OWINGS MILLS, Maryland (Reuters) - Barack Obama stoutly defended his economic record on Tuesday after a stream of bad news - and an uncharacteristic verbal misstep of his own - rallied Republican hopes that they can defeat him in November.
Acknowledging there is still a "long way to go" to repair the damage done by a recession he inherited, Obama insisted the American economy was on the right track despite recent signals that the country's recovery might be fading.
"What we have been able to do over the last 3-1/2 years, after a decade in which we had been moving in the wrong direction, is to begin to point towards a trajectory where here in this country, everybody is getting a fair shot," he told supporters at the first of a string of fundraising events.
His upbeat remarks come after what some political pundits say has been the worst week of his presidency.
Disappointing May jobs data has challenged Obama's claim that his policies are healing the economy. His own comment to reporters on Friday that the private sector is "doing fine" helped Mitt Romney, his Republican challenger in the November 6 U.S. election, argue that Obama, a Democrat, is out of touch with ordinary Americans.
The president later tried to explain that comment, saying he meant the private sector has seen some momentum while other areas of the economy need help more urgently.
He returned to the issue on Tuesday, saying "there are a lot of folks out there who are hurting, a lot of folks who are looking for work or are underemployed, a lot of folks whose homes are underwater."
Republicans, buoyed by polls that show the election will be very close, have been hammering the president for that rare verbal misstep amid other news that could spell trouble for Obama.
Democrats suffered a heavy defeat last week in a gubernatorial recall election in Wisconsin, Romney raised more money than Obama did in May, and Obama's commerce secretary, John Bryson, took medical leave on Monday after getting into two car crashes over the weekend in California.
Republicans want to make the November election a referendum on Obama's economic stewardship, but the president showed no sign of straying from his re-election argument that he would do a better job of restoring the fortunes of ordinary Americans.
"We're going to need another term to make sure that we consolidate these gains and we lock in the kind of progress that we need to ensure that America's middle class is growing again," he said.
(Writing by Alister Bull; Editing by Will Dunham)
