Obama speaks in Center City

President Barack Obama stopped in Philadelphia Thursday to speak at a Center City hotel. Obama told the crowd of about 800 that he has done a good job in a tough economic situation.

He talked about his accomplishments, but said he knows some people are frustrated he hasn’t done more.

“We didn’t realize the magnitude of the recession we were facing and the financial crisis, we didn’t realize we’d already lost 4 million jobs by the time I was sworn in,” he said. “But we knew it was going to be tough, and that was going to be OK, because I didn’t run for president to do easy things. I ran for president to do hard things! I ran for president because it was time to do big things!”

Obama said ordinary people should be able to find good jobs that pay for a middle-class life–where they can pay the mortgage, take care of their kids and save for retirement … and maybe even have a little left over to go to a movie or out for dinner once in a while.

“We ran because for a decade, wages and incomes had flat-lined and costs kept going up for everybody even though they didn’t have any more income. That was before the economic crisis hit,” he said. “And, obviously, once the economic crisis did hit, we had to take a series of emergency steps to save this economy from collapse.”

After the hotel speech, Obama headed to a fundraiser in Mount Airy.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was also in Pennsylvania Thursday. He visited a shuttered factory called Allentown Metal Works, which Obama once used as an example of the country’s recovery.