US President Barack Obama rallied members of his Democratic Party in Iowa on Tuesday evening, as opposition Republicans held the first vote on who will face him in November general elections, DPA reported.
Speaking via teleconference to attendees of Democratic caucuses in Iowa, Obama reminisced about his victory four years ago in the Midwestern state that set him on a course to secure his party's nomination and ultimately win the White House.
"Change is never easy," he said. "The problems that we've been dealing with over the last three years, they didn't happen overnight and we're not going to fix them overnight. But we've been making steady progress, as long as we can sustain it."
Obama emphasized that much had been accomplished during his first term, including passing health insurance reform and efforts to jump-start the economy, but that more needed to be done in a second four-year term.
"Part of what 2012 is about is both reminding the American people of how far we've traveled and the concrete effects that some of our work has had," Obama said.
The Republicans candidates seeking to challenge Obama have steadily pounded him on the stagnant economic recovery and attacked his healthcare policy, which is unpopular with members of the centre-right party.