- Obama told NBC he does 'deserve a second term'
- Said Congress has stopped him from achieving his aims in last three years
- Spoke in 2009 interview of challenges to build bi-partisanship in Washington
By Beth Stebner, Mark Duell and Jennifer Madison
Last updated at 6:34 AM on 7th February 2012
Appearing shell-shocked and exhausted after three years as Commander in Chief, it was undeniable during President Barack Obama's television interview with NBC on Sunday that his time in office has taken its toll.
Tired and grey, his look was in sharp contrast to a 2009 interview shot days into his presidency, when he the face of hope and change.
Asked then if he was concerned about his promise to build bi-partisanship in Washington, the president said: 'It's only been ten days.
'People have to recognise it's going to take some time for trust to be built. Not only between Democrats and Republicans but between Congress and the White House, between the House and the Senate.
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Exhausted: President Barack Obama, appearing in a television interview for NBC on Sunday, insisted that he does 'deserve a second term' and will continue to 'keep plodding' to get Congress to act on his ideas
Early days: Mr Obama was optimistic about making good on his promise to build bi-partisanship in Washington in a 2009 interview, shot just ten days into his presidency
'We've had a dysfunctional political system for a while now,' he insisted.
Three years later, with heavy eyes - and nearly identical attire - the president acknowledged his frustration with accomplishing his mission for a bi-partisan Washington, and bemoaned his trouble getting Congress to act on his ideas.
'Our founders designed a system that makes it more difficult to bring about change than I would like,' he said.
'What I'm going to just keep on doing is plodding away, very persistent. And you know what? One of the things about being president is you get better as time goes on'
- President Barack Obama
'What I'm going to just keep on doing is plodding away, very persistent. And you know what? One of the things about being president is you get better as time goes on,' President Obama told NBC.
Still, he promised to continue 'plodding away' and acknowledged many Americans share his frustration because he hasn't been able to 'force Congress to implement every aspect of what I said in 2008'.
Despite the visible strain, the U.S. President told NBC that he does 'deserve a second term - but we're not done'.
Mr Lauer brought up President Obama's 2009 pre-Super Bowl interview, when he had said: 'If I don't have this done in three years, it's going to be a one-term proposition.'
He responded that was in part because the economic recovery looked bleak in 2009, saying: 'When you and I sat down (in 2009), we were losing 750,000 jobs a month. Now we're creating 250,000.'
Sit-down: NBC's Today show host Matt Lauer brought up President Obama¿s 2009 interview, when he had said: 'If I don't have this done in three years, it's going to be a one-term proposition'
President Obama added that the economy has added 3.7million jobs in the last 23 months, and the most manufacturing jobs since the early 1990s.
Much of what he said echoed his State of the Union address, in which he spoke of getting America back to its 'old-fashioned' values of economic and social fairness.
In a turn of good news for President Obama, the unemployment rate fell to 8.3 per cent in January, its lowest since February 2009. That has been debate fodder for the GOP presidential candidates.
Rival: Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney, pictured at a campaign rally in Colorado on Monday, has slammed the president's unemployment record
Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney accused the president of not including the underemployed and those who have stopped looking for work in his victory speech following the Nevada caucuses.
'The real unemployment rate is over 15 per cent, Mr President,' Mr Romney said. 'America has also had enough of your kind help.'
President Obama said the economic recovery process is lengthy and delicate. 'The key right now is to make sure we don't start turning in a new direction that could throw that progress off,' he said.
Political forecasters agree the newest unemployment figure gives a much-needed boost to President Obama's chances of winning a second term, but he knows he is in for a fight this autumn.
'There's going to be just a lot of money floating around...and I guarantee you a bunch of that's going to be negative,' he told NBC. 'But it's not going to be enough just to say the other guy's a bum.'
According to one editorial in the National Journal, GOP presidential hopefuls may soon have to pick on rising gas prices rather than unemployment, as numbers continue to remain cautiously positive.
In the interview, which aired in two parts last night and this morning, the President and Mr Lauer also discussed the escalating tensions between Iran and Israel, and the United States' role.
He did not answer directly if he would support Israel should they decide to strike out at Iran, but said that he has good intelligence abroad and wants to resolve the nuclear issue diplomatically.
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Source : dailymail
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