Missed Opportunity

On April 10 President Obama was interviewed by Chris Wallace of Fox news,  Here's part of their exchange:

WALLACE:  -- about Washington, about Wall Street.
Do you feel any personal responsibility that eight years after you came into office, there are millions of people out there who still feel cut out --
OBAMA:  Yes.
WALLACE:  -- from the decisions that affect their lives?
OBAMA:  Well, there’s no doubt that I feel frustrated about it.  My whole, you know, operating assumption, in terms of our democracy, is the more people are involved, the more they know, the more they are involved, the more responsive our government is.
WALLACE:  So why do all these people, Democrats and Republicans?
OBAMA:  Yes, I think that, I think it comes out of a couple things, Chris.  Number one, we’re still shell-shocked from what happened in 2007, 2008.
We’ve now had more than six years straight of job growth, and cut the unemployment rate down to 5 percent.  But, people lost homes, lost jobs, lost life savings.  And they still don’t fully know how that happened, and was the system fixed in a way that they can have confidence in.  I also think that --
(CROSSTALK)
WALLACE:  So, have you fixed that in eight years?

OBAMA:  Well, actually we’ve done a better job than I think most people give us credit for.  

WALLACE:  I don’t mean fixed the system.
OBAMA:  Yes.
WALLACE:  I mean fixed the perception.
OBAMA:  Well, the perception is going to be changing over time, as people see results, as they get more confident.  

There was the opportunity there for President Obama to point out that for purely political reasons the Republicans voted down the 2011 Jobs Act that would have significantly helped speed the recovery from the 2007-8 downturn, and that the GOP obstructionist refusal to aid the ailing economy meant more unnecessary suffering for the unemployed and under employed.  The Fox News audience doesn't hear enough about Republican obstructionism - this was an opportunity to enlighten them.