And are we willing as Democrats not only to reach out to Republicans but to push back in our own party for people who want extremes, and look for the common ground that's going to get us the success that we need not only for our constituents but for our country in this global community, in this global economy? Are we willing as Democrats to also push back on our own party and look for that common ground that we need to work with Republicans and to get the answers? And it's really the results that are going to count to our constituents. And we appreciate the hard work that you put into it.

"If the price of certainty is essentially for us to adopt the exact same proposals that were in place for eight years leading up to the biggest economic crisis since the Great Depression -- we don't tinker with health care, let the insurance companies do what they want, we don't put in place any insurance reforms, we don't mess with the banks, let them keep on doing what they're doing now because we don't want to stir up Wall Street -- the result is going to be the same," he said. "I don't know why we would expect a different outcome pursuing the exact same policy that got us into this fix in the first place."

Middle class Americans, Obama said, "are more and more vulnerable, and they have been for the last decade, treading water. And if our response ends up being, you know, because we don't want to -- we don't want to stir things up here, we're just going to do the same thing that was being done before, then I don't know what differentiates us from the other guys. And I don't know why people would say, boy, we really want to make sure that those Democrats are in Washington fighting for us."

[...] “my question to you, Mr. President, is (in) speaking to independents, conservative Democrats, moderate Republicans – people who know we have to do this – why should the Democratic Party be trusted? And are we willing to make some of the tough decisions to actually head this country in a better direction?”

Well, I'll tell you why the Democratic Party should be trusted -- because the last time this budget was balanced, it was under a Democratic President who made some very tough decisions. (Applause.)

I think this is pretty straightforward. Bill Clinton made some very hard political decisions. Some of you were there in Congress. You know how tough those votes were. You got no help from the other side. But as a consequence, the economy took off and you had a $200 billion surplus at the end of his presidency. So I think he deserves enormous credit for that. Those of you who took those votes deserve enormous credit for that. That's why we've had -- we should have credibility.

But we're still haunted by the debates that took place from the '70s, the '60s, right? And that hasn't completely worked through the political mindset. So we're still saddled with this notion of the tax-and-spend model when, if you actually look at it, we've been very fiscally responsible.