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Obama: America 'moving forward again'
CHICAGO, President Barack Obama told a Democratic Party audience in Chicago Thursday "America is moving" but it will take years to repair damage from the recession.
Obama, campaigning on behalf of Illinois Democrats including U.S. Senate nominee Alexi Giannoulias, touched on themes he and Democrats are likely to emphasize between now and the November election -- reminding his audience the U.S. economy lost 8 million jobs during the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, including 3 million during the second half of 2008 and 800,000 in January 2009.
"Now, this would have caused enough hardship, but it was also compounded by the fact that we had had 10 years of sluggish growth, 10 years of inadequate job production, 10 years of incomes and wages that were flat-lining even as the costs for middle-class families were going up on everything from health care to tuition," Obama said.
The president said U.S. voters have "a pretty simple chice" in November.
"Our economy is growing again. We are adding jobs again." he said. "America is moving forward again, and the last thing we can afford to do is go back to the policies that got us into this mess in the first place.
"That's the choice in this election," he said.
Giannoulias, the Illinois state treasurer, faces Republican nominee Rep. Mark Kirk in November to determine who will succeed Democratic Sen. Roland Burris, who was appointed to serve the remainder of Obama's U.S. Senate term after Obama was elected president.
CHICAGO, President Barack Obama told a Democratic Party audience in Chicago Thursday "America is moving" but it will take years to repair damage from the recession.
Obama, campaigning on behalf of Illinois Democrats including U.S. Senate nominee Alexi Giannoulias, touched on themes he and Democrats are likely to emphasize between now and the November election -- reminding his audience the U.S. economy lost 8 million jobs during the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, including 3 million during the second half of 2008 and 800,000 in January 2009.
"Now, this would have caused enough hardship, but it was also compounded by the fact that we had had 10 years of sluggish growth, 10 years of inadequate job production, 10 years of incomes and wages that were flat-lining even as the costs for middle-class families were going up on everything from health care to tuition," Obama said.
The president said U.S. voters have "a pretty simple chice" in November.
"Our economy is growing again. We are adding jobs again." he said. "America is moving forward again, and the last thing we can afford to do is go back to the policies that got us into this mess in the first place.
"That's the choice in this election," he said.
Giannoulias, the Illinois state treasurer, faces Republican nominee Rep. Mark Kirk in November to determine who will succeed Democratic Sen. Roland Burris, who was appointed to serve the remainder of Obama's U.S. Senate term after Obama was elected president.