Obama delivers 100-day report card in Mo.

ARNOLD, Mo. -- President Obama visited the only battleground state he lost on Election Day and told an enthusiastic crowd Wednesday in this St. Louis suburb that he was glad to be "back in the middle of America, where common sense often reigns."

Obama held a town-hall-style meeting in the gymnasium of Arnold's Fox Senior High School. Several hundred supporters greeted him with ovations and cheered as he took questions, outlined his policies and joked with audience members.

Outside, several dozen protesters stood at the street corners around the school's location. Some held up photos of aborted fetuses and condemned Obama's support for abortion rights; others held anti-tax slogans.

None of those protesters turned up inside the school as Obama issued a sort of report card on his first 100 days in office — a time of reflection the administration has mocked as a "Hallmark holiday" for new presidents but marked with the meeting here and a prime-time news conference from the White House.

Reprising a line from his inaugural address, Obama told the crowd that Americans have started to "pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off, and we've begun the work of remaking America."

In the state capital, Jefferson City, he said the economic stimulus package will help create more than 2,500 jobs at the state's largest wind farm; statewide, roughly 20,000 construction jobs will be "supported" by the money from Washington, he said.

At the 100-day mark, he declared himself "pleased with the progress we've made but ... not satisfied."

He asked for patience, saying true progress will have to be measured in months and years. "I'm not a miracle worker," Obama said. "We've got a lot of tough choices and hard decisions and hard work ahead of us."

He took about a half-dozen questions from the audience on topics from the environment and alternative medicine to the auto bailout and Social Security.

"I like the fact that he goes to the public and answers questions," said Kathleen Pryor, 58, of High Ridge, a clerical worker who said she would like to retire soon but can't because investments in her 401(k) account have taken such a hit.