Referring to the mini successes of his administration since his own inauguration in 2009, Mr. Obama asked: "you guys still have a little bit of hope, right?"
"Since I took office, my administration has kind of pretty much overseen what is almost the end of combat operations in Iraq. Sort of," he said. "We have introduced admittedly watered down, but nonetheless workable healthcare reforms. And what about our economy?: that's... that's doing a little better than it was 2 years ago, am I right?".
Vowing to deliver change that his supporters can at least somewhat believe in, Mr. Obama admitted that a Republican backlash against his reforms had derailed many of his campaign promises, but insisted that "I've done some okay things in my first term, haven't I?"
"I mean, come on: repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell was a pretty neat move, wasn't it? Sure, I may not have gone as far as I could on the issue of gay marriage, but my record on equal rights is not that bad, is it? Cut me some slack here, will ya?"
Meanwhile, reminding those in attendance that, despite growing U.S. involvement in conflicts in Afghanistan, Libya and Pakistan, it was Obama who presided over the capture and killing of Osama bin Laden, which has "made the country, I guess, a little bit safer."
Image credit: public domain. Indiana Public Media.