Euro Obama: Video Barack Obama: Euro zone debt crisis 'scaring the world'---, Obama Euro-Crisis Lecture: President Obama on Friday urged Congress to “take another look” at his proposals to spur job growth and warned that economic problems in Europe were producing “headwinds” that made Congressional action even more critical for the United States.
In a news conference, Mr. Obama said three times that private sector employers were doing well in America, saying that hiring among private companies was “fine” and proceeding at “a solid pace.” His comments were quickly criticized by Republicans and others who fear that the recovery is stalling.
Mr. Obama, speaking from the White House briefing room, began by accusing lawmakers of standing in the way of his ideas to help state governments, increase construction jobs and aid homeowners.
“Right now, people in this town should be focused on doing everything we can to keep our recovery going,” the president said. “It’s critical we take the actions we can to strengthen the American economy now.”
While he repeated that private companies were doing well when it came to hiring, Mr. Obama suggested that job losses among public workers at state and local governments were to blame for the slow recovery.
Mr. Obama said that “the private sector has been hiring at a solid pace over the last 27 months.”
Later, in answer to questions, he added that “over all, the private sector has been doing a good job creating jobs — we’ve seen record profits in the corporate sector.”
But, he added, “where we are seeing weaknesses in our economy had to do with state and local government.”
Within minutes, Republicans mocked Mr. Obama for being out of touch with the economic difficulties that people face across the country.
Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio sent a Twitter message saying: “President Obama says ‘the private sector is doing fine’ — millions out of work, 8%+ unemployment for 40 months #doingfine?”
Eric Fehrnstrom, a senior adviser to Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, said on Twitter: “the private sector is ‘doing fine’? President Obama is not only distorting his opponent’s record, he’s distorting his own.”
Mr. Obama took a professorial tone while discussing the economic challenges facing the world. The president said his call for action by Congress was made more urgent by the financial crisis in Europe, where countries are struggling to deal with weakness in their banks and the deepening debt crisis in Greece.
“This is a global economy now, and what happens anywhere in the world can have an impact,” he said. “The good news is there is a path out of this challenge. These decisions are fundamentally in the hands of Europe’s leaders.”
Mr. Obama said that he had sought to avoid lecturing the European leaders, but instead had tried to use the example of America’s economy as evidence that there is a path out of their financial troubles.
But he said that employment by state and local governments had been slashed by nearly a half-million jobs, and he called on Congress to pass his proposals to funnel more money into the states to stave off further layoffs.
“There’s work to be done,” Mr. Obama said, referring to the construction industry, which he said had lost a million jobs in the last several years. “There are workers to do it. Let’s put them back to work right now.”
Mr. Obama’s tone grew stern when he was asked to respond to accusations that his administration purposely leaked information about a terrorist “kill list” and cyberwarfare to make himself look tough in an election year.
“The notion that my White House would purposely release classified national security information is offensive,” he said. “It’s wrong. And people, I think, need to have a better sense of how I approach this office.”
Without confirming the accuracy of the information — which was revealed in two articles in The New York Times last week — Mr. Obama said the such leaks deal with the safety of the American people, its military and its allies.
“We don’t play with that,” he said, vowing to investigate the leaks. “We consistently, whenever there is classified information that is put out into the public, we try to find out where that came from.”
In a news conference, Mr. Obama said three times that private sector employers were doing well in America, saying that hiring among private companies was “fine” and proceeding at “a solid pace.” His comments were quickly criticized by Republicans and others who fear that the recovery is stalling.
Mr. Obama, speaking from the White House briefing room, began by accusing lawmakers of standing in the way of his ideas to help state governments, increase construction jobs and aid homeowners.
“Right now, people in this town should be focused on doing everything we can to keep our recovery going,” the president said. “It’s critical we take the actions we can to strengthen the American economy now.”
While he repeated that private companies were doing well when it came to hiring, Mr. Obama suggested that job losses among public workers at state and local governments were to blame for the slow recovery.
Mr. Obama said that “the private sector has been hiring at a solid pace over the last 27 months.”
Later, in answer to questions, he added that “over all, the private sector has been doing a good job creating jobs — we’ve seen record profits in the corporate sector.”
But, he added, “where we are seeing weaknesses in our economy had to do with state and local government.”
Within minutes, Republicans mocked Mr. Obama for being out of touch with the economic difficulties that people face across the country.
Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio sent a Twitter message saying: “President Obama says ‘the private sector is doing fine’ — millions out of work, 8%+ unemployment for 40 months #doingfine?”
Eric Fehrnstrom, a senior adviser to Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, said on Twitter: “the private sector is ‘doing fine’? President Obama is not only distorting his opponent’s record, he’s distorting his own.”
Mr. Obama took a professorial tone while discussing the economic challenges facing the world. The president said his call for action by Congress was made more urgent by the financial crisis in Europe, where countries are struggling to deal with weakness in their banks and the deepening debt crisis in Greece.
“This is a global economy now, and what happens anywhere in the world can have an impact,” he said. “The good news is there is a path out of this challenge. These decisions are fundamentally in the hands of Europe’s leaders.”
Mr. Obama said that he had sought to avoid lecturing the European leaders, but instead had tried to use the example of America’s economy as evidence that there is a path out of their financial troubles.
But he said that employment by state and local governments had been slashed by nearly a half-million jobs, and he called on Congress to pass his proposals to funnel more money into the states to stave off further layoffs.
“There’s work to be done,” Mr. Obama said, referring to the construction industry, which he said had lost a million jobs in the last several years. “There are workers to do it. Let’s put them back to work right now.”
Mr. Obama’s tone grew stern when he was asked to respond to accusations that his administration purposely leaked information about a terrorist “kill list” and cyberwarfare to make himself look tough in an election year.
“The notion that my White House would purposely release classified national security information is offensive,” he said. “It’s wrong. And people, I think, need to have a better sense of how I approach this office.”
Without confirming the accuracy of the information — which was revealed in two articles in The New York Times last week — Mr. Obama said the such leaks deal with the safety of the American people, its military and its allies.
“We don’t play with that,” he said, vowing to investigate the leaks. “We consistently, whenever there is classified information that is put out into the public, we try to find out where that came from.”
