Gov. Barbour blasts Obama on job growth

In a speech to business leaders Wednesday, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) accused the Obama administration of neglecting job creation.  

“When this presidential administration came into office, clearly, the main thing on the American people’s mind was job creation,” he said at breakfast hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “And they expected our government, from top to bottom, to be focused on job creation.

{mosads}”Yet Congress spent 15 months on a healthcare reform bill that increased the cost of healthcare; that is going to make health insurance premiums higher, and the public was disillusioned.”

Barbour said the federal government’s “first priority” should be “economic growth and job creation.” 
 
“That’s got to be the main thing,” he said.

Spending by the federal government is “sucking money out of the private economy,” Barbour added. “This administration spent $7 trillion the first two years and we lost 7 million jobs. Maybe we ought to be glad they didn’t spend $12 trillion the first two years or we’d have lost 12 million jobs.”

The once-portly Barbour appeared almost svelte on Wednesday morning, raising the possibility that he’s preparing for a 2012 presidential run. The governor joked last year,  “If you see me losing 40 pounds that means I’m either running or have cancer.”

Barbour, who leaves office in January 2012, said he had lost “a little weight.”

“I certainly needed to,” he told reporters after his speech. “Hopefully I can lose some more.” 

Barbour has said he’ll make a decision about a 2012 White House run by the end of April.

Asked about former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s expected entry into the presidential field this week, Barbour talked up their relationship. “I’m crazy about him. We’ve been friends for 30 years,” he said.

Barbour also said he wasn’t concerned by the House GOP majority taking up issues like abortion and healthcare despite the condition of the economy. “I think we can walk and chew bubble gum at the same time,” he said.