President Obama in a pre-Super Bowl interview aired on Sunday said that despite being unable to completely turn the economy around in three years, he still deserves to be re-elected.
“I deserve a second term but we're not done,” Obama told NBC's Matt Lauer in an interview broadcast from the White House.
Lauer noted that in a pre-Super Bowl interview three years ago, Obama had said "If I don’t have this done in three years, then there’s going to be a one-term proposition.”
Obama said that three years ago the economy was losing 750,000 jobs a month and the latest unemployment data from Friday shows. “Now we are creating 250,000,” he said.
Obama said that more needs to be done to boost manufacturing and improve worker skills.
“The key right now is just making sure we aren't turning in a new direction that could throw that progress off,” he said.
In the NBC interview, Obama reiterated that at this stage military options are not off the table in dealing with Iran's possible quest for a nuclear weapon.
Obama said that diplomacy is preferred because of the risks of military action.
“Obviously any additional military activity in the Gulf is disruptive and has a big effect on us,” he said, noting “it could have a big effect on oil prices.”
Obama said that he doesn't think Israel has decided whether it would attack Iran, but indicated his belief the U.S. would not be blind-sided.
“We have closer military and intelligence consultations than we ever had,” he said.
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