President Obama ruefully joked about his claim last week that “the private sector is doing fine” during a campaign stop in Ohio today, and he predicted that the general election would feature many more such “gaffes.”
“There will be no shortage of gaffes and controversy that keep both campaigns busy and give the press something to write about,” Obama told the audience at Cuyahoga Community College in Ohio. “You might have heard I recently made my own unique contribution to that process. It wasnt the first time and it won’t be last.”
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Last week, Obama said that the economy is weak due to a lack of government jobs. “Overall, the private sector has been doing a good job creating jobs,” the president told reporters. “The big challenge we have in our economy right now is state and local government hiring has been going in the wrong direction.”
Romney made a gaffe of his own in February. “I’m not concerned about the very poor,” he said on CNN — a phrase that will haunt him throughout the election. “We have a safety net there. If it needs repair, I’ll fix it. I’m not concerned about the very rich, they’re doing just fine. I’m concerned about the very heart of America — the 90, 95 percent of Americans who right now are struggling.”
On Monday, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney refused to promise not to take Romney quotations out of context, explaining that it was the media’s job to provide the full story. “Certainly, we believe that you all ought to do your jobs and report on context,” Carney told reporters.
