WASHINGTON, June 8 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama Friday backpedaled on a remark he made regarding the economy, first saying the private sector was "doing fine" and later it's not.
"The truth of the matter is that, as I said, we've created 4.3 million jobs over the last 27 months, over 800,000 just this year alone. The private sector is doing fine," Obama said in response to questions from reporters in the White House press room. "Where we're seeing weaknesses in our economy have to do with state and local government -- oftentimes, cuts initiated by governors or mayors who are not getting the kind of help that they have in the past from the federal government and who don't have the same kind of flexibility as the federal government in dealing with fewer revenues coming in."