The latest showdown between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney addresses something that's near and dear to all of our hearts:
Jobs.
On Friday during a news conference in Washington, the President had this to say to reporters: “The private sector is doing fine. Where we’re seeing weaknesses in our economy have to do with state and local government.”
Mitt Romney jumped on Mr. Obama's statement later that day during a campaign speech in Iowa. “For the president of the United States to stand up and say the private sector is doing fine," he said, "is going to go down in history as an extraordinary miscalculation and misunderstanding by a president who’s out of touch.’’
Today, Democrats are fighting back.
They're turning the tables on Mitt Romney by using another comment he made to supporters in Iowa on Friday:
[Obama] wants another stimulus, he wants to hire more government workers. He says we need more firemen, more policemen, more teachers. Did he not get the message of Wisconsin? The American people did. It’s time for us to cut back on government and help the American people.
In a telephone news conference today, the Obama campaign accused Mr. Romney of suggesting "that we need fewer teachers and first responders altogether."
“If we want to grow our economy and create jobs, if we want to protect the community and the middle class," Obama for America Deputy Campaign Director Stephanie Cutter told reporters, "then the federal government has the means to step in and protect these state and local jobs. There are common sense ways to pay for this.”
Mr. Obama is trying to garner support for his American Jobs Act, which he says would prevent hundreds of thousands of teachers from being laid off and allow for the hiring of tens of thousands of police officers and fire fighters.
How do you make sense of all this back-and-forth on jobs?
Where you stand depends on how you'd answer this question: Should the federal government be responsible for backing the salaries of teachers and first responders or should this be left to local and state governments? Your answer could play a large role in how you vote in November.
What do you think?
Image via DonkeyHotey/Flickr
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Comments 12
Well, lets just start with the "private sector's doing fine" and go from there, shall we? According to George Mason University, a Washington DC area powerhouse of economics study, public sector job growth is totally outpacing private industry. Check out the chart at the bottom of the page. If we continue to attempt to support such a heavy public sector with such massive private job losses then we will eventually see catastrophic failure akin to Greece. In order for government to take enough money from the producers to support itself there must be enough producers. We cannot continue to bleed private sector jobs like this and expect to succeed. The federal government has the means? Really? Where is it getting the means? China? China isn't going to need to defeat us militarily, they'll just buy us outright.
I wonder what "private sector" he was speaking of?
But then he did backpedal and say: it is absolutely clear" that the U.S. economy is "not doing fine." He also said there has been some "good momentum" in the private sector but Congress needs to act to help boost jobs in the public sector."
*scratching head* I wonder which he meant???
There are 23 million Americans out of work. NOTHING is fine.
ugh all I can say is Don't get me STARTED...
Fighting back today !!!!???????????????????
What's he been doing for the last 3 yrs.??????????????? He's been picking his nose, that's what.
Grief.
Pack his bags and move him out!
What do I think? I think he's the worst president in US history. I think he wants the vast majority of Americans on the government dole, with an elite ruling class who tells us all what we can and can't do. I think he spoke the truth about his feeling when he said the private sector is doing "fine" - his policies reflect a willingness to strangle private industry to the point of collapse.
I think Obama should start packing his bags now.
//blogs.investors.com/capitalhill/index.php/home/35-politicsinvesting/7190-private-jobs-down-46-million-from-january-2008-federal-jobs-up-114
BTW, if everyone is working for the government, who is going to pay the taxes to support them all?
Consider the fact that the public sector (teachers, firemen, police and other government workeres)has bout a 4% unemployment rate compared to higher rates in general as well as other sectors. I think it's obvious who is being layed off and not rehired.