Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Obama: ‘We saved the country from a Great Depression’

At a pair of fundraisers in Austin, Texas, Tuesday night, a confident Barack Obama touted accomplishments made under his watch, and declared, “We saved the country from a Great Depression.

The president said the shrinking economy he inherited “is now growing fairly steadily.”

“I don't think we fully realized how dramatic some of the changes would be as we came into office,” he told supporters, citing his administration’s handling of the banking crisis, intervening in the auto industry, passing equal pay legislation, investing in education and clean energy, doubling exports, ending a war, “as promised,” and working on drawing down troops in Afghanistan this year.

But with all that progress, Mr. Obama warned, “we still got some climbing to do,” saying he wants to reach a “summit” where all children have opportunity and where America is more prosperous.

“That's the summit we want to reach. And it’s going to take more than a couple years to get there. In fact, it’s going to take more than one term to get there,” he said to applause.

President Obama then asked his faithful to hang in there with him – even if it looks like he’s compromising too much with the Republican agenda.

“I know all the grumbling,” he said, admitting he gets frustrated too.

Then a candid Obama admitted while he gets frustrated, even “candidate” Obama knew it would be a tough road to hoe.

“I always laugh when people say, boy, you know, the Obama campaign back in 2008, that was just so smooth and flawless - and I’m thinking, what campaign were they looking at? We screwed up all the time during our campaign. We made mistakes. We lost all kinds of primaries and caucuses, and there were all kinds of times where I said things that I wish I hadn’t or didn't say things I wish I had. That's life. But you guys stuck with me because you knew that at each and every juncture in our history, when our future is on the line, when our country is at a crossroads - like we are now - we can come together and we can do big things.”

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