At party fundraiser, Obama tells Democrats ‘the clock is ticking’ on his agenda

President Obama said Tuesday night that the “the clock is ticking” on his time in office and he needs more Democrats in Washington to help get things done.

Speaking at a party fundraiser in New York City, the president said he’ll continue to work around Congress whenever possible but stressed his executive power has limits.

“There are some things I can’t do by myself. Congress has the power of the purse. We cannot deal with infrastructure on the levels we need to without Congress. I can do some things on immigration, but I cannot make sure that we have an immigration system that potentially could grow our economy by an extra trillion dollars without Congress’s help,” Mr. Obama said. “If I have just a smidgeon of a cooperative Congress, think what we can do these next two-and-a-half years.”

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee fundraiser was held at the home of Tony James, president of the investment banking firm The Blackstone Group. Tickets cost $32,400 each.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and DSCC Chairman Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado also attended.

As he’s often done in recent months, the president sounded an optimistic tone about America’s future. But he also conceded that his time in office is growing short, his window of opportunity rapidly getting smaller.

“Although I’m very optimistic about our long-term trends, the notion that we would waste two years in further inaction rather than move boldly on a path that I think all of us in this room agree on — we don’t have time to waste,” Mr. Obama said. “I don’t have time to waste. The clock is ticking … I want to squeeze every last little bit of work that I can during the remainder of my term.”

During his remarks, the president said one thing Republicans surely will agree with — there are “crazy folks” in the Democratic party.

“Democrats are not without our flaws. We have our blind spots and we have our dogmas and we’ve got our crazy folks,” he said. “But as a whole, this is a party that is serious about making sure that America is growing and offering opportunity for everybody.”