Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Jason Furman admitted that it was not "morning in America" despite his optimism about U.S. economic growth during a press conference Tuesday.
Furman struggled to explain why Americans were not nearly as optimistic as he was about a 'recovering' U.S. economy.
"You saw a decade in which incomes didn’t rise. You saw another huge blow to incomes in the recession. You see us digging out but not all the way dug out of it," Furman said. "People are still feeling challenges. People are still feeling not all the way there and our motivation to continue to help."
When one reporter suggested it was "morning in America," Furman said that was not what he was suggesting.
"I’m not saying it’s morning in America," Furman conceded.
"I think we’re digging our way out of a really deep hole and we’re still not all the way out of that hole. The unemployment rate at 5.8 percent is not all the way to where the unemployment rate should be. Wages are certainly not all the way to where they want to be."