength of the American worker."

To underscore the point, the ad repeats the video clip, before asking "how can [our opponent] fix the economy if he doesn't understand" that it's broken.

The 2008 30-second Obama spot ran on television in "key states," the Obama campaign said at the time, but the RNC has offered no indication it will buy time for its 39-second video.

- CNN's Gregory Wallace contributed to this report