Obama: Progress, but more to be done

SAN FRANCISCO — President Barack Obama on Saturday encouraged supporters to be politically active, saying that he plans to remain so when his presidency concludes and declared, “I’m just getting started.”

Obama was in California for four fundraisers, one in San Francisco and three in Los Angeles. NBA star Stephen Curry and other members of the Golden State Warriors warmed up the San Francisco crowd. Those attending the Democratic National Committee fundraiser paid between $250 and $10,000.

Obama has been using his fundraising speeches and other appearances these days to point to progress he said the country has made during the past seven years, including a drop in the unemployment rate and the addition of millions of people to the rolls of those with health insurance.

The president told the 1,000-plus people attending the fundraiser in San Francisco that Republican candidates seeking to succeed him are painting a dismal picture for voters.

“There’s almost no measure by which we’re not better off than when I took office and when we started this process for change,” he said. “But it does kind of make you wonder. Why are so many Republican politicians so down on America? Why are they so grumpy?”

Obama got some of his loudest applause when making the case for changes in the nation’s gun laws.

“We know we’ve got to do something to prevent the kind of gun massacres that we see with growing frequency in this country,” he said.

Obama was scheduled to go to the San Diego area for golf on Sunday and again today, then head back to Washington.

AP/PABLO MARTINEZ MONSIVAIS The motorcade transporting President Barack Obama drives along the Pacific Coast en route to the Torrey Pines Golf Course on Sunday in La Jolla, Calif.