If you are unemployed, I'm sure you found Bush's answer to this question anything but comforting:
SCHIEFFER: Let`s go to a new question, Mr. President. Two minutes.
And let`s continue on jobs.
You know, there are all kind of statistics out there, but I want to bring it down to an individual.
Mr. President, what do you say to someone in this country who has lost his job to someone overseas who`s being paid a fraction of what that job paid here in the United States?
BUSH: I`d say, Bob, I`ve got policies to continue to grow our economy and create the jobs of the 21st century. And here`s some help for you to go get an education. Here`s some help for you to go to a community college.
We`ve expanded trade adjustment assistance. We want to help pay for you to gain the skills necessary to fill the jobs of the 21st century.
You know, there`s a lot of talk about how to keep the economy growing. We talk about fiscal matters. But perhaps the best way to keep jobs here in America and to keep this economy growing is to make sure our education system works.
I went to Washington to solve problems. And I saw a problem in the public education system in America. They were just shuffling too many kids through the system, year after year, grade after grade, without learning the basics.
And so we said: Let`s raise the standards. We`re spending more money, but let`s raise the standards and measure early and solve problems now, before it`s too late.
No, education is how to help the person who`s lost a job. Education is how to make sure we`ve got a workforce that`s productive and competitive.
Got four more years, I`ve got more to do to continue to raise standards, to continue to reward teachers and school districts that are working, to emphasize math and science in the classrooms, to continue to expand Pell Grants to make sure that people have an opportunity to start their career with a college diploma.
And so the person you talked to, I say, here`s some help, here`s some trade adjustment assistance money for you to go a community college in your neighborhood, a community college which is providing the skills necessary to fill the jobs of the 21st century. And that`s what I would say to that person.
Now it just so happens that the company my husband worked for, a small software company, laid off almost 100 workers a couple of years ago. Some of those people are still unemployed. They don't lack skills, they don't lack education. What they lack is a job.
And Bush not only insulted them by telling them it was their own fault for being unemployed (go to school and get some education, you bums!), he failed to show the slightest bit of sympathy for people in this situation. He sounded callous and totally unconcerned for the suffering that people feel.
As important as Bush's gaffe about bin Laden was, this is the issue that has the potential to turn voters away from Bush and onto Kerry. Especially voters in states like Ohio, where unemployment has hit so hard.
This is the theme to push, and I hope that Kerry's team knows it.