President Barack Obama said Sunday that he deserved to be re-elected because the US economy is adding jobs and recovering, in stark contrast to the bleak monthly unemployment hikes he inherited in 2009.
In a pre-Super Bowl interview with NBC, Obama was reminded that three years ago, just days after he took office, he told the same network: "If I don't have it done in three years, it's going to be a one-term proposition."
Obama pointed to US job numbers issued Friday showing that 243,000 net new jobs were added in January, the fastest spurt in nine months and which brought the unemployment rate down to 8.3 percent.
President Barack Obama
"I deserve a second term. But we are not done," Obama said in the interview, stating that three years ago, "we were losing 750,000 jobs a month."
"Now, we're creating 250,000. We created the most manufacturing jobs since 1990. But we're not finished," Obama said, pointing to the need to see that "all American manufacturing is building again and selling overseas."
"We've got to make sure that we're pushing American energy. And that includes not just oil and gas, but clean energy," he added.
"We have to make sure that the skills of American workers are the best in the world. And we're making progress on that front."
- AFP/cc
