Obama: 'It is absolutely clear that the economy is not doing fine'
Under fire from Republicans, President Obama clarified an earlier assessment of the health of the private sector, explaining that it's "absolutely clear" the economy is not doing "fine."
The president, in response to a question Friday afternoon in the Oval Office, backtracked somewhat on his comments his morning that "the private sector is doing fine."
"It is absolutely clear that the economy is not doing fine. That's why I had a press conference," Obama said.
Obama's original comment drew immediate scrutiny from Republicans; Romney, speaking in Iowa, said the comment showed that Obama was "out of touch."
The president's initial remarks were intended to portray the relative weakness in public sector hiring -- an outgrowth of spending cuts at the federal, state and local level -- versus the private sector. The drop off in public employment has been a drag on the overall employment picture; the economy added just 69,000 jobs last month, a number that was so low, in part, because of anemic public sector hiring.
A variety of Republicans pounced on the comments nonetheless, proclaiming Obama as disconnected from economy, the central issue in this fall's election.
The president used the opportunity to take a shot at Romney and those Republicans.
"You know, and what I'm interested in hearing from Congress and Mr. Romney is what steps are they willing to take right now that are going to make an actual difference?" Obama asked. "And so far, all we've heard are additional tax cuts to the folks who are doing fine, as opposed to taking steps that would actually help deal with the weaknesses in the economy and promote the kind of economic growth that we would all like to see."
President Obama Discusses the State of the Economy
President Obama today took to the podium in the White House Briefing Room to discuss the state of the economy and answer a few questions from reporters.
He began by addressing the ongoing crisis in Europe -- America's largest trading partner -- and why it's an area of focus for his administration.
"If there’s less demand for our products in places like Paris or Madrid," he said, "It could mean less businesses...for manufacturers in places like Pittsburgh or Milwaukee."
The President told reporters that, while there are reasons for concern, European leaders have the capacity to solve their problems -- and they'll have the support of the United States in that effort.
The President also said that the continued instability of the international economy is another reason why lawmakers need to do more to create jobs here at home:
[Since] the housing bubble burst, we’ve got more than a million construction workers out of work. There’s nothing fiscally responsible about waiting to fix your roof until it caves in. We've got a lot of deferred maintenance in this country. We could be putting a lot of people back to work rebuilding our roads, our bridges, some of our schools. There's work to be done; there are workers to do it. Let’s put them back to work right now.
The housing market is stabilizing and beginning to come back in many parts of the country. But there are still millions of responsible homeowners who've done everything right but still struggle to make ends meet. So, as I talked about just a few weeks ago, let’s pass a bill that gives them a chance to save an average of $3,000 a year by refinancing their mortgage and taking advantage of these historically low rates. That's something we can do right now. It would make a difference.
Instead of just talking a good game about job creators, Congress should give the small business owners that actually create most of the new jobs in America a tax break for hiring more workers.
These are ideas that, again, have gotten strong validation from independent, nonpartisan economists. It would make a difference in our economy. And there's no excuse for not passing these ideas. We know they can work.
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