[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GDN8s2kchU?w=330&h=197]

WASHINGTON (CBSDC/AP) — It appears Vice President Joe Biden admitted that President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign slogan of “hope and change” never happened.

Speaking during a Generation Progress event Wednesday, Biden told the crowd that he and Obama tried for change in 2008.

“Look folks, this is within our power to change. Everybody says because we tried in ’08 and it didn’t happen, it’s not possible,” Biden said. “Wrong. We’ve gone through these periods before.”

Biden continued: “But folks, this is totally within our power. Change. Change for the better is absolutely possible and I believe it’s close to inevitable if you’re the drivers of it.”

A YouTube clip of his comments from GOP Rapid Response has already garnered more than 48,000 hits as of Thursday morning.

Biden, who will address the liberal Netroots Nation conference in Detroit later this week along with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, noted his role as a leading advocate for Obama’s agenda in a wide-ranging speech that touched upon issues like domestic violence, voting rights and the problems of corrosive politics.

Biden said he’s often referred to as “middle class Joe,” telling the students that the economic bargain of years past had been broken and needed to be restored.

“Folks in the middle, they need to be cut into the deal, not cut out,” Biden said. “The folks at the bottom need to know that they have the chance to climb the ladder.

“I’ve been at the center of most progressive battles for a long, long time,” Biden said, in a lengthy speech to Generation Progress. He heard shouts of “We love Joe,” as he exited the stage.

Biden has maintained ties to the early voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

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