Step in the right direction?

Obama had to acknowledge that the US economy needs to grow faster. New figures showed that only 80,000 new jobs were added in June, leaving the unemployment rate stuck stubbornly at 8.2%.

The president is trying his best saying that the figures were a "step in the right direction" but that does not sound very convincing. Mitt Romney used the opportunity to attack Obama’s handling of the economy. He said that the unemployment report is a "kick in the gut".

US bureau of labor statistics said the unemployment situation was "essentially unchanged" from the previous month, with unemployment at 12.7 million. Information like that is more than disappointing for the White House. Obama is facing the prospect of having to defy history: no president has won re-election with unemployment above 8% since the Great Depression.

Obama went for a positive a spin, saying that the US had added 4.4 million new jobs over the last 28 months. "I want to get back to a time when middle-class families and those working to be in the middle class have some security. That's our goal," he said pleading for more time. He added that he had inherited the worst recession since the Great Depression and "we knew that turning it around was not going to happen overnight".

It is hard to believe that voters will have understanding for his situation and give him more time. There are only four more months of unemployment figures left before the election, with the last on November 2, just four days before the election.

This report offers Romney an opportunity to go on the offensive over the economy after he failed in reaction to Supreme Court healthcare ruling. Finally he has a chance to appear sympathetic: "There is a lot of misery in America today, and these numbers understate what people are feeling and the amount of pain which is occurring in middle-class America."

Unfortunately for Obama these are words that voters want to hear.