White House To Press: 'Do Your Jobs' When Reporting On Obama's Private Sector Remark

WASHINGTON -- The White House has some advice for reporters writing about President Barack Obama's recent comment on the health of the private sector: "Do your jobs."

Obama has come under fire from Republicans for saying on Friday that "the private sector is doing fine" during a press conference on the economy. Obama later clarified his remarks to reporters, saying that "the economy is not doing fine." But Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has been trying to score political points off the comment ever since, even releasing a minute-long video with ominous music that asks, "Has there ever been a president so out of touch with the middle class?"

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney on Monday downplayed the idea that there is anything to talk about here, saying that reporters should know better than to miss the broader point Obama was making with his comment: that public sector job cuts are hurting the economy.

"You all ought to do your jobs and report on context," Carney said during his daily briefing. "We're for truthful, factual, accurate reporting done in context."