Obama Campaign Manager: Despite 9.6 Unemployment, "We're on the right path."

After admitting on today's "Meet the Press" that President Obama is accountable for a dismal jobs and economic record, the president's campaign manager, David Plouffe, turns around and claims that "we are on the right path." The irony isn't missed by host David Gregory:

But 82 percent, but 82 percent of Americans polled believe that the country's still in recession. ... So they don't believe what you say, which is that we're on the right path.

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MR. GREGORY: After 19 months in office, President Obama is accountable for this record, is he not?

MR. PLOUFFE: Sure he is. … The question is, are we making progress? We had 22 straight months in this country of private sector job loss. We’ve had eight straight months of private sector job gain. Not as high as anyone would like, but we’re on the right path here. …

MR. GREGORY: But isn’t it striking after 19 months, rather than being able to run on a record, when this president’s had some big swings legislatively at the economy, that you are left basically saying, “Well, you know, we, we may not have done the job, but the other guys are really worse.”

MR. PLOUFFE: Well, no one’s saying we’re not doing the job. We’re very proud of what we’ve done, which is, this hole was so deep, it’s going to–as the president said at his inaugural address, it’s going to take some time to dig out. But we’re on the right path here: economic policies aimed squarely at the middle class and small businesses; creating a new energy sector; the health care law which, over time, I think is going to play a big impact on economic growth. So, no, we’re proud to talk about what we’ve done.

MR. GREGORY: But 82 percent, but 82 percent of Americans polled believe that the country’s still in recession.

MR. PLOUFFE: Well, people are struggling. No one’s suggesting otherwise. But the question is…

MR. GREGORY: Yeah. So they don’t believe what you say, which is that we’re on the right path.