Obama: Jobs number a ‘step in the right direction’

POLAND, Ohio -- President Obama made only brief mention of the new unemployment figure here today, waiting until deep into his stump speech, then glossing over news that the unemployment rate had remained at 8.2%.

The monthly jobs report, which showed a seasonally adjusted net of roughly 80,000 new jobs, was a “step in the right direction,” Obama said, but added that he wasn’t “satisfied” with the rate of job creation.

No one else seems tempted to be satisfied with the figure either, and Republicans blamed Obama for the failure to increase jobs at a greater rate.

The new jobs report shows “the private sector clearly isn’t ‘doing fine,’” House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said.

He referred to the president’s new healthcare law, which House Republicans plan to vote again to repeal when they return to Washington next week.

On the second day of his bus tour across Ohio, Obama bragged about his healthcare law and tried to turn the conversation back to job creation.

“That’s our goal,” he told a crowd here. “Putting more people to work.”

cparsons@latimes.com