Romney: Obama didn't 'get the message of Wisconsin' about cutting teachers, firefighters

Update: Obama campaign goes after Romney for remarks.

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney on Friday said that President Barack Obama's call to hire more police, firefighters and teachers proved that he didn't "get the message" from Republican wins in the recent Wisconsin recall elections.

During a press conference earlier on Friday, Obama had called on Congress to pass a jobs proposal that would prevent layoffs and rehire public workers like police, firefighters and teachers.

“The truth of the matter is 3 million jobs over the last 27 months, over 800,000 just this year alone," the president told reporters. "The private sector is doing fine. Where we’re seeing weaknesses in our economy have to do with state and local government."

At a campaign stop in Iowa, Romney blasted that assertion.

"For the president of the United States to stand up and say the private sector is doing fine is going to go down in history as an extraordinary miscalculation and misunderstanding by a president who's out of touch," the GOP hopeful charged.

"And his answer for economic vitality, by the way, was, of course, pushing aside the private sector, which he said is doing fine," Romney continued. "Instead, he wants to add more to government. He wants another stimulus. He wants to hire more government workers. He says we need more firemen, more policeman, more teachers."

"Did he not get the message of Wisconsin? The American people did! It's time for us to cut back on government!"

In response to Romney's remarks, the Obama campaign has issued a statement saying, "As President Obama urges Congress to pass his plan to put cops, firefighters, teachers, and construction workers back to work – after they left as many as 1 million jobs from his plan on the table – Mitt Romney has decided we need less jobs for middle class Americans, not more. That’s the message he received this week."

Watch this video from CNN, broadcast June 8, 2012.