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A Tough Week for The One - "The private sector is doing fine"
 President Obama on Friday sought to deploy the game-changing powers of his office against a grim political week during which the economy, the polls and even some of his Democratic allies seemed to conspire against him.But the bully pulpit failed him, as well. Laying out his economic argument at a morning news conference, Obama said that cutbacks in state and local government spending have slowed the nation's recovery and that Congress has "no excuse" for not supporting his jobs bill that would provide funding to retain public workers. "The private sector," the president added as a point of comparison, "is doing fine." But O copied the idea from Harry Reid. The remark struck a discordant political note in the current economic climate, and Republican adversaries pounced on the assertion to lampoon him for being out of touch. And at least politically, Obama played directly into the GOP argument that he does not understand the depths of the economic crisis and that he is too dependent on government to solve the economy's problems. The episode reinforced the impression that the White House and the Obama campaign were struggling to regain their footing after a difficult week, and that they clearly remained off balance. Over the course of seven days, Obama endured the Labor Department's dismal May jobs report, Republican Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's victory in a recall election against an Obama-endorsed challenger, and former president Bill Clinton arguing in favor of temporarily extending the George W. Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy, which Obama opposes. In addition, the Romney campaign for the first time raised more money, reporting a $77 million haul in May compared with the Obama campaign's $60 million. See the writing on the wall? The president's setbacks have coincided with a tightening of the polls in the presidential race as Romney has closed the gap with the president at a faster clip than even some GOP political analysts had envisioned. Posted by: Bobby 2012-06-09 |
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