in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." economists didn't sigh this one coming, one expert calling the may jobs report shockingly low. that's the weakest growth in a year and the unemployment rate ticked up to 8.2%. it's a brutal setback for the economy and a serious setback for the obama campaign as well. the president out on the campaign trail is struggling to convince voters he's part of the solution, not part of the problem. briana keiller is traveling with the president. >> the president urged the crowd to look at the broader economic trends and said the economy is improving, albeit slowly. >> we're still fighting our way back since the worst economy since the depression. our businesses have created 4.3 million new jobs over the last 27 months but as we learned in today's jobs report, we're still not creating them as fast as we want. just like at this time last year, our economy is still facing some serious head winds. >> it's a defense that has become repetitive, this idea of head wins like the kmk crisis in europe and high gas prices amid concerns over iran's nuclear ambitions. here at this honeywell factory, president obama announced a new program to help vets earn accreditation so they can take their military experience and turn it into jobs in the private sector and prodded congress, urging them to get to work on his so-called congressional to do list. and governor mitt romney seized on this, calling the number devastating for president obama and accusing him of passing the buck. wolf? >> thanks very much. as you'd expect, republicans are pouncing on the new jobs report and they're slamming the president. let's bring in our senior congressional correspondent dana bash. the reaction has been pretty intense. >> it has, woman. it's a cold, hard fact that bad chick numbers, especially in the norm of joblessness is good politicalness for republicans, especially for mitt romney. here's hough he reacted. today's weak jobs report is devastating news for american workers and american families. this week has seen a cascade of one bad piece of economic news after another. now democrats have really tried to strip romney of his credentials as a successful business man in the private sector with his their attacks on him as a job killer when he led the venture capital firm bain capital. incumbent presidents simply do not win reelection with unemployment at 8.2% at this point in the cycle. more of the bad news continues, the harder it's going to be for the obama campaign to change the psyche of the american people. romney aides know that full well. >> republicans on capitol hill are reacting very strongly as well. >> that's right. the house speaker john boehner had an interesting turn of phrase, borrowed it from the post 9/11 world called joblessness under the obama administration the new normal. here what's else he said. >> it's pretty clear the american people are still asking the question where are the jobs? another month of disappointing job gains, it's pretty clear that the american people are hurting, small businesses continue to avert hiring any additional people and it's clear that the policies that we've seen are not working. >> and that line where are the jobs is one that boehner uses pretty much every time he's at the microphone. he did that especially leading up to the last election. he used it so much it became an inside joke in the capital press corps but the joke was on us because the republicans took the majority and he became speaker in large part because voters were asking that question, where are the jobs. >> certainly issue number one, the economy, five months to go before the november 6th election. dana, thank you very much. donald trump isn't the only billionaire backing mitt romney. wealthy confidents a y conserva putting their money where their hearts are. the republican overall fund-raising goal is staggering. >> reporter: mitt romney reached the magic number to clinch the republican nomination but his supporters are focused on another number, $1 billion. that's the number outside groups hope to raise to support mitt romney according to politico. >> $1 billion just from the outside groups, the chamber of commerce, the koch brothers and their groups, various super pacs. so that is the big new world after citizens united, the 2010 supreme court decision. and that is where the outer limits know no bounds at this point. >> reporter: reality tv star donald trump may be romney's most famous romney contributor but not his only. a list of romney balance mayors have written big checks in support of the nominee. bill koch has a reported fortune of $4 billion and donated $2 million to the leading romney super pac. according to rolling stone, simmons donated money to rick perry, newt gingrich and rick santorum. for mitt romney he's given $800,000 to the super pac. bob perry, owner of perry homes, poured $4.5 million into swift boat ads to defeat john kerrey in 2004 and has donated $4 million to elect mitt romney. romney has served on the marriott board and they've each given $1 million to the leading pro prom any super pac and john pa paulson has also given $1 million to the cause. >> what romney is doing is following the traditional strategy of coalition building. that's how american politics has always worked. all you have to do is agree on one thing and you're part of this campaign. what is that? we want to fire barack obama. >> reporter: here's how the numbers stack up. romney's campaign has raised over $100 million today date, obama's has raised $329 million. but the difference, the super pack numbers. the leading super pac has raised $10.5 million compared to romney's at $56 million. support for obama's reelection has the most money so far so they can say that won't be the issue. >> this election is going to be about the economy and the future of our country around it. who is going to build an economy that grows and is secure for the future. that's the focus. >> mitt romney may have a lot of balance mayillionaires writing but president obama has a lot of heavy hitters in hollywood. we saw that star studded affair with george clooney. >> we know a big part of this election is jobs, jobs, jobs, so does last month's dismal jobs report, the weakest growth in the year spell trouble? ron brownstein standing by. >> and two gruesome massacres in syria. we get a look at a makeshift clinic in one syrian town and the images will tear at your heart strings. >> and donald trump is doubling down on the issue of where president obama was a born. stick around. this is a classic, you'll want to see it. ♪ [ male announcer ] to hold a patent that has changed the modern world... would define you as an innovator. to hold more than one patent of this caliber... would define you as a true leader. ♪ to hold over 80,000... well that would make you... the creators of the 2012 mercedes-benz e-class... quite possibly the most advanced luxury sedan ever. starting at $50,490. luxury sedan ever. i've been crisscrossing the gulf i can tell you, down here,. people measure commitment by what's getting done. i'm mike utsler, and it's my job to make sure we keep making progress in the gulf. the twenty billion dollars bp committed has helped fund economic and environmental recovery. another fourteen billion dollars has been spent on response and cleanup. a new government report shows only 69,000 jobs were added in the month of may. that's far fewer than the 150,000 that had been expected by some economists. it was the weakest job growth in a year. joining us now to discuss the political fallout from all of this is ron brownstein, cnn political analyst and the editorial director over at the "the national journal." ron, how bad are these new jobs numbers for president obama and his reelection campaign? >> i think they're a body blow, wolf. no single month is going to be decisive but this is very bad news. from the beginning president obama knew he was not going to be able to run morning in america by 2012. heap knew t he knew the history of crisis were such they weren't going to be roaring back by the election. but he wanted to be able to argue the worst is over, we're moving in the right direction and do you want to go back? numbers like that attack the weakest link in the chain that we are moving in the right direction. >> because the numbers at least over the past few months seem to be moving in the wrong direction from 200,000 a month to 150, to 100, now 60,000. it seems like you ask that question right track, wrong track it seems like the country is on the wrong track. listen to this david axelrod he had in the home state of mitt romney in boston, massachusetts. let me play the clip. >> you can shout down speakers, my friend but it's hard to etch a sketch the truth away. these may be the only voters right here for mitt romney in massachusetts. you can't handle the truth, my friends. you can handle the truth, you'll quiet down. >> let him talk! let him talk! let him talk! >> an awkward moment there but i think it's fair to say, ron, and i'm sure you'll agree, the romney folks will agree they don't think they have much of a chance of carrying his home state of massachusetts. >> it was a poll out the other day with romney at 59 in massachusetts. the obama campaign is trying to between the bain attacks and massachusetts attacks, they're trying to disqualify romney before he gets a chance to fully introduce himself to the american people, to argue in a karl rovian kind of way to go after his greatest strength, the idea he's a job creator. the initial instinct of many voters is the background in business does quip him to help get the economy growing faster. one of the big problems they face on that is that the threshold that voters are willing to accept about a challenger, the threshold of doubt, rise when is they're more dissatisfied with the incumbent. the more uneasy about the direction of the country and economy, the more questions they're going to swallow about mitt romney. they're fighting a battle on two fronts here in the obama campaign. to the extent voters are dissatisfied where with things are, they're willing to make more of a risk on a challenger. >> bill clinton, the former president of the united states, he always speaks rather bluntly but he seemed to go off message in an interview with harvey weinstein on "piers morgan." listen to this. >> what man who has been governor and had a sterling business career crosses the qualification threshold but they have dramatically different proposals. it's my opinion that the obama proposals would be far better for the american people than those that governor romney laid out. >> the key word sterling business career, ron. is this a problem when the former president, obviously one of the more popular democrats out there, suggests that mitt romney's business record was in his word sterling? >> short answer is yes. i think the argument that obama is trying to make here is not really about qualifications with bain. what he's trying to do is talk about loyalty and inclination. what he wants to argue is in his private career mitt romney pursued a vision of capitalism that enriched a few against the many. what you see there, i think, is kind of a reminder that you covered that white house, the bill clinton white house, the democratic party in the 1990s was much less comfortable with populous rhetoric and this kind of sharp attempt to divide along class lines that was pursued. it was an uncomfortable moment that was an instinctive response from the former president that reflects that he's really not as comfortable as obama is with this style of populous rhetoric and strategy. >> it explains why bill clinton was part of that group that included the democratic leadership conference, that centrist, moderate group of democrats that resulted in some of the victories bill clinton had throughout the 90s. >> cnn goes to a makeshift clinic in a syrian town where a massacre took place. what we saw simply was shocking. and tens of thousands of jobless americans are bracing for a financial punch in the gut. their unemployment checks are about to end sooner than they thought. stay with us. lots of news happening right here in "the situation room." for up to 90% less breakage in three washes. for strong, healthy hair with life, new aveeno nourish+ strengthen. in that time there've been some good days. and some difficult ones. but, through it all, we've persevered, supporting some of the biggest ideas in modern history. so why should our anniversary matter to you? because for 200 years, we've been helping ideas move from ambition to achievement. and the next great idea could be yours. ♪ it's the travelocity spring into summer sale. you can save up to 50% on select hotels and vacation packages. so book your summer vacation now and save up to 50%. offer ends soon. book right now at travelocity.com. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ transforming sounds ] [ male announcer ] transformers. the ride. ride it at universal studios hollywood. gruesome images coming to us out of syria. before we go any further, though, i want to warn you the video you're about to see is very graphic. ivan watson reports on the government's violent onslaught in one syrian city and gets a firsthand look at the chaotic and heart wrenching scene where the wounded are treated. >> reporter: under attack. a tank shell strikes leaving wounded bleeding in the streets. these are the final moments of a local activist and cameraman. he is rushed not to a hospital but to this makeshift clinic. this is how syria's opposition are forced to treat their wounded because the country's hospitals are under government control. in the garden of what used to be an ordinary house, doctors struggle to save his life. but the wounds are just too deep. more casualties stream in and there's simply no place to put them. some of the victims here are rebel fighters, others too young to even understand. the child's mother screams for a doctor and curses her president bashar al assad. for some the scene here is just too much. an emergency worker lost on the floor of a kitchen that's now become an emergency room. this is what the war looks like in syria and it's probably going to get much, much worse. ivan watson, cnn. >> let's discuss the situation in syria. we saw these horrible images of this clinic you just saw. the opposition says a dozen factory workers were hauled off a bus and executed by the pro regime militias in town. tell us about houla, a hundred people, at least half children killed. it's unbelievable really what's going on but it's presumably going to get even worse. >> it's a new level of horror and atrocity in syria what happened in houla last friday, now a week ago today. more than 100 civilians killed, almost half of them children. you know, when you see executions like the factory workers, for instance, you can sort of argue that perhaps it's within the realm of warfare situation but slaughtering children with knives the way some of these kids in houla were killed really suggests that the situation in syria is becoming worse, that the country is rapidly descending into all-out sectarian conflict. some of those said they know they're alowites from the nearby village, they are in charge of syria. bashar al assad, the president, is from that faction. >> it shocking what's going on. as i said before, i think it's going to get a lot, a lot worse. hala, thanks very much. we'll stay on top of this story. >> other news we're following, including donald trump, he's refusing to let the so-called birther issue die. i'll go one-on-one with him and ask him why he's doing what he's doing. get ready, the interview gets heated. plus banning supersize soda in the big apple. good idea or too much government? >> and ahead, the scary parasittic disease that could pose a threat in the united states. oh, we call it the bundler. let's say you need home and auto insurance. you give us your information once, online... [ whirring and beeping ] [ ding! ] and we give you a discount on both. sort of like two in one. how did you guys think of that? it just came to us. what? bundling and saving made easy. now, that's progressive. call or click today. turning now to the politically charged issue of where president obama was born and those who refuse to let it die. one of the most outspoken, the real estate giant donald trump, who is stumping for mitt romney. i spoke with donald trump the day that mitt romney clinched the republican nomination and i pressed him on why he's doubling down on this issue right now. the interview got very heated. >> his own publisher, as you know, using his words said he was born in kenya and he lived in indonesia. of course now he's denying that amazingly. but i'm not here to talk about that. i'm here to talk, as you said you would, jobs, china, what's going on with respect to china and how they're ripping this country, what's going on with respect to opec and how the nations of opec are laughing at the stupidity of our country. that's what i'm here to talk about. you know that's what i'm here to talk about and i thought that your introduction was highly inappropriate but that's okay because i've gotten to know you over the years. >> well, listen, donald. i never said we weren't going to talk about the birther issue. we had a conversation earlier today. we didn't discuss at all what we were going to talk about. i don't know why you're -- >> it's not an issue that he likes talking about so what he does is uses reverse psychology on people like like you so you report like oh, gee, he's thrilled with it. he does not luke thike that iss because it's hitting close to home. >> i don't know it. donald, you and i have known it for a long time. i don't understand why you're doubling down on this birther issue after the state of hawaii formally says this is the legitimate birth certificate, he was born in hawaii. why are you going through all of this, donald? >> a lot of people don't agree with that birth certificate -- >> but if the state of hawaii says this is official, he was born in hawaii on this date, here it is, why do you deny that? >> a lot of people do not think it was an authentic certificate. >> how can say that -- >> you won't report it, wolf, but many people do not think it was authentic. his mother was not in the hospital. there were many other things that came out. frankly, if you would report it accurately, i think you'd get better ratings than you're actually getting, which are pretty small. >> have you seen the actual newspaper announcements with days of his birth in honolulu? the "honolulu star bulletin," you see the birth announcement back in 1961 -- listen to me, donald. honolulu -- >> can i talk? >> can i ask the question? >> donald, you're beginning to sound a little ridiculous, have i to tell you. >> i think you are, wolf. let me tell you something. i think you sound ridiculous. and if you'd ask me a question and let me answer it. >> here's the question. did the conspiracy start in 1961 when the honolulu star bulletin and honolulu advertiser contemporaneously published announcements that he was born in hawaii? >> that's right. and many people put those announcements in because they wanted to get the benefits of being so-called born in this country. many people did it. it was something done by many people even if they weren't born in the country. you know it and so do i. >> so, donald, explain why did the state of hawaii authorize that live birth certificate? are they part of this conspiracy? >> your democratic governor who was leading it, a lot of people say where it d it come from and say how come he didn't show it to done mcclain, hillary clinton, it was only donald trump who got him to do it. you know that and i say that. when you save obama doesn't mind, it obama hates the subje