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Mixed jobs report fails to jolt tight US election
Source: Agencies |
November 3, 2012, Saturday
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A highly anticipated economic report failed to jolt the fiercely close US presidential race four days before Americans choose between President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney, two candidates prescribing starkly different solutions for putting the country on a more prosperous path.
Obama and Romney both tried to seize on the monthly jobs report released yesterday to energize their bases and sway the few undecided voters still out there. The numbers held something for both candidates, showing the monthly unemployment rate ticked up slightly but created far more jobs than expected.
Obama argued the report proved his policies over the last four years have put the US on the road to recovery. The Democratic incumbent warned voters that a Romney presidency would resurrect the policies that got the US into financial trouble in the first place under Republican predecessor George W. Bush.
Romney called the report a "sad reminder that the economy is at a virtual standstill" and warned grimly of political paralysis and another recession if Obama reclaims the White House.
Obama will face voters with the highest unemployment rate of any incumbent since Franklin Roosevelt during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
The government report showed the United States added a solid 171,000 jobs in October, and more than a half-million Americans joined the work force, the latest signs that the uneven economic recovery is gaining strength once again. But the unemployment rate inched up to 7.9 percent because not all those joining the work force found work.
It was the final snapshot of the economy before the election Tuesday.
"We've made real progress," Obama told a crowd in Ohio shortly after the report. "But we've got more work to do."
While the politically neutral report was unlikely to affect the election outcome, it brought the economy back into the national conversation in a country still preoccupied with the devastation wrought by Superstorm Sandy on the US East Coast.
Obama paused his campaigning for three days this week to manage the natural disaster. Romney muted criticism of the president during those days for fear of appearing to seek political advantage while Americans were suffering, and his campaign watched awkwardly as a once-prominent Obama critic, New Jersey's Republican Gov. Chris Christie, praised the president and toured storm damage with him.
Both candidates returned the fierce rhetoric they had set aside in the days following the monster storm.
Romney said an Obama presidency would mean more broken relations with Congress, showdowns over government shutdowns, a chilling effect on the economy and perhaps "another recession."
"He has never led, never worked across the aisle, never truly understood how jobs are created in the economy," said Romney, a former private equity firm executive, in a campaign stop in Wisconsin.
Later in Ohio, he declared: "I will not represent one party. I will represent one nation."
Obama retorted that Romney is "a very talented salesman," trying to repackage the old-school Republican policies that left so many Americans in financial trouble. "We know what change looks like," Obama told an Ohio crowd. "And what the governor is offering ain't it."
Yesterday's report came after other signs that the economy is on the mend. Most important, consumer confidence is up to its highest level since February of 2008, according to the Conference Board.
Obama and Romney both tried to seize on the monthly jobs report released yesterday to energize their bases and sway the few undecided voters still out there. The numbers held something for both candidates, showing the monthly unemployment rate ticked up slightly but created far more jobs than expected.
Obama argued the report proved his policies over the last four years have put the US on the road to recovery. The Democratic incumbent warned voters that a Romney presidency would resurrect the policies that got the US into financial trouble in the first place under Republican predecessor George W. Bush.
Romney called the report a "sad reminder that the economy is at a virtual standstill" and warned grimly of political paralysis and another recession if Obama reclaims the White House.
Obama will face voters with the highest unemployment rate of any incumbent since Franklin Roosevelt during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
The government report showed the United States added a solid 171,000 jobs in October, and more than a half-million Americans joined the work force, the latest signs that the uneven economic recovery is gaining strength once again. But the unemployment rate inched up to 7.9 percent because not all those joining the work force found work.
It was the final snapshot of the economy before the election Tuesday.
"We've made real progress," Obama told a crowd in Ohio shortly after the report. "But we've got more work to do."
While the politically neutral report was unlikely to affect the election outcome, it brought the economy back into the national conversation in a country still preoccupied with the devastation wrought by Superstorm Sandy on the US East Coast.
Obama paused his campaigning for three days this week to manage the natural disaster. Romney muted criticism of the president during those days for fear of appearing to seek political advantage while Americans were suffering, and his campaign watched awkwardly as a once-prominent Obama critic, New Jersey's Republican Gov. Chris Christie, praised the president and toured storm damage with him.
Both candidates returned the fierce rhetoric they had set aside in the days following the monster storm.
Romney said an Obama presidency would mean more broken relations with Congress, showdowns over government shutdowns, a chilling effect on the economy and perhaps "another recession."
"He has never led, never worked across the aisle, never truly understood how jobs are created in the economy," said Romney, a former private equity firm executive, in a campaign stop in Wisconsin.
Later in Ohio, he declared: "I will not represent one party. I will represent one nation."
Obama retorted that Romney is "a very talented salesman," trying to repackage the old-school Republican policies that left so many Americans in financial trouble. "We know what change looks like," Obama told an Ohio crowd. "And what the governor is offering ain't it."
Yesterday's report came after other signs that the economy is on the mend. Most important, consumer confidence is up to its highest level since February of 2008, according to the Conference Board.
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