“President Obama must be feeling increasingly isolated these days after eight of his fellow Democrats refused to back his claim that the private sector is ‘doing fine.’ Those Democrats – just like all Americans – understand that twenty-three million Americans are struggling for work and family wealth sits at its lowest level in two decades. From Day One, Mitt Romney will help get Americans back to work and the economy moving again.” –Amanda Henneberg, Romney Campaign Spokesperson
Another Three Democrats Refuse To Back President Obama’s Assessment That The Private Sector Is “Doing Fine”:
Former Governor And DNC Chair Ed Rendell, On President Obama’s “Doing Fine” Comment: “It’s Obviously A Significant Misstatement.”“The only upside, said former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, is that bad news is coming at this point in the calendar. … ‘I’m not saying the president’s remark on the private sector ‘doing fine’ was smart, it’s obviously a significant misstatement,’ Rendell said.” (Reid Epstein, “John Bryson’s Leave Of Absence Adds To Obama’s Bad News,” Politico, 6/12/12)
Obama Campaign Co-Chair And Governor Deval Patrick, On The State Of The Private Sector: “I Think It’s Uncertain, And I Think It Suffers From A Certain Amount Of The Politics Of Uncertainty.” “During a speech Friday where he emphasized the problems of public sector employees Obama said, ‘The private sector is doing just fine.’ Patrick disagreed. ‘I think it’s uncertain, and I think it suffers from a certain amount of the politics of uncertainty,’ he said of the private sector.” (Keegan Gibson, “Mass Gov. Patrick Rallies PA Dems,” PoliticsPA.com, 6/9/12)
Senator Mark Warner (D-VA), On Whether He Agreed With President Obama’s “Doing Fine” Comment: “No.” QUESTION: “Do you feel like the private sector is doing fine like the President said the other day?” WARNER: “No.” QUESTION: “No?” WARNER: “I don’t feel like that, you know, on a relative basis corporate balance sheets look very good, but there is not the kind of demand that we need to see to generate the job growth. I do think there are things around infrastructure that can be done that would actually help things right now.” (Sen. Mark Warner, Remarks, 6/11/12)
The Latest Defections Are On Top Of The Five Democrats Who Have Already Deserted The President Over His “Doing Fine” Remarks:
Former Obama Economic Adviser Steven Rattner, On The Condition Of The Private Sector: “It’s Not Fine.” RATTNER: “So if you look at it in terms of jobs, since the beginning of the recession there have been close to 5 million jobs lost in the private sector so I think you have a hard time saying the private sector is doing fine. And by the way, people always talk about jobs and as I like to remind them there’s also incomes and people’s incomes are also down in the private sector over this period of time. So the 90 percent of Americans that have jobs have lower incomes on average.” SCARBOROUGH: “So that wouldn’t be fine…” RATTNER: “I’m saying it’s not fine.” (MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” 6/11/12)
Former Biden Top Economic Adviser Jared Bernstein, On President Obama’s “Doing Fine” Comment: “He Slipped Up Here.” “When Jared Bernstein, Vice President Biden's former top economist, began reviewing notes of President Obama's press conference on Friday, he stopped cold when he read ‘the private sector is doing fine.’ ‘It caught my eye,’ Bernstein told National Journal. Bernstein immediately fired off an email to the intern who took the notes to make sure it was accurate and not a rough or garbled translation. ‘I thought, 'Did he really say that?’ To his dismay, the intern wrote back that those were Obama's words. Verbatim. … ‘He slipped up here,’ Bernstein said. ‘We'll have to see how the hurly burly plays out.’” (Major Garrett, “A 'Fine' Mess. Even Obama Loyalist Winces At Obama's Take On Private Sector,” National Journal, 6/8/12)
Obama Strategist David Axelrod Repeatedly Refused To Agree With President Obama’s Assessment That The Private Sector Is “Doing Fine.” CROWLEY: “Let’s start out with a really simple yes or no. do you agree with the president that the private sector is doing fine?” AXELROD: “I agree with the president who called the press conference on Friday to say that we need to take a series of very urgent steps to accelerate job creation in this country because we have storm clouds rolling in from Europe.” … CROWLEY: “So bottom line, is the private sector doing fine?” AXELROD: “The private sector, we need to accelerate job creation in the private sector.” … CROWLEY: “But I think that you… That we put it in context in the opening, you put it in context in the open. I want to know whether the administration, whether you believe that the private sector is doing fine. Is it doing better?” AXELROD: “I believe -- it's certainly doing better than the public sector. 4.3 million…” (CNN’s “State Of The Union,” 6/10/12)
Representative Shelley Berkley (D-NV) “Seemed On The Defense” On Whether She Agreed With President Obama’s “Doing Fine” Comments. “‘Particularly in states like Nevada, we are going through very, very tough times,’ she said. ‘We’ve made progress but we have a long way to go.’ In an interview after her speech, Berkley seemed on the defensive when asked about whether she is standing with Obama more frequently. ‘On the issues that are important to the people I represent, I will stand,’ she said of efforts to prevent a spike in student loan rates and the recent failure of equal pay for women legislation.” (Anjeanette Damon, “Democrats’ Rally Lacking Some Of Its Usual Pep,” Las Vegas Sun, 6/9/12)
Liberal Economist Paul Krugman, On President Obama’s “Doing Fine” Comment: “This Was An Unfortunate Line. The President Bungled The Line.” “Nobel-winning economist Paul Krugman on Monday slammed President Barack Obama’s remark that the private sector is ‘doing fine,’ calling it ‘unfortunate’ and adding that the president ‘screwed up the line.’ ‘That was an unfortunate line. The president bungled the line. The truth is, the private sector is doing better than the public sector, which is not well enough,’ said Krugman on CBS’s ‘This Morning.’” (MJ Lee and Tim Mak, “Paul Krugman: President Obama ‘Screwed Up The Line’,” Politico, 6/11/12)
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