Democratic convention chair: ‘As a nation, we are better off’ than four years ago

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Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s appearance on CBS This Morning was part of a media blitz by Democratic Party officials to re-frame their response to the question of whether Americans are better off now than they were four years ago.

“When you’re unemployed, you’re struggling,” said Villaraigosa, who will chair this week’s Democratic National Convention. “And of course, if you’re recently unemployed, you’re not better off. But the fact of the matter is, as a nation, we are better off.”

Villaraigosa’s assertion fits in with a more optimistic tone adopted by the party on various shows Monday. As ABC News reports, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley used his own appearance on CNN’s Starting Point Monday to walk back his statement Sunday that Americans were not better off now than they were in 2008, because of the tax cuts for the wealthy implemented under the George W. Bush administration.

“We are clearly better off as a country,” O’Malley said Monday. “We’re now creating jobs rather than losing them. Unemployment’s down, job creation is up and those positive movements would not happen without the president’s leadership.”

Villaraigosa’s interview also keyed on the theme of both acknowledging that the Obama administration still has a ways to go to accomplish its recovery goals while tying Republican challenger Mitt Romney’s campaign to the struggles of the Bush era.

“If we continue the Bush policies, and do what Romney would have us do, and that is cut 5 trillion dollars in taxes, the Ryan/Romney budget would extend the deficit 29 years,” Villaraigosa said.

Watch Villaraigosa’s interview with CBS This Morning, aired Monday, below.