Seeking a political rebound, Obama held a folksy town hall meeting in Florida, where his approval numbers have tumbled as the key swing state which helped send him to the White House battles the mortgage crisis and high unemployment.
“Right now, I know there are many Americans who aren’t sure if they still believe we can change – or at least that I can deliver it,” he said, and bluntly stated “change has not come fast enough.”
“It’s about time we moved … . But most important, we’re creating jobs, good jobs, construction jobs, manufacturing jobs.”
President Barack Obama has rekindled the “Yes We Can” mood of his 2008 campaign, vowing not to shirk from the “tough stuff” after his reform plans ground to a near halt in Congress.
“Yes we can,” Obama said, picking up a chant from an audience. “We don’t quit, we don’t back down, we are Americans.”
The White House denies that Obama used his State of the Union speech to “reset” his administration, after his most humiliating political blow yet, the Democratic loss last week of the Senate seat of the late Edward Kennedy.
Obama appears determined not to scale back his reform hopes because of a suddenly inhospitable political environment. But it remains unclear just how much of his ambitious agenda will make it though Congress unscathed.