LOS ANGELES (CNN) – While he predicted Republicans would adopt a bumper sticker slogan of “It’s Obama’s fault” this election year, President Barack Obama maintained he was “very proud” of his work in the past three and a half years.
“They’re going to say, ‘Well you know what, you’re still not satisfied, then it’s Obama’s fault.’ That’s the essence of their campaign,” he said. “It’s very easy to put on a bumper sticker.”
His comments came during a gala for the gay community in Los Angeles, part of a daylong fundraising swing in California – his third in the Golden State in the past month. Earlier in the day, he attended two campaign events in San Francisco.
Obama trumpeted his administration’s work in the gay rights’ movement, including the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and the signing into law of the so-called Matthew Shepard Act, a law that qualifies crimes targeting sexual orientation as hate crimes.
“I could not be prouder of the work we’ve done on behalf of the LGBT community,” he said, a little less than a month after he said he was in favor of same-sex marriage.
His growing embrace of the same-sex marriage issue has put the topic at the center of political dialogue in recent weeks. A new CNN/ORC International poll released Wednesday indicated a majority – 54 percent – of Americans support marriage equality, while 42 percent are opposed.
Obama also invoked his 2008 campaign themes and urged supporters to rally this fall to help fuel his re-election effort.
“If anybody out there asks you what this campaign is about, you tell them it’s still about hope and change,” he said to thunderous applause. “If you remember that and want to work just as hard or harder this time as you did the last time, we’ll finish what we started.”
