"When I came into office, I inherited an economy that was not just on the brink of Niagara Falls, but headlong plunging almost to the rocks below, driven there by the unbridled greed and reckless deregulation that the Republicans have the gall still today to claim as 'fiscal prudence' and 'the way to get the economy going again.' Yes, it will get the economy going again--right back over Niagara Falls.
"It was only because we put into place extraordinary measures that we stopped the ship of state smashing onto the rocks, and what you have seen in these past three years is the very difficult process of pulling the economy back up the Falls. And, no, we are not yet in some safe harbor miles upstream, enjoying the rapid growth and low unemployment and massive budget surpluses that my Republican predecessor inherited. But remember: the Bush years of greed and recklessness, of his 'trickle-down-to-the-poor/gush-up-to-the-rich' policies, pulled us out of the safe harbor and plunged us nearly to the rocks: and they want to do it again. DON'T LET THEM."