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Esme's Blog: President Obama's Slip

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- President Barack Obama found himself scrambling yesterday to recover from a slip that within seconds became fodder for his rival's campaign.

Taken out of context at a news conference addressing the nation's and world economic ills, the President's six little words -- "the private sector is doing fine" -- touched off a fierce reply from Mitt Romney.

Romney campaigning in Iowa said the president's statement was a "gross miscalculation," and showed the president was out of touch with the millions of Americans who are out of work and struggling to find a job.

The president scrambled to clarify, saying "it's clear the economy is not doing fine." But for at least the rest of the day the damage was done -- the gaffe was the headline  of the talk and cable news circuit.

In the age of Twitter, every slip, every phrase that  is less than perfectly thought out and delivered can dominate a new cycle.

There will no doubt be more slips from both Romney and Obama.

They are only human and they each have 150 days to go until election day.

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