At a Nevada State Democratic Party fundraiser last night, President Obama lamented having to deal with “the crazies” as he pushed his agenda on Capitol Hill.
A little over 100 people attended the event at a private home in Henderson, Nev., which raised more than $300,000 for the Senate campaign of former Nevada attorney general Catherine Cortez Masto.
“It’s hard for me to express how much I love Harry Reid but it’s easier to do it in a room of people who love Harry Reid,” Obama said. “Harry and I drove over here together and we were doing a little reminiscing, and then figuring out how we’re going to deal with the crazies in terms of managing some problems. And then we talked about riding off into the sunset together.”
“Everything I’ve accomplished, I’ve accomplished because Harry Reid was there by my side. And I am forever grateful for his friendship and his strength, because the thing about Harry is he’s a great politician but he’s also a man with a lot of backbone and is willing to do hard things when it’s required, and that’s what you want out of a political leader.”
Obama said that after two weeks of vacation at Martha’s Vineyard he feels “refreshed, renewed, recharged, a little feisty.”
“Right now, we could be putting hundreds of thousands of people back to work rebuilding the infrastructure of this country, and yet we have a Congress that finances our highway bill for three months at a time,” he said. “That’s not what the greatest country on Earth does. That’s not how the Hoover Dam was built. That’s not how the Interstate Highway or the Transcontinental Railroad were built. That’s not how we sent a man to the moon, or invented the Internet — by failing to invest in our future.”
The president added that everyone around the world envies the United States, but “what’s holding us back is too often our political debates are not about what’s best for the country but what’s best for the next election.”
“We’ve been leaders in nonproliferation, which is part of the reason why I am so insistent that Congress not block a historic diplomatic effort when it comes to making sure that Iran does not get a nuclear weapon. And I’m so appreciative of Harry Reid’s support for that effort,” he said.
Reid came out in support of the Iran deal two days ago, calling it “consistent with the greatest traditions of American leadership.”
Saying “the happiest person on Earth that I cannot run for a third term is Michelle Obama,” the president insisted that in order for America to lead in the world “we’re going to need not just a strong executive branch, not just a president who after a few gray hairs seems to know what he’s doing, but we also need a Congress that works, that functions.”
“And so we’re going to be observing, to some degree, what takes place in the election to come,” Obama continued. “But what I can say is this: Democrats are not perfect. There are times where we have disagreements within the party. There are some folks in our party who sometimes are dogmatic. But Democrats govern. Democrats are willing to do things that are hard.”
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