July economic data no help to Obama, Romney

WASHINGTON -- Sputtering along, the economy is offering some hope but no illuminating help to voters who are mired in a weak jobs recovery and flooded with familiar promises from President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney. A new employment snapshot seemed too mixed and middling to jolt a consistently close race.

Three months shy of Election Day, the latest numbers out Friday showed monthly job creation was higher than expected -- but unemployment rose, too. That gave each candidate political room to see only what he wanted, and to stick with the fundamental economic argument that he thinks will win the White House.

"It's another hammer blow to the struggling middle-class families of America," Romney said of the pace of job growth. At the White House, Obama said, "Those are our neighbors and families finding work. But, let's acknowledge, we've still got too many folks out there who are looking for work."

The economy is stuck, long removed from the days of implosion but not growing enough to reduce unemployment or make people feel better. No signs of help are coming from a gridlocked president and Congress, or from the Federal Reserve, or from U.S. allies with their own problems as the world economy suffers.

The bright spot: Employers added 163,000 jobs in July, more than double that of June. Yet the politically important unemployment rate rose to 8.3 percent, a notch above June's 8.2 percent.

Only three such tone-setting jobs reports remain before the election -- one in September the day after Obama speaks at the Democratic National Convention, one in October shortly after the two men debate on the economy and one in November, four days before the election.

No economic recovery since World War II has been weaker than the rebound from the recession that ended in June 2009.

A status-quo economy means campaign arguments and strategies are not changing, either.

Obama's locked-in message is about asking the nation's richest people to pay higher taxes, extending tax cuts for the middle class and promising long-run economic growth by putting public money into education, energy and research.

Meanwhile, Romney's aides believe only a dramatic uptick in the economy could hurt his chances and force a broad change in messaging. So one month of stronger-than-expected job growth did nothing to alter Romney's case that "America can do better."