Updated

Mitt Romney says President Barack Obama's statement that the "private sector is doing fine" will "go down in history" as an extraordinary miscalculation by an out-of-touch president.

In Iowa, Romney pounced on the comments Obama made during a White House news conference on Friday. Romney says Obama's remarks led him to ask: "Is he really that out of touch?"

Romney says Obama is "defining what it means to be detached and out of touch with the American people."

Romney's aides say his campaign will continue to give Obama grief on the matter.

The comment revived memories of a statement Republican nominee John McCain made in 2008, during the economic turmoil, that the economy's fundamentals were sound.