I think the average American recognizes that it took years to create the crisis that erupted in 2008 and peaked in January of 2009. And it's going to take some time to work through it.

The truth is that as we move forward, if one side says we can't raise any taxes on anybody or any interest, and the other side says we can't cut anything, we're obviously not going to make progress on this. And our interest is in making progress on this.

I think those autoworkers whose industry would have collapsed if the president hadn't intervened are certainly better off.

But obviously, we're looking for all good ideas to help deal with our long-term debt problem. This is something that is going to affect our economy. It affects our kids. And we need to deal with it.

Two years before the last election you nor anyone else would have predicted that Barack Obama was going to get elected president of the United States.

We don't want to go back to the same policies and practicies that drove our economy into a ditch, that punished the middle class, and that led to this catastrophe. We keep moving forward.

I think the millions of people who had been able to renegotiate their mortgages so they are paying lower interest rates are better off.