Remarks by the President at a DNC Event -- Purchase, New York

Private Residence

Purchase, New York

4:49 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, everybody. How is everybody doing? (Applause.) I just want to begin by saying thank you to the Wolf family. As Robert mentioned, he and Carol and Luke and James, they have been great friends for years now. I don’t think I was ever behind Dennis Kucinich in the polls. (Laughter.) That doesn’t ring a bell. But it is true that Robert was a huge supporter before a lot of people knew how to pronounce my name. And anybody who is a friend of Robert’s knows that once he’s your friend, he doesn’t stop. He’s there for you through thick and thin, and I could not be prouder to know him. (Applause.)

You also have an outstanding congresswoman here -- Nita Lowey is here. Where did Nita go? There she is. (Applause.) We love Nita.

You know, it’s a little warm in here. I’m going to take off my jacket. My tan suit is a lot cooler. (Laughter.) This one is a little warmer. But let me just -- let me start off by saying this -- Robert mentioned what things were like when I was first starting politically, when I had first broken on the national scene. But I want to talk a little bit about what things were like right before I was President.

At the time, we were in the midst of two wars, and we were about to plunge into the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. And when Ronald Reagan ran in 1984, and first in 1980, he asked a simple question: Are you better off than you were four years ago? And the one thing that I can say is that because of the incredible resilience and strength of the American people, but also because we made some good decisions even though they were tough at the time, we are better off as a country than we were when I came into office. (Applause.) ...