The White House said Tuesday that President Obama was pleased that Hillary Clinton used the Monday night debate to lay out a very similar economic strategy to his own.
“She made a powerful case, particularly at the beginning, for building on the economic progress this country has made and digging out of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.
“She laid out a strategy that’s focused on cutting taxes for middle class families, asking those at the top of the income scale to pay a little bit more, closing tax loopholes that only benefit the wealthy and the well-connected, focusing on investment in early childhood education and college education, growing our economy from the middle out,” he continued.
Earnest then said the economic strategy “is precisely the economic strategy” that Obama has pursued, arguing that it has yielded the longest streak of monthly job growth numbers in the nation’s history.
Republicans often dispute the job growth record, noting that it doesn’t factor in the high rate of those falling out of the workplace and giving up on finding work. Trump and other critics also have argued that the recovery has been slow to materialize, and that certain hard-hit areas of the country feel no economic recovery as corporations have opted to move jobs and factories overseas.
Earnest also criticized Trump’s decision to delay releasing his tax returns until an audit is completed.
He highlighted Obama’s decision to continue the long tradition of presidential candidates and presidents in releasing his tax returns during his initial presidential campaign and every year he has held the office.
“Certainly that’s something that voters can expect and the president believes that kind of transparency is good for the process and good for voters as they made a decision that is important for the country,” he said.
