On jobs vs. high unemployment, Obama has political balancing act

Even new employment figures show the US economy’s strongest job-creation performance in three years, the Obama White House knows that talking to Americans about jobs requires a delicate political dance.

The political challenge is to remind voters that progress is being made in battling unemployment as the 2010 congressional elections approach, while at the same time not appearing oblivious to the economic distress felt by the jobless.

New figures highlight both sides of the coin. On Friday, the government said employers created 162,000 jobs in March, including 48,000 temporary Census workers. But the same report noted that 15 million Americans are out of work. The number of those who have been jobless six months or more increased to a record 6.5 million.

President Obama took his job creation message on the road Friday, traveling to the North Carolina plant of Celgard LLC, which makes components used in lithium batteries. The company recently hired more workers using a $49 million Energy Department grant.

Mr. Obama hailed the new jobless numbers, saying, “today is an encouraging day.”

But he quickly added: “Economic statistics don’t do justice to the pain and anxiety that results from unemployment. Lasting unemployment takes a toll on families, takes a toll on marriages, takes a toll on children.… Being unable to find work – being able to provide for your family – that doesn’t just affect your economic security, that affects your heart and your soul.”

And meeting in his office with reporters Friday morning, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs was equally careful to stress the work still to be done.

'Mission not accomplished'

“Obviously the jobs numbers are very encouraging,” Mr. Gibbs said. “But hard work continues on improving our economy. There was not an announcement that was going to be made in any form on these numbers that would have caused us to declare that the mission had been accomplished.”

Talking about an economic recovery before voters feel it in their pocketbooks is major political challenge.

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