You know the roughly 150 years before Roosevelt's New Deal and Lyndon Johnson's Great Society? Well, if you ask Barack Obama, America was just so-so during that time.

During his budget speech at George Washington University yesterday, Obama said that it's only because of government entitlements that America became a great country. CNS News has the transcript and video:

“‘There but for the grace of God go I,’ we say to ourselves, and so we contribute to programs like Medicare and Social Security, which guarantee us health care and a measure of basic income after a lifetime of hard work; unemployment insurance, which protects us against unexpected job loss; and Medicaid, which provides care for millions of seniors in nursing homes, poor children, and those with disabilities,” Obama said. “We are a better country because of these commitments. I’ll go further – we would not be a great country without those commitments.”

Editor's note: For Stu's take on Obama's remarks, click here.