President Obama defended himself Thursday from growing criticism that his economic and domestic policies have created uncertainty and stifled job growth, even as his administration admitted they are not satisfied with the pace of the nation’s recovery.
“We’re moving in the right direction,” Obama said, during a tour of an electric vehicles plant in Kansas City, Missouri.
The president spent much of his speech arguing that his philosophy on job creation is not government-oriented and that he believes in the private sector.
“Our goal has never been to create another government program. Our goal has been to spur growth in the private sector,” he said.
In recent days and weeks, top business leaders and mainstream media outlets have grown more vocal in questioning the president’s understanding of and support for private enterprise. One of the main complaints from the business community is that the new health care overhaul and the financial regulatory bill that is close to becoming law have created massive uncertainty that is causing companies to hoard a collective $1.6 trillion or so in capital reserves, rather than expanding and hiring.
White House deputy press secretary Bill Burton told reporters on Air Force One that “the president is not satisfied with the speed of the recovery.”
As for Obama’s relationship with the private sector, Burton said that “the question of whether or not the White House is anti-business is the wrong question.”
“It’s whether or not we’re for … creating an environment where businesses can create jobs and help to continue grow the American economy,” Burton said.
But Burton also said that the White House will have some disagreements with private businesses, citing the financial regulation bill as an example of something Obama promised to do during the presidential campaign.
“There are going to be times when we disagree, and that’s fine,” Burton said. “But … the president has a governing philosophy that says that we need to do what we can to create jobs and grow the economy.”
He added, however: “We’re not going to do that at the expense of necessarily giving discrete businesses or individual businesses every single thing that they may want.”
Obama said that he believes green energy investments will create 700,000 jobs over the next few years.
The president went from his tour of the vehicle plant to headline a fundraiser for Democratic Senate candidate Robin Carnahan. He will speak again on the economy in Nevada on Friday, Burton said, continuing his attempt to counter critics. Obama will raise money for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s reelection bid on Friday as well.