Sunday Times 2
Jobs report keeps Obama in game, spikes Romney’s guns
View(s):WASHINGTON (AFP) Surprise job data Friday kept President Barack Obama in the game and deprived Republican Mitt Romney of a narrative change in a White House race that logic and history suggest he should win.
The Labor Department revealed that the US economy created 163,000 jobs in July, though the unemployment rate was rounded up a tick to 8.3 percent.
In normal times, such a report would be viewed as tepid and more bad news than good, as this level of jobs growth is barely sufficient to keep up with the growth in the labor force.But in politics perception is all and, as the data beat expectations and outpaced last month’s revised total of 64,000 new jobs, Obama can breathe easier.
The numbers were likely neither good nor bad enough to change the trajectory of a close campaign dominated by a painfully slow recovery in which Obama is clinging on, despite economic fundamentals that favor his challenger.”It does not deny Romney a talking point, because with the unemployment rate above 8.0 percent, it remains the central issue,” said Dante Scala, a professor of political science at the University of New Hampshire.”But the economy is muddling along in a positive direction, as long as it does so, Obama has a chance to succeed.
“In that sense it is good news for him. It keeps the election in that gray zone where the quality of the campaign matters.”
Romney, tied or just behind Obama in most polls, would have benefited politically from a worse jobs report, in a month in which he will name his running mate and introduce himself to America at his party convention.His campaign let rip anyway though, branding the Obama recovery as the worst in US history.
But the numbers gave the White House a lifeline to argue that despite lingering tough times there is momentum in the economy three months from election day.
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