And Just Like Clockwork...

[WillyT]

Mitt Romney Dings Obama Adviser For Downplaying Jobs Numbers
Benjy Sarlin | TPMDC
July 8, 2011, 11:31AM

<snip>

Mitt Romney suggested on Friday that President Obama fire his top political adviser for minimizing the role unemployment will play in the presidential election.

Obama aide David Plouffe told reporters at a breakfast hosted by Bloomberg that he didn't expect Americans to vote based on the raw unemployment rate, but rather their own personal sense of the economy.

"The average American does not view the economy through the prism of GDP or unemployment rates or even monthly jobs numbers," Plouffe said. "People won't vote based on the unemployment rate, they're going to vote based on: 'How do I feel about my own situation? Do I believe the president makes decisions based on me and my family?'"

Romney, who has made the weak jobs market the central theme of his campaign, slammed Plouffe in a statement to reporters for showing "indifference" to the plight of the unemployed.

<snip>

Link: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/07/mitt-romney-dings-obama-advisor-for-downplaying-jobs-numbers.php

Background: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1436776

And: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/170117-plouffe-americans-wont-vote-on-unemployment-rate

And: http://www.thenation.com/blog/161863/unemployment-spikes-obamas-got-bigger-problem-debt-ceiling

:shrug:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. If Romney sees this as a weak area for Obama...

then I wouldn't blame him for exploiting it.

This is what politicians do.

[savalez]

2. Isn't that Boner's plan - keep the economy weak for political gain?

[Proud Liberal Dem]

3. What did he say that was wrong?

Plouffe is essentially correct- The actual figures or raw data really don't make as much of a difference in most people's lives. Somebody who's unemployed probably doesn't care what the actual number is (even it's low) as much as the fact that they themselves don't have a job, income, housing etc. :shrug:

Romney, like all Republicans, is twisting Plouffe's words WAAAAAAAAAY out of context. Unfortunately, it's to be expected.

[Angry Dragon]

5. And one could argue that if a politician states that it

does not matter what the numbers are then the people out of work might
think that politician doesn't care that they can not find a job.........

You can not separate the people from the numbers

"Oh look, we got that debt taken care of, that guy making $10 million a year feels better because he pays less taxes,
SS may not be as much when you retire, Medicare might not work out as well for you, we got a couple of places where we are thinking of sending drones, You say you don't have a job and are maybe losing your house?? Well we can't fix everything at once. We are working on it, as soon as the tax cuts make the rich feel better they said they would bring some jobs around" ...........

That person that can not find a job will blame someone ........ the question is who.......

[xphile]

6. The problem is he seems to be under the impression that the numbers are so low that it

won't sour the electorate.

You're right, those who are unemployed don't care if the number is considered low. THEY are unemployed it's too damn high. However, our unemployment numbers are not so low that one can assume that there aren't enough pissed off people looking for work who will be thoroughly pissed at Obama for not doing enough to fix the problem.

And frankly, if Romney uses it against Obama he would have had it coming. It really was a fucking idiotic and smug thing for Plouffe to say. Unemployment won't be that big a deal? Says the man with a job. The rest of us don't think it's that damn funny.

[LiberalAndProud]

4. To be expected.

It won't be long remembered though. It can be remedied. We really need to get past the debt ceiling thing and get around to talking about job creation.

The Republicans think they have the upper hand here, because in their philosophy, tax subsidies for the wealthy *is* job creation. It's pretty clear that most Americans don't share that view, so I don't think it will work to their advantage in 2012. Demoralization of the average voter will, though, so we need to find a way to build an "It's morning in America" campaign. How do you do that, when it just keeps getting darker? Note to David: Pretending the problem isn't there won't make it go away.