Romney slams Obama over August jobs report

 CHICAGO, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Republican presidential candidate Mitt¹ Romney on Friday attacked President Barack Obama for August' s below expectations U.S. jobs report, charging that Obama had not lived up to his promises by presiding over months of high unemployment.

Romney slams Obama over August jobs report

The two presidential campaigns traded policy barbs² throughout the day Friday, as the news cycle was dominated by the monthly U.S. Department of Labor³ report that was largely received as disappointing.

Although the U.S. unemployment rate ticked down to 8.1 percent in August, non-farm payrolls⁴ rose by only 96,000 in August, significantly below market expectations of around a 125,000 job increase.

Furthering the disappointment, the Department of Labor also revised down the employment numbers from the previous June and July reports by a combined total of 41,000 jobs.

The Department of Labor additionally noted⁵ that both the civilian⁶ labor force and the labor force participation⁷ rate declined in August, meaning that some individuals became so discouraged they stopped looking for employment entirely⁸.

The Romney campaign was quick to capitalize on the poor jobs report, hoping to take away some momentum⁹ from the Democratic National Convention (DNC) staged only the night before, when Obama had given the climactic headlining address.

In a statement sent out immediately following the Department of Labor release, Romney blamed the soft employment numbers on Obama' s economic policies, and contrasted Thursday night' s enthusiasm at the DNC with Friday morning' s data.

"If last night was the party, this morning is the hangover," Romney said in the statement, a jab at the president' s speech the night before.

"This is more of the same for middle class families who are suffering through the worst economic recovery since the Great Depression. After 43 straight months of unemployment above eight percent, it is clear that President Obama just hasn't lived up to his promises and his policies haven't worked," Romney continued.

In an afternoon appearance in Portsmouth, New Hampshire on Friday, President Obama countered back by praising the August jobs report as the 30th consecutive¹⁰ month of job creation, compared to around the 800,000 per month of job losses recorded when he first took office.

But while Obama championed the total of 4.6 million jobs created over his presidency¹¹, he acknowledged to supporters that the path was not easy, and argued that it was "going to take more than a few years for us to solve challenges that were building up over decades."

Obama also called on Republicans in Congress to pass the American Jobs Act, which he said would immediately create 1 million new jobs, and then returned to the themes similar to those of his DNC address, such as tax cuts for middle income Americans, Medicare, clean energy and education.

But meanwhile at a Romney campaign event also on Friday afternoon, Romney remarked that he was "surprised" by the topics outlined in Obama' s DNC speech, charging that the president shied away from the facts of the current economy, and instead only offered empty promises.

"I was surprised by his address because I expected him to confront the major challenge of the last four years, which is an economy which has not produced the jobs that the American people need," Romney told supporters, again placing the focus of his campaign on the sluggish¹² U.S. economy.

"Instead, it was a whole series of new promises which he also won't be able to keep because the policies he believes in and the direction he's pulling will not make America stronger," Romney continued, pledging he would get the economy moving again and offering voters his own promise that he would create 12 million new jobs by the end of his first term.

While Obama enjoys an advantage over Romney in personal favorability, the president has been shown by recent polls to be weak in voters' perceptions on his ability to handle the economy.

Romney is therefore likely to continue to hammer the president on the U.S. unemployment rate and slow economic recovery, as he hopes to gain the upper hand in the American presidential race.

According to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released August 21, 44 percent of respondents said they thought Romney had better ideas to fix the economy, compared to 38 percent who thought that Obama did.

Obama meanwhile topped the likeability category, with those surveyed favoring him a full 58 percent to Romney' s 23 percent.

Overall, the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll gave Obama a four percentage point lead in the presidential race, with respondents polled at 48 percent for Obama and 44 percent for Romney.

1 mitt   

n.棒球手套，拳击手套，无指手套；vt.铐住，握手

参考例句：

• I gave him a baseball mitt for his birthday.为祝贺他的生日，我送给他一只棒球手套。
• Tom squeezed a mitt and a glove into the bag.汤姆把棒球手套和手套都塞进袋子里。

2 barbs   

n.（箭头、鱼钩等的）倒钩( barb的名词复数 )；带刺的话；毕露的锋芒；钩状毛

参考例句：

• She slung barbs at me. 她说了些讥刺我的话。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I would no longer uncomplainingly accept their barbs or allow their unaccountable power to go unchallenged. 我不会再毫无怨言地洗耳恭听他们带刺的话，或让他们的不负责任的权力不受到挑战。 来自辞典例句

3 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

4 payrolls   

n.（公司员工的）工资名单( payroll的名词复数 )；（公司的）工资总支出，工薪总额

参考例句：

• Indices of employment, payrolls, and production steadied in February 1931931年2月，就业、工资额和生产指数稳定。 来自辞典例句
• Wall Street responded to the payrolls figures with gusto. 华尔街对就业数据作出了积极的反应。 来自互联网

5 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

6 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

7 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。

8 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

9 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。

10 consecutive   

adj.连续的，联贯的，始终一贯的

参考例句：

• It has rained for four consecutive days.已连续下了四天雨。
• The policy of our Party is consecutive.我党的政策始终如一。

11 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

12 sluggish   

adj.懒惰的，迟钝的，无精打采的

参考例句：

• This humid heat makes you feel rather sluggish.这种湿热的天气使人感到懒洋洋的。
• Circulation is much more sluggish in the feet than in the hands.脚部的循环比手部的循环缓慢得多。