Obama praises efforts of Democrats in Iowa
WASHINGTON — Inserting his voice into a big night for Republicans, President Barack Obama appealed to Iowa Democrats on Tuesday during the first balloting in the GOP presidential campaign, seeking to counter months of withering criticism in the state that launched his presidential ambitions.
Obama told party activists in a live video teleconference that because of their support, the Iraq War ended, a major health care reform bill was signed into law and the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gays ended.
“Because of you, because of all the memories I have of being in your living rooms, meeting you in a diner or seeing you over in a campaign office, I have never lost that same source of inspiration that drove me to embark on this journey in the first place,” Obama told Democrats attending precinct caucuses.
Obama outlined his progress during the first term and asked party activists for their help as Republicans made their first step toward choosing a challenger among a field that included Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul and others.
Beyond its early voting status, Iowa was expected to be hotly contested in the fall election.
An uphill battle
“We’re battling millions of dollars of negative advertising and lobbyists and special interests who don’t want to see the change that you worked so hard for to fully take root,” Obama said. “And that’s why this time out is going to be, in some ways, more important than the first time out.”
“The problems that we’ve been dealing with over the last three years, they didn’t happen overnight and we’re not going to fix them overnight,” he said. “We’ve been making steady progress.”
Obama was seeking to counter months of pounding by Republicans in Iowa and by the Republican National Committee, which has assailed Obama’s economic record and tagged him as a president who has failed to live up to lofty expectations.
“Three years later, the president’s promises of hope and change have been replaced with a record of failed leadership and policies that have made the economy worse,” RNC spokeswoman Kirsten Kukowski said.
Trying to build on his 2008 win there, Obama’s campaign has opened eight offices in the state and held more than 1,200 training sessions, phone banks and other events and made more than 350,000 phone calls to supporters since April.
The president’s reelection campaign emailed supporters a video of Obama’s Iowa victory speech in January 2008, arguing he has kept the promises he made that night.