President Obama took his campaign-style trip to the backyard of a family in the Midwestern U.S. city of Columbus, Ohio on Wednesday. He talked with Joe and Rhonda Weithman, and several dozen of their neighbors about the main issue (1)___________________________, the U.S. economy.
"Whereas we were losing jobs in the private sector when I was first sworn in, we are now gaining jobs, and we gained jobs 7 consecutive months in the private sector. The economy was shrinking about 6%, the economy is now growing. So we've made progress. But, let's face it, the progress hasn't been fast enough." An Associated Press public opinion poll shows that (2)___________________________handling the economy.
The nation's unemployment rate remains stalled at 9.5%. Ohio, which has lost many of its manufacturing jobs, has a jobless rate of more than 10%. At Wednesday's informal meeting, the president said (3)___________________________ that have been lost during the past 2 years. But he said confidence will grow as the economy rebounds.
"So what we are trying to do is create a virtuous cycle, where people start feeling better and better about the economy. And a lot of it's sort of like recovering from an illness - you get a little bit stronger each day, and you take a few more steps each day. And that is where our economy is at right now."
