United States President Barack Obama addressed for the first time the growing Occupy Wall Street Movement that is spreading across the nation earlier this week.

Obama said at a press conference of the movement, “I think it expresses the frustrations that the American people feel that we had the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression, huge collateral damage all throughout the country, all across Main Street, and yet you’re still seeing some of the same folks who acted irresponsibly trying to fight efforts to crack down on abusive practices that got us into this problem in the first place.”

Protesters at the event spoke with The Christian Post to discuss their participation in the movement and in particular how they felt about President Obama’s comments.

One protester, Anthony Adams, came all the way from California to join the protest.

Adams told CP that he flew out to New York to join the protest because he has two master’s degrees, one in City and Regional Planning, and the other in Transportation Engineering. As a result he has $80,000 in debt, but remains unemployed.

When asked if Obama addressed the issues that the Occupy Wall Street movement is concerned with, Adams said, “Obama gave a very professorial response to something that is an emotional reaction from people. This is a reaction to people being frustrated with the status quo of America.”

Follow us

He added, “We are upset with the way things are going, with the destination we are going to, we are on the wrong track. While I agree with Obama’s statement, I wish he would have been a bit more passionate about what we are doing here.”

Another protester that chose to remain anonymous said of Obama, “I think he is so out of touch with reality, he does not know what is going on.”

Another member of the movement, Kerby Desmarais, came to the protests with her infant son donning a sign saying, “This child cannot afford health care.”

Desmarais told CP that her family cannot afford to pay for private insurance, but do not qualify for public assistance because they make over $30,000 a year.

When asked about Obama’s statements, Desmarais, said, “I don’t see him down here,” but said that she would like to see him participate in the movement.

She added that she finds it irrelevant which party comes to power to make much-needed change and said, “I don’t care what party does it, I want my baby to be taken care of.”