President Obama marked his 50th birthday on Wednesday with a fundraiser in his hometown of Chicago. In a speech to supporters, Obama reflected on his campaign catchwords of “change” and “hope” in the aftermath of the deficit showdown with Republicans.

President Obama: “Precisely because the challenges were so daunting, precisely because we were inheriting so many challenges, that we’re not even halfway there yet. When I said change we can believe in, I didn’t say change we can believe in tomorrow, not change we can believe in next week. We knew this was going to take time, because we’ve got this big, messy, tough democracy.”