The President wrapped up a two-day bus tour, Friday, through northern Ohio and western Pennsylvania to highlight his record on job creation for American workers
On Friday, the President spoke in Poland, Ohio. He addressed the monthly jobs report towards the end of his remarks, saying the 80,000 jobs added last month, combined with the jobs added over the past three years, is a "step in the right direction," but that he knows there is much more work to do. The unemployment rate stayed steady at 8.2 percent.
Economists had predicted that the sluggish growth of the past three months would continue. The President's Republican rival Mitt Romney said the jobs report was more evidence that the President's policies weren't working, in a statement made from New Hampshire Friday morning.
President Obama traveled next to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania before returning to the White House for a bill signing ceremony.
Thursday featured stops in Maumee, Sandusky and Parma, Ohio, followed by day-two stops in western Pennsylvania towns.
At each stop, the President is focusing on his record on American jobs, including his bailout of the auto industry. The campaign is seeking to define the election as a choice of economic plans, rather than a referendum on President Obama's performance over the past three years.
Prior to landing in Ohio Thursday, the White House announced that the President was filing a complaint against China at the World Trade Organization for its imposition of tariffs on U.S.-made cars.
At his first stop, President Obama spoke to supporters at the Wolcott House Museum in Maumee, Ohio, telling the crowd "it's easy sometimes to lose interest and lose heart, sometimes, when you hear about what's going on in Washington."
"I still believe in you," President Obama said, "And the country is betting on you."
He highlighted his administration's reforms and programs that benefit the middle class, obliquely referring to the Supreme Court's Health Care decision, saying people wouldn't go bankrupt if they got sick.
He said he would work with anyone to improve and enforce health care regulations, but "the law I passed is here to stay."
"Now is not the time to spend four more years re-fighting the battles we fought two years ago," he said, "We are moving forward."
The Obama campaign has been running ads in several swing states that focus attention on the state of the Massachusetts' economy during Republican challenger Mitt Romney's tenure as Governor.
Pennsylvania and Ohio are expected to play an outsize role in determining the next election. President Obama won both states in 2008, Ohio by just four points. A Real Clear Politics average of polls prior to last week's Supreme Court ruling on Health Care had President Obama up by 2.7 points in Ohio and 8 points in Pennsylvania.