Romney: Jobs figures underscore Obama failure

GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney said Friday that the latest jobs numbers released Friday, showing anemic job growth and an unemployment rate unchanged at 8.2 percent, are the latest proof that President Obama's economic plans have failed the country.

Taking a brief timeout from a vacation, Mr. Romney told reporters in New Hampshire that Mr. Obama had promised his stimulus package and the rest of his economic program would have the country's economy humming by now.

"His policies have not worked, and that's just not a short period of time, that's over a four-year period of time almost, and the American people have now had a chance to see whether his policies will help America," Mr. Romney said, adding that "41 months above 8 percent pretty much defines lack of success."

The White House took an optimistic view of the jobs numbers, pointing to the 28th straight month that the private sector has added jobs.

And Alan Krueger, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said the job numbers are another reason to move faster on Mr. Obama's priorities such rejiggering tax incentives and boosting public spending to keep government workers employed.

"There are no quick fixes to the problems we face that were more than a decade in the making," Mr. Krueger said. "President Obama has proposals to create jobs by ending tax breaks for companies to ship jobs overseas and supporting state and local governments to prevent layoffs and rehire hundreds of thousands of teachers."

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