White House Stands by Senior Adviser’s Comments on Unemployment Numbers; Not a 2012 Factor

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney backed Senior White House Adviser David Plouffe's comments from earlier in the week saying that unemployment numbers won't be a factor for voters in the 2012 election.

Carney said that most people don't sit around their table and analyze GDP and unemployment numbers and that they measure if they have a job or job security and if their mortgage is under water or if they're dealing with a sick parent.

This echoes Plouffe's original comments at a Bloomberg breakfast Wednesday.

"The average American does not view the economy through the prism of GDP or unemployment rates or even monthly jobs numbers," Plouffe said. "People won't vote based on the unemployment rate, they're going to vote based on -- ‘How do I feel about my own situation? Do I believe the president makes decisions based on me and my family?'"

History shows that since the Great Depression, no president has won re-election, except for Ronald Reagan, when unemployment was higher than 7.2 percent.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney also took the opportunity to also slam Plouffe in a statement on June's unemployment hitting 9.2 percent.

"If David Plouffe were working for me, I would fire him and then he could experience firsthand the pain of unemployment. His comments are an insult to the more than 20 million people who are out of work, underemployed or who have simply stopped looking for jobs. With their cavalier attitude about the economy, the White House has turned the audacity of hope into the audacity of indifference."

Carney, responding to Romney's statement, said he understood Republicans are engaged in a primary campaign and trying to get media attention.

Plouffe on Wednesday also had some harsh words for Romney.

"Governor Romney has reminded us that he's a world-class political contortionist," Plouffe said. "He's kind of been all over the map on the president's leadership on the economy."