Obama sees ‘much better’ US economy this year

President Barack Obama said on Wednesday he knew there was frustration about the bank bailouts but he was optimistic about the prospects for the U.S. economy this year.

"We had to salvage a financial system that could have made things much worse. We had to take the steps that we did at the beginning of the year, in order to stabilize the economy," Obama said in an interview with ABC News.

"And I am actually glad to see that the economy's now growing again, and we have the prospect of a much better economy in 2010," he said. "But that doesn't negate the anger and the frustration that people are feeling."

Private forecasters polled in the Blue Chip Economic Indicators survey earlier in January expect the economy to grow at an annual rate of 2.8 percent this year after shrinking by 2.5 percent in 2009 as the country struggled through a recession.

Obama, faced with 10 percent unemployment that has dented his popularity and hurt his Democratic party in Tuesday's Senate election in Massachusetts, has put jobs and growth at the top of his agenda for 2010.

He told ABC News that frustration of ordinary Americans over the economy had contributed to the surprise victory on Tuesday by Republican Scott Brown in Massachusetts.