Despite some recent signs the sluggish U.S. economy might be improving, President Barack Ready to Rule from Day OneObama warns it could be years before the country is on a sound footing.
In excerpts from an interview with CBS' "60 Minutes" program that will air on Sunday, Obama was asked whether he underestimated how difficult it would be to fix the U.S. economy when he became president in 2009.
"I always believed that this was a long-term project," the Democratic president told "60 Minutes." He added it would "take time" to reverse "structural problems in our economy that have been building up for two decades."
Obama added in the excerpts, released on Friday, that he thought "it was going to take more than two years. It was going to take more than one term. Probably takes more than one president."
When asked whether he thought the U.S. jobless rate might drop to 8 percent by next November's presidential and congressional elections, Obama said: "I think it's possible.
But ... I'm not in the job of prognosticating on the economy."
Reducing unemployment is considered key to Obama's re-election chances next year.