‘More to do,’ Obama tells Iowa Democrats
JOHNSTON, Iowa – The Republicans soaked up most of the attention in Iowa, but President Barack Obama made sure he wasn’t forgotten on the night of the first major test of the 2012 campaign, telling Democratic caucus-goers in a live video teleconference that he’s kept many of his promises but needs more time to fulfill the rest.
“The problems that we’ve been dealing with over the last three years didn’t happen overnight, and we’re not going to fix them overnight,” Obama said, speaking from a hotel in downtown Washington, D.C., to 250 Democratic caucus sites around Iowa. Obama, who returned to Washington from his Hawaii vacation early Tuesday, left the White House for the telecast because the event was strictly political.
Obama spoke as the caucuses were getting under way. Although the outcome on the Democratic side was never in doubt, Iowa looks to be a swing state in the 2012 election, and the Obama campaign wanted to motivate Democrats for the general election contest.
In addition to his remarks, Obama also took questions from a couple of caucus-goers, which pointed to some of the difficulties he may face in generating enough enthusiasm among his voters. Roseann Cook, from the eastern Iowa town of Coralville, asked if he still believed in “hope and change in America” – the anthem of his successful 2008 campaign.
“I’m actually more optimistic now than I was when we first ran, because we’ve already seen change take place,” Obama said. “Part of what 2012 is about is about reminding the American people how far we’ve traveled and the concrete effects that some of our work has had.”
He cited the end of the war in Iraq, passage of a health care overhaul and tougher regulation of the financial sector.
A woman from Cedar Rapids asked Obama how he would respond to critics who argue he hasn’t accomplished enough as president.
“I think the main message that we’re going to have in 2012 is that we’ve done a lot, but we’ve got a lot more to do, and that’s why we need another four years to get it all done,” he said.
That tracks with the argument Obama often makes about the economy. He cites steady private-sector job growth on his watch, while conceding that the economy isn’t growing fast enough to bring down the unemployment rate to the levels he would like.
One of his biggest applause lines came when he called for raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans to pay for education and public works projects.
“If we’re going to make the investments that we need for our kids at the same time as we’re controlling our deficit, then there’s nothing wrong with saying to millionaires and billionaires that we’re going to let your tax cuts expire. You can afford it,” he said, referring to Bush-era tax cuts that are due to end Dec. 31.