Obama says he hated the bank bailout but supported it out of necessity

more images

more images

Obama: I hated the bank bailout

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama bluntly says he “hated” the bailout of Wall Street but supported it to prevent a deeper meltdown of the economy.

The president used his State of the Union to respond to deep public resentment of how Washington rescued the teetering financial sector at taxpayer expense.

Said Obama: “I hated it. You hated it. It was about as popular as a root canal.”

Obama said the big banks getting the help were the same one the caused the finacial crisis in 2008.

He said he rallied behind a massive rescue program, which was started when George W. Bush was president, to stabilize the markets and prevent more home foreclosures and erosion of jobs.