Economic picture likely to be bleak on Election Day.
Report puts Obama on defensive; Romney says data devastating for U.S.
GOLDEN VALLEY, MINN. —
The discouraging new unemployment numbers present President Barack Obama with a sobering reminder that an uneven recovery from the recession can be a fragile argument for his reelection. It’s all deepening his anxiety over the political and economic threat posed by the European debt crisis.
Anemic job growth and an uptick in joblessness to 8.2 percent also give new resonance to Republican presidential rival Mitt Romney’s campaign and put Obama on the defensive after a winter when the job trends were in his favor. Job growth now has been disappointing for three straight months, accentuating challenges ahead for the president.
Obama, speaking about the economy Friday in Minnesota, kept up an optimistic front. While he said the latest jobs report indicated that the economy was not growing fast enough, he predicted, “We will come back stronger; we do have better days ahead.”
Romney called the figures “devastating news for American workers and American families.”
The Republican said in an interview Friday with CNBC that Obama’s policies and his handling of the economy had “been dealt a harsh indictment.”
Shortly after the report was released, Obama was in Minnesota to push his proposal to expand job opportunities for veterans and to raise money for his campaign. In the meantime, the world anxiously awaits the impact of the European debt crisis, which could stall the recovery in the U.S.
“What we’re looking at is the longer-term trend,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters traveling with Obama. The economy is still adding jobs, as it has for more than two years, Earnest said, “but it’s readily apparent that we’re not adding those jobs at a rapid enough pace.”
The unemployment numbers, while imprecise and a typically lagging indicator of economic performance, are nevertheless an undeniable marker of the human cost of a weak economy.
Romney wants this presidential election to be a referendum on Obama’s 3½ years in office. Obama wants it to be a choice between two distinct visions for the country.
Obama is counting on an unemployment trajectory that has brought the rate from a high of 10 percent in October 2009. The president likes to point to the 3.8 million jobs created since he became president, though 12.5 million Americans remain unemployed. He highlights the resurgence of the auto industry following government bailouts of Chrysler and General Motors.
Friday’s report seriously dampens Obama’s message.
Obama is pushing Congress to enact several proposals designed to spur job growth and secure the housing industry. “Congress has a responsibility here,” Earnest said.
At the same time, his campaign has mounted a step-bystep assault on Romney’s economic record, from his days as a venture capitalist to his tenure as Massachusetts governor from 2003-2007.
The Obama campaign released a new online video Friday that features several of Romney’s former Republican political foes, including Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich, criticizing Romney’s economic record.