President Obama yesterday likened his struggle to turn around the economy to a captain of a ship navigating through a fierce storm — and whose passengers have gotten seasick.
He admitted that many Americans are blaming Captain Obama for the country’s financial turmoil.
But he insisted he’d be able to straighten out deep structural problems if he wins re-election next year.
He said unemployment could dip below 8 percent in 2012.
“I’m the captain, and they’re the crew on the ship, going through really bad storms,” Obama said in a “60 Minutes” TV interview to air Sunday night.
And he said that, “no matter how well we’re steering the ship, if the boat’s rocking back and forth and people are getting sick,’’ they’re not going to be happy with the captain.
“Are you enjoying the ride now? Folks are going to say no. And they are going to say, ‘Do you think the captain’s good? Doing a good job?’,” Obama said.
“People are going to say, ‘You know what? A good captain would have had us in some smooth waters and sunny skies.’ ”
He made the sailing analogy during an interview to be telecast on the CBS news-magazine show.
Interviewer Steve Kroft asked whether Obama believed that he could get the unemployment rate to dip to 8 percent by the time the presidential election nears.
“I think it’s possible,’’ Obama said.
But he’s not in the business of “prognosticating,” he added, but, rather, sees his job as “putting in place the tools that allow the economy to thrive and Americans to succeed.”
“I don’t control the weather,” Obama said. “What I can control are the policies we’re putting in place to make a difference in people’s lives.’’
Asked if he underestimated how difficult it would be to return to better times, Obama replied, “I didn’t overpromise.
“And I didn’t . . . underestimate how tough this was going to be. I always believed this was a long-term project.
“And . . . you know, for individual Americans who are struggling right now, they have every reason to be impatient.
“Reversing structural problems in our economy that have been building up for two decades, that was going to take time.’’