Obama's very selective use of unemployment data

Guess who made this statement.  A hint the news that the first quote is referring to is 310,000 new jobs.

Good morning. This is _____, the _____. For the past few weeks, President ____ and members of his administration have traveled the nation to celebrate recent, improved economic statistics. Well, I've been traveling, too. All over this large and diverse state, in cities and suburbs, Downstate and upstate, I've heard from people who say it's way too early to claim victory when it comes to our economy.
After three dismal years of job loss, we all welcome encouraging statistics. But for most Americans, the health of our economy is measured in a different and more personal way: If I lose my job, where will I find one that pays as well and offers real benefits? Can I afford health care coverage on my own, or the cost of sending my children to college? Will I ever be able to save, and retire with dignity and security? . . .

Or this quote:

Let me begin by saying a few words about the latest economic news.  This morning, we learned that American businesses added another 212,000 jobs last month.  Altogether, more private sector jobs were created in 2011 than any year since 2005.  And there are a lot of people that are still -- (applause) -- there are a lot of people that are still hurting out there.  After losing more than 8 million jobs in the recession, obviously we have a lot more work to do.  But it is important for the American people to recognize that we’ve now added 3.2 million new private sector jobs over the last 22 months -- nearly 2 million jobs last year alone.  So after shedding jobs for more than a decade, our manufacturing sector is also adding jobs two years in a row now.  So we’re making progress.  We’re moving in the right direction. . . .

So have you guessed who made these quotes?  Obama made both of them.  The first quote is from state Senator Obama in June 2004 criticizing a report of 310,000 jobs the previous month.  The second quote is from President Obama on January 6, 2012 lauding the announcement of 212,000 jobs the previous month (actually the final number was 223,000 jobs). 


Obviously the second quote goes beyond just the number of jobs in the previous month, but that is where some real dishonesty comes into the discussion.  You see by July 6, 2012 Obama's recovery had been going on for 37 months, but the comment that he was making about Bush was 30 months into his recovery.  


So what if we made the second quote the same based on that point in the corresponding recoveries?  Obama could have said this in June 2004:

Let me begin by saying a few words about the latest economic news.  This morning, we learned that American businesses added another 310,000 jobs last month.  But it is important for the American people to recognize that we’ve now added 2.5 million new jobs since the recovery started 30 months ago -- over 1.5 million jobs last year alone.  So we’re making progress.  We’re moving in the right direction. . . .

And he could have said this on Friday, January 6, 2012:

Let me begin by saying a few words about the latest economic news.  This morning, we learned that American businesses added another 212,000 jobs last month.  But it is important for the American people to recognize that we’ve now added 2.26 million new private sector jobs since the recovery started 30 months ago -- nearly 2 million jobs last year alone.  So we’re making progress.  We’re moving in the right direction. . . .

For those interested, this is what President Obama said on Friday:

We learned this morning that our businesses created 84,000 new jobs last month, and that overall means that businesses have created 4.4 million new jobs over the past 28 months, including 500,000 new manufacturing jobs.  That's a step in the right direction.  (Applause.)  That’s a step in the right direction.