By GottaLaff

Liveblogging:

“There are some nice people in Washington, but they can drive you crazy.”

People are yelling out “I love you” to Obama. He loves them back.

[He's explaining the mess that Bush left him and that some of his policies were not popular.]
Stabilizing banks was a tough pill to swallow.

If you can take tough steps, we’re willing to invest in your future.

The Recovery Act has been misunderstood. It wasn’t the bank bailout. It was cutting taxes for 95% of working families. Increasing unemployment insurance, extending COBRA, giving aid to states… And the largest investment in infrastructure….

The worst of the economic storm has past, but families are still reeling…

Plants close, businesses shut down, jobs disappear….

This all comes after one of the toughest decades our middle class has faced in generations. Some folks made tons of money, but so many others were just pedaling faster and faster, but slipping behind. Average income over last decade flat lined, or went down, and that was BEFORE the crisis.

And costs have gone up! Including health care needs.

I didn’t run for president to run from these challenges. [huge applause] I ran to rebuild our economy for EVERYone who’s willing to work hard, not just a few. To create jobs… to improve schools… to make higher education affordable, and yes, to deal with runaway hc costs [huge applause]!

I had no illusions that this would be hard. 7 presidents have tried it. … And all failed… and I had a bunch of advisors tell me this may not be smartest thing to do, you have a lot on your plate… you may not get cooperation, get push back from Big Inusrance, etc. Don’t do it!

Let me tell you why I did it. I knew insurance premiums doubled in last decade. … lists other economic reasons…

When you lose jobs, you lose insurance… I took it up because I wanted to ease burdens on families/businesses who can’t afford rates… [huge applause] that Big Insurance charges [paraphrased]

Dispel notion that we were focused on that, not economy. All I think about is how to create jobs, get banks lending again. I’ve done that entire year. But hc is part of the drag on our economy…

So, the good news: We’ve gotten pretty far.. but we had a little bit of a buzz saw this week. [laughter]. Part of reason is it was so long, drawn on. That’s what happens in Congress, it’s a long process, partisan, exploit fears, ads that scare BeJeezus out of everybody.

I understand why, after MA election, people in DC were all in a tizzy.. what does it mean for Obama? Is he weakened? Ohhh, how’s he gonna survive this? But THIS IS NOT ABOUT ME [applause] This is about YOU! I didn’t take this up to boost my poll numbers. To boost poll numbers, you don’t do anything. All of Wash. would be saying, “What a genius!”

Some say, if Obama loses we win. But I think that if I win, YOU win. So if I wanted to take path of least resistance, I’d have done something a lot easier. We’ll keep on working to get this done. With Dems, I HOPE with R’s, with anyone who will step up. I won’t watch more people get squashed by insurance companies…

There’s no control on what they do, their stocks skyrocket. So long as I have breath in me I won’t stop fighting for you, I’ll take my lumps. [huge applause]. I won’t stop fighting to make sure there’s accountability in our financial system, till we have jobs for everybody… [huge applause]

That’s why I’m asking Congress to pass Jobs Bill…

So long as I’m president, I won’t stop fighting… for restoring home values… [sorry, missed some]… for giving our kids the best education… to give every American a fair shake, which is why I signed … Lily Ledbetter Act. [lots of applause] … credit card bill of rights… fighting for tough consumer protection agency…

I won’t stop fighting to open up government. This is hard because we don’t control every branch. We’ve put in toughest laws, ethics rules of any admin. in history. Opened up our logs, first time… Cut waste, abuse in Wash.

And I’m gonna keep on fighting for real, meaningful hcr. We got SCHIP, but we will fight to hold Big Insur. accountable… fight for providing insurance for everyone. There will be more fights ahead. I won’t win every round.

We’re having fight right now…we want our money back (re: banks). We want our money back! [cheers] But it’s gonna be a fight, you watch.

I guarantee you, when we start trying to change regulatory reform they’ll say, “Why is he meddling in financial industry?” No, I want rules in place so when they make dumb decisions, they’ll be rules in place. I don’t mind having a fight!

Q and A:

Q: Will you support continued Pell Grants?

A: Yes. We made, with help of Congress, enormous investment in higher education. We increased the level of each Pell Grant, and put in more money. We want to continue to do this. A lot of banks still serve as middle men, take out several billion in profits. But loans can go directly to students, so you save billions that can be put back in system.

But… even as we put more $ in, we are also trying to reach out to Universities to reduce inflation in higher education.

That’s it for now…