DURHAM, N.C. -- President Barack Obama said Monday that Washington's current preoccupation with the debt and deficit is really all about job creation, as he sought to assure the public that whatever abstract debate they're hearing, he's focused on their top economic concern heading into his re-election campaign. Meeting with a group of business leaders in politically important North Carolina on the day of the first major GOP presidential debate, Obama heard concerns about everything from difficulty getting small-business loans to regulatory burdens on airlines.
He pledged to do everything he could to help businesses as his administration aims to breathe life into the faltering economic recovery.
At the same time, as the U.S. faces an Aug. 2 deadline to raise the government's borrowing limit or go into unprecedented default, Obama tried to make real for people what is at stake. He argued for smart decisions on what to cut and how -- sending a message to Republicans who say they won't agree to raise the debt limit unless Obama and Democrats agree to enormous spending cuts and no tax increases at all.
"The thing I want to emphasize is that we need to solve our medium- and long-term debt and deficit issues not for abstract reasons, but because they are a concrete impediment to growth and jobs," Obama said during the meeting at a clean-energy plant in Durham.
"So the American people need to know that over the next month, as we focus on making sure that we have a balanced, thoughtful resolution to this problem, this isn't to the exclusion of worrying about jobs," he said, "but is actually in service of making sure businesses have enough confidence about the investment environment so that they can start getting off the sidelines and putting more money to work and hiring more people."
Obama is looking for ways to brighten a bleak employment picture, pushing private-sector hiring along with his own political fortunes during a two-day trip to two key states -- North Carolina and Florida.
The trip is a chance to offer a counterpoint to what was sure to be a sustained attack on his economic and other policies during the nationally televised GOP debate Monday night.
Republicans shrugged off Obama's efforts.
"Photo ops with business leaders only reinforce that no one in this administration has ideas to create the private-sector jobs our economy desperately needs," said Brendan Buck, spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.
