President Obama said Thursday that he remains confident the economy will turn around in the short term and the nation will prosper in the long term despite another dose of bad unemployment news.

"And I'm absolutely confident that we can, at this period of difficulty, prove, once again, what this nation can achieve when challenged," Obama said in the Rose Garden after a meeting with executives from energy companies.

Earlier, the government reported that employers cut a larger-than-expected 467,000 jobs in June. The unemployment rate climbed to a 26-year high of 9.5 percent.

Obama called that report sobering news but better than the last economic quarter and a sign that the recession is slowing.

"Obviously, this is little comfort to all those Americans who have lost their jobs," he said.

Obama and his team have pointed to energy companies in citing ways to steady the economy and put people back to work. The White House is working to keep energy in the spotlight even as Congress takes a break this week for the July 4 holiday.

The House last week narrowly approved the first energy legislation designed to curb global warming following furious lobbying by White House advisers and personal pressure by the president himself.

"So these companies are vivid examples of the kind of future we can create," the president said Thursday in the Rose Garden, flanked by energy industry leaders. "But it's now up to the Senate to continue the work that was begun in the House to forge this more prosperous future. We're going to need to set aside the posturing and the politics, and when we put aside the old ideological debates, then our choice is clear."

He added: "It's a choice between slow decline and renewed prosperity. It's a choice between the past and the future."