Video: The jobs pivot

>>> time now for our political postscript. we've heard from both sides of the aisle on today's disappointing jobs report, but the statements from president obama and mitt romney are just the latest in a political war that both men are waging for a country that will decide which economic vision can keep america growing. nbc news's deputy political editor , domenico montenara joining me live this afternoon. the romney campaign has always said this thing is going to be about the economy. today's number confirming that, going to be a big talker , no doubt, on the sunday shows. how does team obama create a constructive argument that stays fresh?

>> well, you know, you only have about four months, four jobs reports to go until election day and the thing that the president has tried to do is say that things are moving in the right direction. you heard him say that today. it's a tough argument to make when you've got sluggish growth, when it's 69,000 last month, 88,000 this month, unemployment flat for about six months, around 8.2%. you know, but he's also trying to blame washington and say, look, there's a stalemate here. i'd like to do more, but because of congress, we're unable to.

>> you know, one of the things i enjoyed this morning in first read, the numbers breakdown. you know, explain this for folks who are watching at home. because politically we hear these numbers and think one thing and folks watching and listening might think another thing. break it down for us, politically, what might 82,000 mean versus 150,000?

>> well, look, the thing is here, when you watch kind of how the coverage, what happens with the coverage after these jobs reports come out, for a couple years you watch this, and what everybody says is essentially about 150,000 jobs a month is what's needed to bring the unemployment rate down by a percentage point or so. so what we've kind of looked at and said, if it's under 100,000 jobs, that's going to be bad for the president and good for mitt romney . if it's between 1 and 150, you're looking at something that's probably politically a push, and something above 150,000 jobs a month, that's going to be good for the president, because it's going to bring that unemployment rate down. and that's what you've seen. when you've seen unemployment over 150,000, all of a sudden the president has better ratings, you see optimism go up in polls, you see much better media coverage . so i think that's an important number to watch, that barrier. between 1 and 150 is going to be something where all this other stuff is going to matter.

>> let's pivot to health care . here's a quick health care play by play from this week. take a listen.

>> the governor believes that what we put in place in massachusetts was a penalty and he disagrees with the court's ruling that the mandate was a tax.

>> the supreme court has spoken. there's no way around that. you can try to say you'd wish they had decided a different way, but they didn't. they concluded it was a tax. that's what it is.

>> the fact that a whole bunch of republicans in washington suddenly say, this is a tax. for six years he says it wasn't and now he's suddenly reversed himself.

>> a lot of action during this holiday week, my friend. how does the debate play out going forward? does it quiet down with all this economic news?

>> what we heard yesterday, romney's had a tough couple of weeks and this jobs report was going to give him the opportunity to change the subject, get back on the message of the economy, or it was going to give us another, you know, marker to say president obama is doing pretty well. i think health care 's going to move to the back burner, because mitt romney , barack obama really don't want to have to talk about the this very much. mitt romney tries to draw a line and say, well, it's okay at the state level, it's not okay at a federal level . i think it's a very difficult argument to make. the president now saddled with this word "tax." he's going to make the argument to his base that what he did with health care is important. they're going to tout some of the positive things in that bill, but really neither one wants to talk much about health care .

>> nbc news deputy political editor , domenico montenarra. have a great week.

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/newsnation/48097970/

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