Fox News reports on Obama downplaying his administration’s inaccurate reporting on job creation in a recent Fox News interview.
From Fox News:
President Obama brushed off criticism over his administration’s inaccurate reporting on job creation Wednesday, telling Fox News the accounting is an “inexact science” and that any errors are a “side issue” when compared with the goal of turning the economy around. He said job growth is his No.1 responsibility.
The president was responding to criticism from Republicans, as well as Democratic Rep. David Obey, who drew attention to embarrassing errors on the Recovery.gov Web site that tracks stimulus funding. The site is under fire for claiming a number of jobs were created from the stimulus in congressional districts that don’t exist and accepting unrealistic and inflated jobs data from various sources.
Obama said he understood the “frustration” but said his focus has to be on accelerating job growth.
“I think this is an inexact science. We’re talking about a multitrillion-dollar economy that went through the worst economic crisis since 1933. The first measure of success of the economic recovery is, did we pull ourselves back from the brink? We did,” Obama said. “The question now is, can we make sure we’re accelerating job growth? That’s my No. 1 job. Nobody’s been more disappointed than I have to see how high the unemployment rate has gotten. And I spend every waking hour, when I’m talking to my economic team, about how we are going to put people back to work.”
Obama spoke with Fox News’ Major Garrett in Beijing, in the middle of his tour through several Asian countries. Economic issues have inevitably been on the front burner during the president’s leg in China, which is the United States’ biggest government lender.
In the interview, Obama spoke candidly about the precarious balancing act his administration is trying to perform. He wants to spend money to kick-start the economy, but at the same time is in danger of creating too much red ink. Obama warned Wednesday that the United States’ climbing national debt could even drag the country into a “double-dip recession,” though he said he’s still considering additional tax incentives for businesses to reverse the rising unemployment rate.
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