Washington, Dec 24: US President Barack Obama says that he is “entirely dissatisfied” with the level of unemployment in the US.
“I am entirely dissatisfied with where we are right now in terms of jobs, and the fact that families out there on the eve of Christmas are still really worried,” quoted Obama as saying on Wednesday.
“And so I don’t pat myself on the back at the end of this year,” Obama said after 11 months in office.
“But what I do have confidence in is that we’ve made good decisions, that we’ve applied sound judgment to some very difficult situations,” added Obama.
He noted that his administration faced an unusually tough set of challenges.
“I’ve spoken to some historians, and I think they will agree, regardless of, you know, your political preferences, that we had as much on our plate this year as any president has ever had in their first year” since former president Franklin Delano Roosevelt who had to deal with the ravages of the Great Depression.
“I think I’ve shown this year that I can make hard decisions, even when they’re not popular, and that I take a long view on these problems,” Obama said.
The unemployment rate is at a 23-year high after it fell in November to 10.0 percent from 10.2 percent, official figures show.
–Agencies