President Obama wrapped up a two-day campaign swing Friday morning with a full-throated defense of his economic policies and a warm-hearted embrace for the Senate Democratic leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, a one-time boxer who is counting on the president to help him fight his way through a tough re-election race.
“When he first told me he was a boxer, he said, ‘Barack, I wasn’t the fastest, I wasn’t the hardest hitting, but I knew how to take a punch,’” Mr. Obama said. “He knew how to take a punch, and Harry Reid became a pretty good boxer because he would simply outlast his opponents – he had a stronger will and I think that tells you something about the kind of person he is.”
Mr. Reid is running for his fifth term, and this is Mr. Obama’s second trip to Las Vegas to stump for him this year.
Friday’s speech at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, was subdued as the president addressed a polite crowd of about 600 business leaders, teacher and students in a clean well-lighted auditorium. He used the speech to defend what he called ”those tough steps that we took” – steps like bailing out banks and auto companies that the administration knows are unpopular – and to make the case that his policies are turning the economy around.
“The question is, No. 1, are we on the right track?” Mr. Obama said. “The answer is yes.”
Fuente: The New York Times
