Obama touts job numbers: America is ‘pretty darn great’

President Obama on Friday offered a rebuttal to what he called “doomsday rhetoric” from the Republican Party, declaring that “America is pretty darn great right now.”

In brief remarks from the White House, Obama touted impressive new figures that showed the U.S. economy added 242,000 jobs last month, beating expectations amid global turbulence. 

{mosads}Flanked by Vice President Biden and a half-dozen economic advisers, Obama gave a glimpse of his strategy to counter the pessimistic tone struck by the Republican presidential field, particularly front-runner Donald Trump.

“I’m looking forward to very forcefully making clear that what we have done has made a difference, and that there is a huge gap between the rhetoric that’s going on out there and the reality of the success that we’re seeing in America’s economy,” Obama said.

Without naming Trump or any other GOP candidates, Obama criticized their focus on “how terrible America is.”

He said Republicans should end the “name-calling”  and “trying to talk down the American economy” as it climbs out of the recession.  

“There seems to be an alternative reality out there, from some of the political folks, that America’s down in the dumps,” Obama said. “It’s not. America is pretty darn great right now and making strides right now.”

Rattling off statistics about job growth, Obama made the case for his own economic policies, which he suggested have been hindered by Republican lawmakers.  

“The fact of the matter is the plans that we have put in place to grow the economy,” he said. “They would work even faster if we did not have the kind of obstruction that we’ve seen in this town.”