Obama Defends Economic Measures

President Barack Obama defended the government's efforts to breathe life into the weak economy

President Barack Obama defended during Friday's press conference the government's efforts to breathe life into the weak economy, and slammed Republicans for delaying congressional action ahead of the mid-term elections.

Obama also discussed other issues, reiterating that Middle East peace talks are going to be tough but were worth the effort, and urged religious tolerance while deploring a pastor's plan to burn Koran copies. He also reminded Americans to join in commemorating the September 11 attacks.

“The idea that we would burn the sacred text of somebody else's religion is contrary to what this country stands for,” said the president. “My hope is that this individual prays on it and refrains from doing it.”

The president defended the $814-billion stimulus package and recent infrastructure spending proposal. He said he is not shy from using the term “stimulus” which other Democrats have been avoiding because of criticisms from Republicans.

“No doubt everything we try to do is to stimulate growth and hiring,” Obama said. “Isn't that what I should be doing? I assume that is what the Republicans think we should be doing,” Obama said.

He vowed to “keep on trying to stimulate growth and jobs as long as I am president of the United States”, and acknowledged that economic recovery has been slow and that voters have plenty of questions.

“For all the progress we've made, we're not there yet. And that means people are frustrated and why people are angry,” he said. “Because I am president, and the Democrats have control of the House and Senate, it's understandable that people are saying, 'What have you done?'”

Posted by James Fried on Sunday September 12 2010, 9:22 AM EST. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Finance. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0