Problems for Obama

Unfortunately for Obama, the employment figures yesterday were not good. During the month of June only 80,000 jobs were added, considering there are over 12 million Americans unemployed, this is a very small figure.

The problem for Obama is that this is the third month in a row of poor job creation, nothing compared to the jobs added at the start of the year. This is bad news for Obama as the election is only four months away, if serious job creation doesn’t begin soon then Obama will be in big trouble. Since the great depression, no President has survived re-election when the unemployment rate has been about 8%, it currently stands at 8.2%.

This has been a great chance for the Mitt Romney campaign, after the Supreme Court healthcare ruling the campaign was a muddled mess. This is a chance for them to take back the narrative from the Obama campaign, but talking about the economy isn’t always going to be easy for Romney. His one stint as a public employee, as governor of Massachusetts, was marked by very poor job creation and a serious decline in manufacturing jobs. Although Obama’s recent job record hasn’t been great, at least he’s been adding jobs. Mitt Romney lost more jobs as governor than gained, and Obama has four months to do better than him.

The problem for Obama is there is nothing much he can do. He doesn’t really have time considering there’s the summer recess. Oh, and the fact the Republicans are doing everything they can to destroy the economy so Obama doesn’t win re-election. Unfortunately for Obama the Republicans control the House of Representatives and the Republicans can also filibuster anything passed in the Senate. This has seriously hampered Obama in his first term, as the Republicans have always had enough Senators to filibuster and Obama-legislation.

Unfortunately, when the Obama campaign tries to vocalise the Republicans-are-tanking-the-economy rhetoric, it just sounds like they are making excuses for Obama’s failures. It also doesn’t help Obama’s image of trying to stretch across the isle to the Republicans.

Whatever happens, the next four months of job creation (or loss), will be extremely influential in deciding who takes the inauguration oath next year.