New jobs numbers a boost for Obama

>> if president obama lost some momentum after wednesday's debate today's jobs report, could it bring it back? the first report to show unemployment rate below 8% since the very beginning of his presidency. david plouffe is a senior adviser to the president and of course the architect of the 2008 campaign. he joins me now. let me get your first reaction. how important psychologically is it do you believe to have an unemployment number below 8% the month before the election?

>> well chuck i don't think we should focus on politics today. this is obviously showing that we continued to recover from a horrible recession. we've created over 5.2 million private sector jobs the last 30 months as you pointed out the unemployment rate is now back to where it was in january of 2009 . and i'd like to make the point though and i think we did talk about this debate wednesday, the recession wasn't an accident. there were policies and reasons that contributed to it. reckless wall street behavior, tax cuts for the wealthy unpaid for. these are the exact same policies mitt romney wants to return to. i think the president made that point wednesday at the middle class in our economy can't afford it.

>> i want to play for you some reaction from your supporters at the rally in denver about the president and the debate. here's what they told me.

>> i think he could have done better.

>> i think that president obama is -- needs to put his gloves on and fight back.

>> i didn't know quite what was going on as far as, you know, maybe he's dealing with some crisis in the middle east .

>> i think maybe he needs to rest.

>> david, that is a lot of advice from supporters. what do you say to them?

>> well, first of all, i was at that event in denver as were those great supporters of ours yesterday and that was a magnificent event. a lot of energy. we have a great organization in colorado. we are in wisconsin yesterday. they're fired up. they're going to work very hard. obviously, you know, we'll take some lessons out of that first debate. i think it was remarkable by the way that the first, other than some pleasantries the first words out of governor romney 's mouth were untrue saying he didn't have a $5 trillion tax cut . we've seen the campaign as not just one moment, one day. we've had a consistency to it. a case we're mayking that the president has the right pathway for the country and the middle klatt. governor romney would be a return, the trickle down economies that failed the middle class and failed the country. there is obviously an important debate next week between our vice president and paul ryan . we have another debate in 11 days. we look forward to continuing to make the case.

>> you used the words i think dishonest or not making an honest argument. you just did it again. do you believe that mitt romney is intentionally lying about his record or lying about his plans?

>> well, i think i -- he is. you know, chuck, this is the cornerstone of his entire campaign and his economic plan. it really was a remarkable thing. it would be like in 2008 if we got on the stage and said i don't want to end the iraq war and i'm not for health care reform . you know, i don't want to have a green energy future. it is an amazing thing. and the reason he is trying to obfuscate here is because that tax cut plan is something the american people don't want to support. a huge tax cut for the wealthy paid for by the middle class or blowing a hole in our deficit. the wrong recipe for both david, he says his plan is not a tax cut plan. and that, you know, he is going to find a way to offset them. do you not take him at his word?

>> it is a complete fairy tale . it is a 20% tax cut across the board for everyone. huge business tax cuts. everyone that looks at it agrees the numbers, 5 trillion over ten years, he says i'll pay for it with deductions he won't name. so, you know, the middle class and the president made this point in the debate, if you think somehow you're not going to bear the burden for this then take that risk and vote for governor romney . but again, this isn't just some issue that he threw out one day on the campaign trail. it's the center piece of his entire campaign. his economic philosophy . by the way, he made clear the other day that he is not going to ask the wealthy to contribute one single dime to help reduce our deficit or grow our economy.

>> well, that was, i was going to play, this is what joe biden yesterday said about tax hikes and then what paul ryan said in response. i'll play that for you and get your response on the other side.

>> you know the phrase they always use. obama and biden want to raise taxes by $8 trillion. guess what? yes we do in one regard. we want to let that trillion dollar tax cut expire so the middle class doesn't have to bear the burden of all that money going to the super wealthy.

>> he asked if he and president obama want a trillion dollar tax hike and his response to himself was, yes we do. that's a direct quote, friends. well, virginia, no we don't.

>> so is that a fair way to say it that, you know, the president is campaigning on raising, getting rid of the tax cut , raising taxes , a trillion dollars on the wealthy and the romney campaign no? is that a fair way to draw the line?

>> we've been clear. we have tough choices to make in this country. you know, we've got investments to make, a deficit to close. so what the vice president was saying is that the bush tax -- we want to continue middle class tax cuts . the republicans want to hold them hostage so we continue tax cuts for the wealthy. that is a fundamental difference. by the way with today's economic news we should continue to make progress. one thing we can do right away is pass a middle class tax cut so that, you know, 98% of the american people will have the confidence that their taxes won't go up next year. very important for consumer confidence . very important for our economy. and, you know, governor romney ought to tell his running mate paul ryan to call up the house republican leadership of what he is a member and get this done. so that we can give security and a guarantee to the middle class of this country and our economy that taxes aren't going to go up next year.

>> do you believe the fundamentals of this campaign have changed from wednesday morning to today?

>> i don't think so, chuck. obviously though we'll be able to evaluate that in coming days. my sense is, you know, we've got a pretty important lead in some battleground states .

>> you don't think that is going to clang?

>> we don't think so. first of all you know the president's, you know, got a high support level . you know, 49, 50, 51 depending on the state. we like what we're seeing in terms of early vote and absentee ballot requests. we don't think that is going to change. we're going to be able to measure this. i'm sure the romney campaign says they're raising a lot of money. i'm sure that is true. our supporters are energized. in denver yesterday, in madison yesterday big crowds, enthusiastic crowds. but we'll see where we are next week. you know, my sense is the fundamental structure of the campaign is not changed. some of the reasons that we've been able to build a lead are around this sense of the middle class that the president has the right ideas for them. that hasn't changed. mitt romney doubled down on turning medicare into a voucher program, doubled down on rolling back wall street reform. he did some things on wednesday night that even though his performance was judged to be strong, i think we'll really -- will really cause his campaign problems in the closing four and a half weeks.

>> david plouffe , senior adviser of president obama , thanks for coming on this morning sir.

>> see you chuck.