President Obama said Tuesday he believes his economic policies have helped the country move in the right direction but acknowledged more progress is needed.
"We're better off now than we would have been if I hadn't taken the steps that we took," Obama said to CBS Minnesota affiliate WCCO Tuesday in response to whether the Americans are better off now than when he took office.
"I don't think the country is stronger yet than it was when the economy was still booming and we didn't have the Wall Street crisis and we didn't have the housing bubble burst, but we've made steady progress and we need to make more," he added.
Obama spoke to local television stations across the country Tuesday to pitch his jobs proposal.
He told WCCO that Congress needs to act in order to spur necessary job creation.
The president touted his proposal for including ideas that are traditionally supported on both sides of the aisle.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) was asked at a press conference Wednesday about Obama's assertion that the economy is better off now than when he entered office.
His response:
“Are you kidding me?”
Boehner said loudly. “Why don’t you go ask the 14 million Americans who are out of work
whether they’re better off today than they were four years ago?”
Read more on Boehner's reaction here.
