After thanking everyone, Obama said, "It is great to be here on such a spectacular day. This is what California weather is supposed to look like."
"I have to say, yesterday, up in L.A., I could see my breath when I was speaking," he continued as the audience laughed. "I was a little concerned. But today you guys are living up to your billing."
He thanked Keller for her introduction, his hosts for opening their home and Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove) and Mayor Anthony Foxx of Charlotte, N.C., the host city for the Democratic National Convention this summer, for their attendance.
"... We've obviously gone through three of the toughest years that America has seen in our lifetime: the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, the worst financial crisis since the 1930s," he said. "Four million people losing their jobs in the six months before I took office, 4 million more in the six months after I was sworn in, but before our economic policies had a chance to take effect. ... And as we look back over these last three years, I think we can all say that we're not yet where we need to be, we haven't solved every challenge, but what we've been able to accomplish — in part because of you, in part because of your support and your voices — has been remarkable.
"The month I took office we were losing 750,000 [jobs] a month," he continued. "Last month we created 250,000. That's a million-job swing."
He said that he would not forget the issues that got him into the race in 2008, including health care and a lacking energy policy. Those issues were being kicked down the road "because we didn't have enough political will and political courage to do something about it."
