IOWA CITY - His convention speech was only hours old when President Obama, confronted by a weak new jobs report, found himself Friday having to use precious time on the campaign trail to account for the country's continued anemic economic recovery.
As he has been forced to month after month, the president responded by shifting the blame to Congressional Republicans, calling on lawmakers to pass the jobs bill he proposed last year and that has been languishing since.
“Today we learned that after losing around 800,000 jobs a month when I took office, businesses added private-sector jobs for the 30th month in a row,†Mr. Obama told a c ampaign rally in Portsmouth, N.H. He did not mention that the actual number of new jobs reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics earlier in the morning, a figure that was lower than expected.
“But that's not good enough,†Mr. Obama said. “We know it's not good enough.â€
The president called on Congress to commit to extending middle-class tax cuts. “If Republicans are serious about getting rid of joblessness, they can create one million new jobs if Congress passes the jobs plan I sent them,†he said.
Mr. Obama is on a post-convention campaign trip through crucial swing states, starting in New Hampshire on Friday morning before heading to Iowa City and then ending in St. Petersburg, Fla. There he will begin a bus tour over the weekend through Florida, a perennial battleground.
He was joined by his full ticket: The first lady, Michelle Obama (who the president called “amazing†at the convention), Vice Presi dent Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his wife, Jill Biden.
Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential nominee, wasted no time in jumping on the jobs report Friday. On his way to a campaign stop near Sioux City, Iowa, Mr. Romney told reporters that the latest employment report was a fresh reminder that Mr. Obama's leadership has left Americans with little more than broken promises and empty hope.
“There's almost nothing the president has done in the past three and a half, four years that gives the American people confidence that he knows what he's doing when it comes to jobs and the economy,†Mr. Romney said, adding that the president's speech Thursday to the Democratic National Convention contained even more promises that will go unfulfilled.
The president, meanwhile, got in some licks of his own. During his speech, Mr. Obama tried out a new attack line against the Republican push for tax cuts, deriding the Republicans as running to tax cuts as the solution for e very problem.
On Friday morning, as is his wont when he finds a line he likes, Mr. Obama was ready to expand. Mr. Romney and his running mate, Representative Paul D. Ryan, Mr. Obama said, view tax cuts as a miracle cure. “Tax cuts to help you lose a few pounds! Tax cuts to help improve your love life!†Then he grinned.
