Filling in for Bob Schieffer on Face the Nation, CBS White House correspondent Norah O'Donnell wondered out loud in her questions if Rick Perry is too extreme to be electable. (See Brent Baker's blog.) But she also pushed former DNC chair Terry McAuliffe pretty hard on President Obama's ineffectiveness on the economy.
The line of the day came from Gillespie, when O'Donnell asked if the Martha's Vineyard vacation is bad politics. Gillespie replied "Well, I don't begrudge the president for taking some time with his family and taking a vacation. I'm sure it has got to be exhausting wrecking an economy as big as the United States is. So he should take a little time."
The CBS reporter certainly dogged McAuliffe with tougher questions that he might have been expecting:
O'DONNELL: ... because we now have three-quarters of Americans disapprove of President Obama`s handling of the economy. How do you get elected when three-quarters of Americans don`t approve of the way you`re handling the economy?
McAULIFFE: I think what`s important is when the president comes out with his plan in September, lays it out for job creation, people are frustrated. I`ve talked about this many times. We`ve got to create jobs in this country. And I am so sick and tired of the political speeches....
O'DONNELL: Terry, it`s not like the president hasn`t talked about creating jobs, the need to create jobs. We actually did a -- looked back at our CBS records, Mark Knoller. And the president has talked about and made a pitch for creating jobs in 171 speeches just this year. Six of those speeches had jobs in the title. And now he`s going to have another jobs speech in September. Is there some truth to Republican claims that there is a lot of talk but not a lot of action by the president?
McAULIFFE: I think he has had a very difficult time getting anything through the Republican House of Representatives. They have not passed any legislation on job creation since Speaker Boehner came in.
O'DONNELL: But you just said yourself that you`re sick of the speech- making, where`s the plan?
She also ran the comments of Rep. Maxine Waters complaining that Obama avoided the inner cities on his bus tour and suggested the states Obama traveled had lower unemployment than the national average.
O'DONNELL: Terry, do you know what the strategy is?
McAULIFFE: Well, clearly, what we`re going to find out when the president comes back in September -- I wish -- and I`ve said this -- I wish that the president and the Congress had taken this up in January when they all came back. So...
O'DONNELL: But should -- the president had a tour through the Midwest in areas where, in Iowa, where unemployment is 6 percent; in Minnesota, where it`s 6.7 percent. Those are -- those are not the hard-hit areas. Should he have gone to the places that Congresswoman Maxine Waters was talking about?
McAULIFFE: Sure. And in fairness to the president, he has traveled extensively to all parts of the country.
