Obama: Congress stopped me from helping Trump supporters

President Barack Obama blamed congressional Republicans on Tuesday for blocking his efforts to address the economic concerns of the American people before President-elect Donald Trump and others exploited it for political gain.

“And frankly that was — that's been my agenda for the last eight years,” Obama said at a joint news conference with Greece Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in Athens. “I think raising wages, investing in infrastructure, making sure that people have access to good education that equip them for the jobs of the future, those are all agenda items that would help alleviate some of the economic fractures and dislocations that people are experiencing.”


Obama noted that despite congressional intransigence, his approval rating remains high. Maybe Americans “just wanted to shake things up,” the president mused as he sought to explain why Trump won the election despite his popularity and the fact, he said, that people are “indisputably better off.”

As for whether Trump's voters will now get what they want, Obama said it's too soon to say.

“Time will now tell whether the prescriptions being offered, whether Brexit or with respect to the U.S. election, ends up actually satisfying those people who have been fearful or angry or concerned,” Obama said. “Those folks who voted for the president-elect are better off than they were when I came into office, for the most part. But we'll see whether those facts affect people's calculations in the next election.”