MIAMI — On a campaign swing through South Florida Monday night, President Obama acknowledged that his record in office may have discouraged people who supported him in 2008.
“There’s some of you who probably have felt at times during the last 2½ years, gosh, why isn’t this happening faster? Why are we struggling?” Mr. Obama said at a rally in Miami where the arena was less than half full. “I know the conversation you guys are having: ‘I’m not feeling as hopeful as I was.’ And I understand that. There have been frustrations.”
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As if to underscore those frustrations, there were 982 people in attendance to hear the president at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, which has a capacity of 2,200. Supporters paid a minimum of $44 per ticket.
Mr. Obama essentially told the crowd that expectations in 2008 didn’t match reality.
“I never said this was going to be easy,” the president said. “Our political process is messy. You don’t always get 100 percent of what you want, and you make compromises.”
