It's a changing world where India and China are rising: Obama

Lalit K Jha
Washington, Apr 22 (PTI) US President Barack Obama
on Friday said that America needs to adapt to a changing world
wherein countries like India and China are rising and areas
like the Middle East are becoming less stable.
"We were seeing changes around the world -- countries
like China and India rising; areas like the Middle East
becoming less stable; the world shrinking because of
technology, much of it invented right here in this region,"
Obama said in his remarks at a fund raising event in San
Francisco.
"So I think we understood that we were going to have
to adapt in some fundamental way in order to make sure that
our kids and our grandkids ended up inheriting the kind of
America that we inherited," he said.
Noting that there are moments in history that are
inflection points, Obama said he understood this in 2008 that
the US was entering into one of those periods.
"Domestically, we had gone through a decade in which
the economy was growing but it was growing on top of a bubble.
And people at the very top were doing very well, but the wages
and incomes of ordinary families had flatlined, and we were
starting as a government to live beyond our means with tax
cuts and two wars that weren't paid for," he said.
"So I think people understood even before the
recession hit that somehow the way our economy was operating
was not conducive to long-term sustained economic growth or
making sure that everybody had a chance at the American
Dream," Obama said.
Soon thereafter his speech was interrupted by a group
of people attending the fundraising. Through a song they
protested against the alleged mistreatment of WikiLeaks
suspect Bradley Manning.
Earlier this week, Obama created controversy by
targeting "cheap health care" in countries like India and
Mexico arguing that Americans should avail of "high quality"
treatment available here.
"My preference would be that you don't have to travel
to Mexico or India to get cheap health care. I'd like you to
be able to get it right here in the United States of America
that is high quality," Obama said at a community college in
Virginia.
Earleir, Obama's remarks on American companies
outsourcing jobs to Indian firms had stirred a controversy in
India.