( CNN ) -- The White House is running out of time , and ideas , for turning the economy around before the fall elections . Almost three years into recovery , the U.S. economy added only 80,000 jobs in June , marking its third consecutive month of poor job growth . The Wall Street Journal noted that the United States gained just 225,000 jobs in the past three months combined , making it the weakest quarter of job growth since the labor market began to recover in 2010 . The unemployment rate , still 8.2 % , has been stuck above 8 % for 41 straight months , the longest streak since the Great Depression . A government report found that 85,000 Americans left the workforce in June to enroll in the Social Security Disability Insurance program . That means that more workers joined the federal government 's disability program in June than got new jobs . How did the White House respond to the anemic report ? `` There are no quick fixes to the problems we face that were more than a decade in the making , '' Alan Krueger , chairman of the President 's Council of Economic Advisers , said in a written statement . In other words , any chances for economic recovery before the fall elections look slim . More importantly , there is a profound lack of urgency from the White House for any large scale , serious reforms . In fact , Krueger went on to claim the economy really is n't as bad as we think . `` The economy has now added private sector jobs for 28 straight months , for a total of 4.4 million payroll jobs during that period , '' he said . The obvious problem here is that Obama has been president for more than 40 months . The White House conveniently blames Republicans for decades of lost jobs , but forgets to mention the United States lost 4.3 million jobs in President Obama 's first 13 months in office . Krueger concluded , `` [ I ] t is important not to read too much into any one monthly report and it is informative to consider each report in the context of other data that are becoming available . '' This is n't the first time the White House has used this excuse . In fact , the Romney campaign was quick to put together a list of the 30 times the White House has used this same excuse , dating back to November 2009 . Is the White House perhaps telling us something more significant : that we should n't read too much into the entire term of Barack Obama 's presidency ? In Ohio on Friday , Obama excused the jobs report by again claiming he inherited the worst economy since the Great Depression . He added that the jobs report is `` a step in the right direction '' and that `` it 's still tough out there . '' The president appears intellectually and ideologically spent , and it 's not just Republicans saying that . Robert Reich , former Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration , wrote recently , `` [ T ] he excuse is wearing thin . It 's his economy now , and most voters do n't care what he inherited . '' He added , `` [ H ] e has to show he understands the depth and breadth of this crisis . '' It 's not so clear the president does . On Monday , he again called to repeal the Bush tax cuts on the highest earners , a contentious partisan issue that the public knows will not be solved before the elections . In his weekly address he continued to push for more construction projects and increased financial aid for college students . Even to Keynesian economists on the left these are hardly bold policies a party can rally behind . The economy is shaping up to be the most important factor of the 2012 elections , yet the president seems content to rest his re-election chances on worn-out , recycled policy proposals and ad hominem attacks on Mitt Romney . It 's hard to see how this is a winning strategy . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of William Bennett .
William Bennett : Obama economy continues to experience poor job growth . He says President U.S. is n't proposing any bold ideas . Obama tends to place blame for economic woes on Bennett administration , Bennett says . Bush : Obama 's campaign is focusing on worn-out proposals , attacks on Obama .