Republicans Assail Obama in Wake of Disappointing Jobs Report Republicans quickly seized on Friday's disappointing jobs report as fresh evidence of what they say are President Obama's "job-killing" policies and further proof of the need for a new occupant in the White House next year. The United States economy added only 69,000 jobs in May, the lowest number in a year. The unemployment rate, which had been heading lower over the last several months, ticked back up to 8.2 percent from 8.1 percent a month earlier. For Mr. Obama, who faces re-election in less than six months, the report suggests that the economic fortunes of the country are headed in a direction that will task his campaign. The sagging recovery could complicate his efforts to persuade voters to give him another four years. Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican nominee, called the report "devastating news for American workers and American families" and mocked the president's campaign slogan, "forward," saying that the country has been moving backward under the president's policies. "This week has seen a cascade of one bad piece of economic news after another," Mr. Romney said in a statement. Slowing G.D.P. growth, plunging consumer confidence, an increase in unemployment claims, and now another dismal jobs report all stand as a harsh indictment of the president's handling of the economy. In a statement, Alan B. Krueger, the chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, stressed the positive, saying that the president's policies are working, but require more time. "Problems in the job market were long in the making and will not be solved overnight," Mr. Krueger wrote. The economy lost jobs for 25 straight months beginning in February 2008, and over 8 million jobs were lost as a result of the Great Recession. We are still fighting back from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. The White House stressed the "headwinds" that are affecting the economy in the United States. "Just like last year at this time, our economy is facing serious headwinds, including the crisis in Europe and a spike in gas prices that hit American families" finances over the past months," Mr. Krueger wrote. Mr. Obama's campaign has been trying for weeks to challenge Mr. Romney's claim of having been a job creator during his time at Bain Capital, a private equity firm, and later as governor of Massachusetts. But the tepid job growth in the country for the last two months will likely fuel Mr. Romney's aggressive retort about the current economic situation during Mr. Obama tenure. Top advisers from both sides have said the economy would be the primary topic of interest during the presidential campaign. But Republicans would like to present the decision as a referendum on Mr. Obama's record in office. The jobs report on Friday provides Mr. Romney new political ammunition in that effort. House Speaker John A. Boehner called the economic situation in the country "the sad new normal" and blamed it on Mr. Obama. But he said Americans don't have to accept the situation if they vote for Republicans in the fall. "Republicans have a Plan for America's Job Creators designed to remove the government barriers holding back economic growth and hurting job creation," he said. In a news conference at the Capitol on Friday morning, Mr. Boehner and Republican lawmakers chastised the president and his Democratic allies in the Congress for failing to pass legislation the Republicans said would create jobs. "It's clear that the policies that we have seen are not working," Mr. Boehner said. We've passed over 30 bills that are sitting over in the Senate. It's time for us to change course and have real policies that will put Americans back to work. Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, the majority leader, said the jobs numbers "are pathetic" and said "I think under the right leadership we can do better." Mr. Obama is traveling to Minnesota on Friday afternoon where he is expected to call on Congress to pass his "to-do list" of policies that would help create jobs. Asked about the trip, Mr. Boehner mocked it as a campaign trip that would not accomplish anything. "Instead of a campaign speech, the president might want to engage with Republicans and Democrats here on Capitol Hill," Mr. Boehner said. The president ought to get out of the badminton game and get into the rugby game that's right in front of him. Follow Michael D. Shear on Twitter at @shearm.