Healey Blasts Obama At Portsmouth Press Conference

Hours before President Obama was scheduled to speak in Portsmouth on Friday, Beverly resident, former Massachusetts Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey and  U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-NH, blasted the president, saying he's done little to create new jobs and his Democratic National Convention speech was "short on substance."

The Portsmouth stop, at John's Barber Shop on Daniel Street, was one of several the Romney surrogates were scheduled to make in New Hampshire aboard the Romney campaign bus.

"Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me," Ayotte said. She went on to say that Obama's DNC speech on Thursday had a "complete lack of any plans for how things are going to change... He certainly gives a good speech, but it was short on substance.

"He's asked for more time, but our country doesn't have more time," she said. "The president last night did not offer anything new. What we can expect is more of the same."

Ayotte added that it's time for "new leadership," and she's confident "the American people aren't going to fall for him again."

Healey focused her comments on the most recent jobs report, saying that Obama has fallen far short of his promise four years ago to get unemployment to 5.5 percent.

"The question is are you better off? Are you better off than four years ago?" she said. "For us, there's no question about the answer there."

Healey said this is the forty-third straight month that unemployment has been over 8 percent, and there are still 23 million Americans who are out of work. Many of them, she said, have given up on trying to find jobs altogether.

"It's a tragedy," she said. "We need to change it."