Improved Job Picture Poses Risks to Obama and Romney WASHINGTON - The release Friday of higher-than-projected job growth figures for January provides President Obama with a fresh opportunity to begin revising the grim economic narrative of his presidency as he heads into his re-election campaign. And it presents Mitt Romney, the perceived front-runner for the Republican nomination, with a difficult choice: whether to embrace a new optimism about jobs or to continue waging a campaign based on the premise that angry voters will blame Mr. Obama for a sinking economy. For both men, though, the evidence of ongoing economic improvement poses serious political risks as they prepare for an increasingly likely general election contest. The image of an overly optimistic president could feel discordant and disconnected to voters who are still struggling with unemployment and foreclosures. Aides to Mr. Obama said Friday that they remained wary of declaring a full-blown recovery, having seen the beginnings of a recovery in early 2010 stymied by economic reverberations from the BP oil spill and the Greek debt crisis. But Mr. Romney also faces the danger of looking oddly out of step if he presses ahead - as he did Thursday - with his accusation that Mr. Obama had made the recession worse. In comments at a supply company in Sparks, Nev., on Friday, Mr. Romney blamed the president for standing in the way of progress. "This recovery has been slower than it should have been, people have been suffering for longer than they should have had to suffer," Mr. Romney said. Will it get better? I think it'll get better," he added. But this president has not helped the process. He's hurt it. Mr. Romney's aides offered few signals Friday that he was preparing to alter his line of attack. Top advisers on Friday welcomed a declaration of economic victory by Mr. Obama as Mr. Romney campaigned in Nevada, where unemployment remains at more than 13 percent. Republicans on Capitol Hill also appear unwilling to let go of their relentless criticism of Mr. Obama's economic policies. Representative Jeb Hensarling of Texas, chairman of the House Republican Conference, essentially ignored the positive economic news on Friday. "Today is an indication of another failure of this president's policies - 36 months in a row of 8 percent-plus unemployment," Mr. Hensarling said. White House officials say the president is prepared to counter the attacks from Mr. Romney and Capitol Hill with the evidence of a slow but sustained turnaround that has added nearly as many jobs in the last two years as was lost in the first few months of Mr. Obama's administration. The unemployment rate - now at 8.3 percent - has dropped back to where it was in the first full month of his presidency. Speaking in Arlington, Va., on Friday morning, Mr. Obama hailed the addition of 3.7 million jobs since 2010. "The economy is growing strongly," he declared. The recovery is speeding up. We have got to do everything in our power to keep it going. The president conceded that "there's still far too many Americans that still need a job," but he urged Congress to extend the payroll tax cut and warned them against standing in the way of the economic improvement. "Do not slow down the economic recovery we are on," Mr. Obama said. Don't muck it up. Keep it moving in the right direction. White House officials say they remain wary of global realities outside of their control that could stall or even reverse the economic gains of the past year. Turmoil in the Middle East, Iran's nuclear capability and the European debt crisis could all create significant economic shocks in the coming year. "These numbers will go up and down in the coming months," Mr. Obama said Friday. And they are aware that the overall direction of the economy can mask different realities in critical swing states that will decide the outcome of the presidential campaign in November. Florida, for example, has an unemployment rate just shy of 10 percent, far higher than the national average. In Michigan, meanwhile, unemployment has dropped to 9.3 percent from a high of nearly 14 percent early in Mr. Obama's presidency. But Mr. Obama's aides note that Americans" overall impression about the direction of the economy is beginning to turn around. A New York Times/CBS News survey released in early October found only 12 percent who said the economy was getting better. A similar survey released in mid-January found 28 percent who said the same thing. The question for Mr. Romney - and for Republicans in Congress who face re-election this fall - will be whether they can continue to press ahead with the strategy they developed months ago. Mr. Romney began attacking Mr. Obama on the economy last June, when he announced his campaign at a farm in New Hampshire. When he took office, the economy was in recession. He made it worse. And he made it last longer," Mr. Romney charged in that speech. Three years later, over 16 million Americans are out of work or have just quit looking. Millions more are underemployed. He sounded similar themes on Friday. "Last week, we learned that the economy grew only 1.7 percent in 2011, the slowest growth in a nonrecession year since the end of World War II," Mr. Romney said in a statement. Nearly 24 million Americans remain unemployed, underemployed or have just stopped looking for work. Congressional Republicans began making that case even earlier, accusing the president's policies of stopping job growth almost as soon as he took office. the speaker of the House, John A. Boehner of Ohio, has been hammering Mr. Obama for more than a year with the question: "Mr. President, where are the jobs?" Some veteran Republicans want their party to take a more positive spin and talk up their successes, like holding down spending, passing free trade agreements and putting deficit control at the top of the political agenda. After some hesitation Friday, lawmakers at a news conference made clear the choice they had made - at least for now. "The American people are still asking, "Where are the jobs?" " Mr. Boehner said. Jonathan Weisman contributed reporting.