President Obama is asking voters to take the prospect of economic recovery on  faith: That the weak indicators of restoration are early signs of a more robust  revival in the near future. The bad indicators, meanwhile, are just “bumps in  the road.”

Whenever the unemployment picture darkens or the economy falters, voters are  likely to hear the president or one of his advisers talk about “bumps in the  road.”

Now, the president is applying the same metaphor to the deteriorating  international situation, leading to the unforced error of calling the Middle  East and North Africa unrest — which has included everything from the recent  attack on the consulate in Libya to violent protests –  as “bumps in the  road.”

The campaign of Republican nominee Mitt Romney is pouncing on that gaffe, made in an interview on “60 Minutes” just as Republicans have for years been blasting the president for calling tens of millions of Americans being unemployed, underemployed or having given up looking for work as “bumps in the road.”

The situation is made worse because Obama’s interview aired just two days  after CNN went public with passages from the slain ambassador’s diary that show  he was in increasing fear of attack but did not receive additional security in  the unstable, Islamist nation.

More.