Has Obama lost grip on his re-election? US president battles Republican challenger Romney over who is most in touch on US economy

Has Obama lost grip on his re-election?

US president battles Republican challenger Romney over who is most in touch on US economy

President Barack Obama said it is “absolutely clear that the economy is not doing fine,” seeking to contain criticism from Mitt Romney that his upbeat remarks about the US private sector show he is out of touch. Democrats and organised labour, in turn, faulted Romney for questioning Obama’s call to hire more police and firemen, after Romney said that “it’s time for us to cut back on government and help the American people.” The back-and-forth on Friday capped a week of economic and political developments that put the Obama administration on the defensive and dealt a blow to the president’s re-election bid. These included a June 1 report showing the US unemployment rate increased in May, and the failure of Democrats and unions in a recall vote against Republican Governor Scott Walker in Wisconsin, a state Obama’s campaign is counting on in the November election. Obama’s clarification came after Romney, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, and other Republicans criticised comments the president made at a White House news conference that they said showed Obama doesn’t understand the state of the US economy. “The truth of the matter is that, as I said, we’ve created 4.3 million jobs over the last 27 months, over 800,000 just this year alone,” Obama said at the news conference. “The private sector is doing fine.” Romney Criticism Jobs in the US grew by 69,000 in May, the fewest in a year and less than the most pessimistic forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of private economists. The unemployment rate increased to 8.2% last month from 8.1% in April, the first rise since June 2011. Romney told Iowa voters that Obama is “defining what it means to be detached and out of touch with the American people.” He also questioned Obama’s calls for additional federal spending to boost job growth. “He wants to hire more government workers,” Romney said. “He says we need more fireman, more policeman, more teachers. Did he not get the message of Wisconsin? The American people did.” Ken Sagar, president of the Iowa AFL-CIO, said it was “no surprise that Mitt Romney, Mr 1 percent himself, is going after firefighters, police, teachers and ordinary Americans.” Sagar said Romney is “totally out of touch with working-class Americans,” according to a statement by the Democratic National Committee. 2008 Moment The Republican National Committee rushed out a Web ad that featured a video clip of Obama saying “the private sector’s doing fine” followed by text posing the question, “How can President Obama fix our economy if he doesn’t understand what’s broken?” The exchanges recalled a moment in the 2008 campaign. The Republican nominee, Arizona Senator John McCain, said “the fundamentals of our economy are strong” on September 15 after the bankruptcy filing of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. as the financial crisis intensified. At the time, Obama’s campaign derided McCain as “out of touch.” “I’m sure Democratic speechwriters, their stomachs were turning,” independent political analyst Stu Rothenberg said. Steve Elmendorf, a Democratic strategist who served as a deputy campaign manager for John Kerry’s 2004 campaign, said Obama’s analysis was accurate. Republican Opening Republicans saw an opening in the president’s remarks. “I think it’s a pretty devastating mistake,” said Rob Stutzman, a Republican political consultant. He compared it with McCain’s 2008 remarks, which were seen as a blow to his election chances. “This is the day that he really lost his grip on his re-election,” Stutzman said of Obama. “As John McCain learned, you can’t put toothpaste back in the tube,” said Dan Schnur, a former McCain aide who is now the director of the Jesse M Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California. It may not matter in the long-term, he said. “But in the short term it’s not an ideal way to end up a less than ideal week,” Schnur said. ‘Little Attention’ Robert Dallek, a retired professor of presidential history at Boston University, said the timing may matter more than the actual remarks. “At this point in the election cycle people are paying very, very little attention,” he said. Romney used Obama’s statement to reinforce his line of attack against the president. “Is he really that out of touch? I think he’s defining what it means to be detached and out of touch with the American people,” Romney said at a campaign event in Council Bluffs, Iowa. “Has there ever been an American president who is so far from reality?” Following Romney’s jab, Obama told reporters gathered in the Oval Office, “Listen, it is absolutely clear that the economy is not doing fine. That’s the reason I had the press conference.” ‘Good Momentum’ While there has been “some good momentum” in the private sector, he said, “there are too many people out of work, the housing market is still weak and too many homes underwater.” Obama said Romney and Republicans in Congress haven’t offered proposals to spur growth. “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?” he said. Obama’s campaign accused Romney of trying to “talk down” the US economy. “Iowans got today what they’ve come to expect from Mitt Romney: angry, dishonest rhetoric about President Obama and zero new solutions to grow the economy and strengthen the middle class,” Obama re-election spokeswoman Lis Smith said in a statement. Iowa’s Importance Romney visited Iowa less than a month ago, on May 16, and its place on his schedule signals his interest in trying to take the state from Obama’s column this year. An NBC News-Marist poll released May 31 showed Obama and Romney tied in Iowa, each with support from 44% of registered voters, figures that include those who are undecided yet leaning toward one of the candidates. Eliminating the leaners, 10% of voters in the state are undecided, the poll showed. The campaign for Iowa’s electoral votes will play out in a state with a better economic environment than the national picture. The state’s jobless rate in April was 5.1%, below the current national average of 8.2% and down from 6.3% in November 2010.