Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) criticized Obama after Friday morning's jobs report fell far below expectations, saying the numbers will make the president a “desperate person."
“When you’re a desperate person — much the same as a cat being cornered – you’re going to come out and really fight even stronger,” West told Newsmax Friday afternoon. “I think that the president’s policies are failing the American people. We have now hit 40 consecutive months of unemployment in the United States of America at or above 8 percent.”
The May jobs report proved disappointing, with only 69,000 jobs added and the unemployment rate rising to 8.2 percent. Investors responded to the bleak report by running for safety, sending the Dow Jones industrial average to its biggest loss since November.
West wasn't the only one who had criticism for the president over the jobs report. Obama's 2012 rival Mitt Romney called the report "devastating news" for both American workers and families.
"This week has seen a cascade of one bad piece of economic news after another," Romney said in a statement. "It is now clear to everyone that President Obama's policies have failed to achieve their goals and that the Obama economy is crushing America's middle class."
Not everyone blamed the disappointing jobs numbers on Obama. Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley (D) pointed a finger at the "Republican obstructionists" in what he called "a constipation Congress" while speaking before a convention of New Hampshire Democrats on Saturday.
“If they thought it could help the recovery speed up, these people couldn’t even pass gas," O'Malley said on Republicans' efforts to block Obama's jobs efforts.
Watch West's Newsmax interview below: