After tepid jobs report, Obama promotes his job creation record

(CBS News) At his first campaign event following the Democratic convention and after the release of a tepid jobs report, President Obama walked a delicate line Friday between showing concern about the disappointing jobs numbers and highlighting incremental progress.

Friday's monthly jobs report revealed that the economy added 96,000 jobs in August, a figure that indicates jobs are still being added -- but not at the rate economists, politicians and the unemployed had hoped. The jobs report is lower than the year's monthly average of 139,000 and even lower than the 153,000 jobs averaged per month in 2011.

At his 50th campaign rally since officially launching his re-election bid on May 5, Mr. Obama told a crowd in Portsmouth, N.H., that while the economy continues to add jobs, challenges still exist.

"I'm not going to pretend this path is quick or easy. It's going to take more than a few years." He added, "That's not good enough."

Accentuating the positive, the president indicated that the U.S. has now seen 30 straight months of job growth resulting in 4.6 million new jobs.

He went on to tell the crowd that his work isn't done. "That's why I'm running for a second term, to finish the job, to keep moving forward, to build on the progress we've made," he said.

While Mr. Obama was speaking in New Hampshire, his Republican rival Mitt Romney was at a campaign rally in Iowa. Both candidates are back on the campaign trail as the general election officially gets under way following both parties' conventions.

The president echoed many themes Friday that he had laid out Thursday night in his convention speech. He drew a contrast between his vision for the country and his challenger's, saying that now is the "clearest choice" in a generation. "It's a choice between two different paths for America," he said.

The president said he believes in a country where people have "obligations to each other" and government can play a role in providing opportunity. He described Mitt Romney and his running mate Paul Ryan's plan as a rehash of Republican ideas.

"Tax cuts, tax cuts, cuts to regulations, and, oh, more tax cuts," the president argued. "Tax cuts when times are good, tax cuts when times are bad... tax cuts to improve your love life. It will cure anything."

The president outlined his plan for five key policy areas in energy, education, job creation, national security and deficit reduction. He said he would create 1 million new manufacturing jobs in four years, raise taxes on incomes above $250,000, cut oil imports in half by 2020, reduce by half the growth of college tuition, and "sustain the strongest military the world has ever known."

"I am not just asking for your vote, I'm asking the entire country to rally around a series of goals for our country," he said.

Attempting to inspire the crowd and invoke an element of his 2008 campaign theme "hope," the president said those who voted for him can take credit for his accomplishments, including the health care law and decreasing the cost of obtaining a student loan.

"You're the reason why. You did that. So now you can't turn away. You can't give up on the idea that hope makes a difference because if you give up, the lobbyists and the special interests will fill the void," he said.

For the next two months until Election Day, both candidates will spend most of their time traveling to the 10 or so battleground states - states including New Hampshire, Iowa, Florida and Ohio, where the outcome is in doubt.

[maiingan]

It's more urgent to end long-term unemployment than to increase the total number of jobs in America. If unemployment were distributed equally, everyone in the workforce would be unemployed for only the percentage of each year equal to the official unemployment rate. This is tolerable financially. Unemployment and underemployment (a negative output gap for an individual) are drags on the economy. Employers' current hiring criteria cause long-term unemployment and underemployment of real Americans to continue.
Irresistible incentives must be offered to employers to hire, first, the long-term unemployed and the underemployed into suitable jobs.
Job-sharing groups must be formed which include unemployed people.
A new WPA must be created. "The work provided by the WPA should match the skills of the unemployed." [Harry Hopkins]
Reallocation of the factors of production can minimize unemployment, underemployment, and poverty without requiring unsustainable economic growth for recovery.
change.org/petitions/demand-workforce-guided-job-creation

[wfw3536]

I guess Obama forgot about the 23 million folks unemployed or that we need 150,000 jobs each month just to keep up with population growth, or that fact that only reason the unemployment rate went down to 8.1% is because 360,000 folks dropped out of the work force and just gave up looking. Now that is really sad that over 360,000 folks gave up and we have a president who says we are doing just fine.

[GOP-R--Con-Men]

Republicans are a cancer on our great nation. They have use their public office to subvert democracy and our constitution with their bogus voter I.D. Laws and obstruction of legislation in congress to help struggling Americans. The media is derelict in its dty to the American public. It has not made their subversion front page news as it deserves. How it the subversion of democracy and our constitution not a HUGE STORY DESERVING OF CONTINUAL FRONT PAGE COVERAGE?

[LIBERTY_GRACE]

Over 100,000 illegals showed up a month ago in Chicago with their legal documents.
How is it our own citizens cannot show proper ID to go and vote?

[baser13]

Lets look at the last Recovery period with the same scrutiny adjusting for workforce contraction, businesses laying off employees and rehiring at minimum wage, lowering the average hourly earnings of citizens.1981 unemployment was at 7.4%, debt was 997B, taxes were high, Goverment social programs were big, S&L regulations were high and transactions sustainable, and last but not least stock market was healthy.
Ok starting with unemployment one would expect that following Carter like with GWB a recession would show immediate job losses i.e. Q1,Q2 of 2009 but unemployment didn't peak until December 1982 at the highest rate since the GD 10.8%, 1983 saw a 10.4% high and during his 8 year presidency averaged 7.5% or .1% higher unemployment. The 5.4% rate at the end of his presidency when adjusted for workforce dropouts,low participation in SEP. 1981, part-time employment could revise this rate up to a whole point higher.
Now as for the debt while 3.89T may not be an exact 300% increase or threefold of 997B, it is substantially higher than Obama's 67% increase with Bush era expenditures and tax cuts eating into the past 3 budgets.
Tax cuts and increases are attached to trickle down economics and its repercussions can be widely speculated, lets just agree he cut the top marginal tax tier from 70% to 28%, lowered investment taxes before matching them to the earned income top bracket, raised the lowest bracket from 14% to 15%, an he introduced a variety of new taxes to continue funding TEFRA,DEFRA, and Social Security,
He succeeded in cuting Federal aid to local goverments by 60%, section 8 and public housing by 50%, eliminated the CDBG program. He also cut the budgets of Federal Education programs, MedicAid, food stamps and the EPA.
Reagan also allowed the deregulation acts of 1980 and 1981 that when researched show were the top contributors of the S&L crisis. Less obvious is the performance attribution it had on the stock market and any correlation to the 1987 Market crash.
As to show objectivity, my point how is this any different than what Romney is proposing and vice versa how can you deny Obama a second term when compared to Reagan he is a FINANCIAL RECOVERY GENIUS. Logic and history have shown cutting taxes for the wealthy, raising them on the lower brackets, simplifying the tax code, shrinking and eliminating Goverment programs, deregulating industries and trickle down economics have only exacerbated the recovery period and extent of the crisis in many cases creating new ones.

[sjc_1]

Reagan just "presided" over things, he did not have a clue most of the time. When the 1987 stock market crash came, he did not jump into action, his people did what they could do.

President Obama listens to experts and knows what he is hearing. He makes decisions based on fact and whether it is good for the country. Contrast this with G.W. Bush's "gut feel" approach. Judging from the results I will take logic and reason.

[tsigili]

His job creation?

How does he figure 1.3 million jobs lost, NET, is creation? What a hopeless liar.

[jjbologna]

What record? He doesn't have one. In fact, he has had about 110 golf outings and only met with his jobs council once in the past year. How can he run on a jobs record.

What a pathetic loser liar Obama is. Please leave this country and take the libtards with you. The Independents don't want you here anymore. Go and ruin some other country.

[sjc_1]

I find it amazing the country has been able to do as well as it has, considering the size of the crash. I attribute that to the other half of TARP, saving the auto makers and the ARRA recovery program.

An administration can create an environment for job growth, but if the private sector does not want to grow, they will not. Republican business people keep complaining about health care, regulations, taxes and uncertainty, which are just excuses. They are using jobs as a political weapon to show who is boss. As soon as people realize this, they will have their day.

[michaelz06]

Are you really this delusional? If so, seek professional help. Those who really drive economic growth are justifiably concerned by the regulation happy, tax and spend, give to those with a hand out and not looking for a hand up, liberal policies of the Democrats.

[sjc_1]

Hand up not hand out, there is a snappy phrase that is often used, it speaks of rugged individualism and self reliance.

Well this is not the 1820s and this is not the move west, this is the modern world with globalization. The delusional ones think we still live in the past during a John Wayne movie.

Consider global competition with other countries having national healthcare and we do not, they have an advantage. Republicans say individual choices and free markets while health care costs rise THREE times the rate of inflation for THREE decades.

Enough with the flag waving ideological blindness. We need a country that works together, not just a collection of greedy individuals that say "I got mine, screw you". In fact I got MINE at YOUR expense, too bad for you...sucker!

[bigmoe01]

How is this a plan? How do we get to any of this?

The president outlined his plan for five key policy areas in energy, education, job creation, national security and deficit reduction. He said he would create 1 million new manufacturing jobs in four years, raise taxes on incomes above $250,000, cut oil imports in half by 2020, reduce by half the growth of college tuition, and "sustain the strongest military the world has ever known."
The president outlined his plan for five key policy areas in energy, education, job creation, national security and deficit reduction. He said he would create 1 million new manufacturing jobs in four years, raise taxes on incomes above $250,000, cut oil imports in half by 2020, reduce by half the growth of college tuition, and "sustain the strongest military the world has ever known."

[sjc_1]

The manufacturing jobs can come from auto, wind, solar or a number of places. Cutting oil imports in half can come from CAFE, increased production and so one. These are achievable goals, but when Romney says we will be energy independent in 4 years, THAT is impossible.

[GOP-R--Con-Men]

Why is the media not questioning republicans about their role in the lack of more job creation due to their subversive, sabotaging obstruction? How is that not a HUGE STORY? The media is derelict in its resposibility to the American public.

[sjc_1]

The fact the Republicans just walked away from the jobs proposal last September with no ideas of their own IS a big story. Tom Friedman said on a Sunday show that the President should have taken that to the people, but he keeps hoping to work with the Republicans. They have NO intention of working with him. The voters need to throw out the Republican obstructionists this November so we can get back on track.

[sjc_1]

Well Sam, the people will decide what kind of country they want in November, that is the process.

However, the game has changed, the court has ruled that money is a speech, so unlimited anonymous rich donors to PACs can pour money in to influence minds.

It was said back in 1960 that a candidate gets sold like a box of soap flakes. Well advertising is persuasive and can influence people. We are now seeing that taken to the extreme, such that the will of the people may not be what it seems.

[VeggieVal]

There's so much spin going on, it can make you dizzy. Instead of focusing on "adjusted" unemployment surveys, let's shift to something much simpler: the total number of people employed in the US.

According to Obama's Bureau of Labor Statistics' Employment and Household Survey, the US economy peaked in 2007-2009 with up to 147 million jobs. The most recent results reveal numbers as low as 135M jobs.

Depending on how you want to read the statistics, on Obama's term, the US economy shed three to twelve million jobs. If we were to index these results by population growth, it would be much worse...It's easy to see how Obama's "War on Prosperity" has been a wrecking-ball through the job market.

These are easy to understand numbers...even most Democrats can grasp them. So, of course, the Libs have to cling to the participation-rate adjusted unemployment index while their leader brags about creating four million jobs at a time when the country. And these people have the nerve to talk about who is being honest!

But hey, what can you expect from this reporter, a former aid to Harry Reid's Chief of Staff and wife of a former political appointee?

May God bless the United States of America, and grant our people the wisdom to reject this President's campaign of lies, division and destruction.

[baser13]

Talking about spin along came a spider, of the garden variety mind you. First you knowingly use a figure during the peak or climax era of the economic bubble burst, Second: surveys have margins of error, Third: please disclose you are using 2010 figures a recent number would be 142million , Fourth: long term unemployed two years or more are those who dropped out of the workforce and since the downward employment spiral of Bush's failed presidency ate into the first months of Obama's recovery it's safe to say unemployed workers who dropped out of the workforce prior to mid-2011 were on track to do so whether Mcain or Obama presided. You give too much negative credit to Mr. Obama and fail to realize he not only plugged the sinking ship saving us from austerity and mandatory tax increases but reversed the trend and steadily has been trying to push through the Republican boycott. Talking about Republicans what where they doing 2007-2010 lining their pockets, saying let anyone who fell overboard drown, cut taxes and limited the liabilities of those involved. Here is what Romney would have done cut taxes, borrowed heavily, dipped into every trust fund to balance the sheets, pay out profits to "investors", deregulated every industry back to the 1800's, borrowed more, paid out dividends, let employers opt for cheap labor and outsource, send all the unemployed to claim UI benefits, filed for bankruptcy and let the courts deal with it. If you know his secret budget please do tell I fear I left my decoder glasses at my "Summer" home, unless you mean his 12million jobs in deregulating big oil, Just the fact he doesn't know how much sooner we would hit peak oil, or how exactly 12million would be raised I mean does that mean 2million more gas station employees, 1million industry related, and 9million cleanup workers. I rambled and forewent correct grammar because it's sad you had to put the reporter on blast.