Remarks to the White House Press Pool in Midland, Texas

It's an amazing experience to come back to a place where you were raised. Laura was raised in Midland; I was raised in Midland. I was—this is one of the three homes I lived in, and I kind of remember it. [Laughter] The bedroom—actually, I do remember the wood on the wall that—in the bedroom.

You know, I love Midland and Texas. We've got a lot of friends here. I learned a lot of values that I hold dear here. It's good to see mom's—Laura's mom here. And it's the first time I've been back here since I've been the President, and it was just a very heartwarming experience.

You know, I've told my friends here, I said, you know, I'm not going to change as a person because of politics of Washington—that's what I said when I left. And I think they appreciate that. I want them to know that, you know, even though I had to deal with a lot of tough issues, that I'm still the same person that they knew before, and that, you know, I'm wiser, more experienced, but my heart and my values didn't change.

And so it's great to see our friends. You know, we got a couple more hard months to go, and obviously we've got to deal with this financial situation. Congress took a big step in the direction of at least giving us the tools necessary to bring some stability into the marketplace. Got to get credit flowing of course so that people feel comfortable about conducting business. And so it's—there's a lot of work to be done. But it's—in the meantime, it's good to come back here to where it all started for us.

Anyway, thank you all. You're welcome to pay the fee to go in and see the house. [Laughter]