THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
_______________________________________________________________________________________
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 22, 2009
Excerpts of the President's Opening Remarks at Tonight's News Conference
-As Prepared for Delivery-
That is why I’ve said that even as we rescue this economy from a full-blown crisis, we must rebuild it stronger than before. And health insurance reform is central to that effort.
This is not just about the 47 million Americans who have no health insurance. Reform is about every American who has ever feared that they may lose their coverage if they become too sick, or lose their job, or change their job. It’s about every small business that has been forced to lay off employees or cut back on their coverage because it became too expensive. And it’s about the fact that the biggest driving force behind our federal deficit is the skyrocketing cost of Medicare and Medicaid.
So let me be clear: if we do not control these costs, we will not be able to control our deficit. If we do not reform health care, your premiums and out-of-pocket costs will continue to skyrocket. If we do not act, 14,000 Americans will continue to lose their health insurance every single day. These are the consequences of inaction. These are the stakes of the debate we’re having right now.
I realize that with all the charges and criticisms being thrown around in Washington, many Americans may be wondering, “What’s in this for me? How does my family stand to benefit from health insurance reform?”
Tonight I want to answer those questions. Because even though Congress is still working through a few key issues, we already have agreement on the following areas:
If you already have health insurance, the reform we’re proposing will provide you with more security and more stability. It will keep government out of health care decisions, giving you the option to keep your insurance if you’re happy with it. It will prevent insurance companies from dropping your coverage if you get too sick. It will give you the security of knowing that if you lose your job, move, or change your job, you will still be able to have coverage. It will limit the amount your insurance company can force you to pay for your medical costs out of your own pocket. And it will cover preventive care like check-ups and mammograms that save lives and money.
If you don’t have health insurance, or are a small business looking to cover your employees, you’ll be able to choose a quality, affordable health plan through a health insurance exchange – a marketplace that promotes choice and competition Finally, no insurance company will be allowed to deny you coverage because of a pre-existing medical condition.
I have also pledged that health insurance reform will not add to our deficit over the next decade – and I mean it.
…
I understand how easy it is for this town to become consumed in the game of politics – to turn every issue into running tally of who’s up and who’s down. I’ve heard that one Republican strategist told his party that even though they may want to compromise, it’s better politics to “go for the kill.” Another Republican Senator said that defeating health reform is about “breaking” me.
So let me be clear: This isn’t about me. I have great health insurance, and so does every Member of Congress. This debate is about the letters I read when I sit in the Oval Office every day, and the stories I hear at town hall meetings…This debate is not a game for these Americans, and they cannot afford to wait for reform any longer. They are counting on us to get this done. They are looking to us for leadership. And we must not let them down. We will pass reform that lowers cost, promotes choice, and provides coverage that every American can count on. And we will do it this year.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Statement from ACC's Jack Lewin on What I Believe is Missing from Health Care Reform
ACC CEO Jack Lewin, MD on President Obama’s Prime Time News Conference
Lewin: “...then candidate Obama suggested taking a scalpel instead of an axe to reform, and that’s precisely how we should be reforming the health care system now.”
Washington, DC – The American College of Cardiology’s (ACC) CEO, Jack Lewin, M.D. today release the following statement in advance of President Obama’s prime time news conference on health care reform:
“Forty years ago this week, man first stepped onto the moon. It was an undertaking that took vision, commitment and sacrifice. It will take the same vision, commitment and sacrifice for this nation to meaningfully reform our health care system.
“President Obama has called on Congress to undertake this enormous task which is just as daunting as putting a man on the moon. We applaud President Obama’s leadership and we share his goal of health care reform, but we can’t settle for legislation that lacks the teeth to deliver real and necessary quality and payment reforms.
“The American people need health care reform that addresses the causes of our health care problems and not the symptoms. Hacking blindly away at costs and then claiming to have saved the system money is dangerous and punishes the very people that our health care system is meant to serve: the patients. When talking about reducing overall costs to the Federal budget during the campaign, then candidate Obama suggested taking a scalpel instead of an axe to reform, and that’s precisely how we should be reforming the health care system now.
“We must look at how we pay physicians and other care givers, and develop a payment system that incentivizes quality and positive patient outcomes. Until we completely change the way the U.S. payment system is structured, we’ll never be able to bend the cost curve of health care spending.
“Without payment reform that leads to quality improvement, health information technology adoption, and reduced disparity and variation, we will produce a noble increase in access, but without slowing cost increases. That is a formula for disaster.
“Some have proposed as a way to save money is to cut Medicare Part B reimbursements to specialists such as oncologists and cardiologists. Not only does that not achieve enough savings to be of any use, cutting reimbursement will lead to less access to vital services for people in rural areas and in underserved communities. But it really just shifts costs as the cuts to specialists will be offset by increases to primary care physicians.
“What we need are reforms that allow for the adoption of health information technology, coordination of care so that we can reduce heart failure related hospital readmissions, and the use of evidenced-based guidelines and appropriate use criteria to stop unnecessary medical procedures. And we need incentives to promote partnerships between primary care and specialists in order to better coordinate care for most expensive and complicated chronically ill patients.
“This is, as then candidate Obama suggested, a targeted approach that can achieve real reform with real results and measurable outcomes. “
Lewin: “...then candidate Obama suggested taking a scalpel instead of an axe to reform, and that’s precisely how we should be reforming the health care system now.”
Washington, DC – The American College of Cardiology’s (ACC) CEO, Jack Lewin, M.D. today release the following statement in advance of President Obama’s prime time news conference on health care reform:
“Forty years ago this week, man first stepped onto the moon. It was an undertaking that took vision, commitment and sacrifice. It will take the same vision, commitment and sacrifice for this nation to meaningfully reform our health care system.
“President Obama has called on Congress to undertake this enormous task which is just as daunting as putting a man on the moon. We applaud President Obama’s leadership and we share his goal of health care reform, but we can’t settle for legislation that lacks the teeth to deliver real and necessary quality and payment reforms.
“The American people need health care reform that addresses the causes of our health care problems and not the symptoms. Hacking blindly away at costs and then claiming to have saved the system money is dangerous and punishes the very people that our health care system is meant to serve: the patients. When talking about reducing overall costs to the Federal budget during the campaign, then candidate Obama suggested taking a scalpel instead of an axe to reform, and that’s precisely how we should be reforming the health care system now.
“We must look at how we pay physicians and other care givers, and develop a payment system that incentivizes quality and positive patient outcomes. Until we completely change the way the U.S. payment system is structured, we’ll never be able to bend the cost curve of health care spending.
“Without payment reform that leads to quality improvement, health information technology adoption, and reduced disparity and variation, we will produce a noble increase in access, but without slowing cost increases. That is a formula for disaster.
“Some have proposed as a way to save money is to cut Medicare Part B reimbursements to specialists such as oncologists and cardiologists. Not only does that not achieve enough savings to be of any use, cutting reimbursement will lead to less access to vital services for people in rural areas and in underserved communities. But it really just shifts costs as the cuts to specialists will be offset by increases to primary care physicians.
“What we need are reforms that allow for the adoption of health information technology, coordination of care so that we can reduce heart failure related hospital readmissions, and the use of evidenced-based guidelines and appropriate use criteria to stop unnecessary medical procedures. And we need incentives to promote partnerships between primary care and specialists in order to better coordinate care for most expensive and complicated chronically ill patients.
“This is, as then candidate Obama suggested, a targeted approach that can achieve real reform with real results and measurable outcomes. “
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
It's all them
The Drudge Report says "Own It". I agree. Here is Rep. John Boehner's press releases from the stimulus. The first is his statement after the vote. The second is his floor speech urging the House to consider the Republican alternative. I apologize for no video. You can find the video at http://tinyurl.com/c4goln
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Boehner: “This Was a Bipartisan Rejection of a Partisan Bill”
WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) issued the following statement after the House advanced a trillion dollar spending bill authored solely by congressional Democratic leaders:
“This was a bipartisan rejection of a partisan bill. Families and small businesses across America are struggling, and they are counting on their leaders in Washington for ways to strengthen our economy. House Republicans want to work with congressional Democrats on legislation that fulfills the goal set by President Obama: crafting a bipartisan plan focused on job creation. Unfortunately, the trillion dollar government spending bill before the House today was not that plan, and a bipartisan coalition of Members rightfully rejected it. It is time for Capitol Hill Democrats to finally work with Republicans on a job creation package that lets families and small businesses keep more of what they earn and that is supported by the bipartisan majority that the American people expect on an issue so important.”
NOTE: No House Republicans voted for the legislation, while eleven Democrats crossed party lines to vote against it. Earlier today on the House floor, Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) and Ways & Means Committee Ranking Republican Dave Camp (R-MI) offered a House GOP economic recovery plan that will create 6.2 million new American jobs over the next two years, according to a methodology used by President Obama’s own nominee as Chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisors, Dr. Christina Romer. House Democrats rejected the plan.
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Boehner Floor Speech Opposing Democrats’ Trillion Dollar Spending Plan, Supporting House GOP’s Economic Recovery Plan to Create 6.2 Million New Jobs
WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) made the following remarks today on the House floor opposing Democrats’ $1 trillion “stimulus” package and supporting the Republican proposal crafted by House Ways & Means Committee ranking member Dave Camp (R-MI) and Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) that provides fast-acting tax relief that will create jobs in America – a plan that would create 6.2 million new jobs by the end of 2010, according to a methodology used by President Obama’s own nominee as Chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisors, Dr. Christina Romer:
“Let me thank my colleague from Michigan for yielding and congratulate him and our Republican whip for the proposal that they have on the floor. I think that the plan that we have on the floor, our alternative, is rooted in the principle that fast-acting tax relief will create more jobs in America than a lot of slow-moving government programs.
“The bill that we have on the floor, the underlying bill, has as an example 32 new, brand new, government programs that spend $136 billion. Now, we all know how long it takes to get a new program up, the bureaucracy that has to be hired before we can ever get that money out into the economy. We also know there’s a lot of other spending in this bill that while it may be well-meaning, it may be well-intentioned, we know it not going to create jobs. Sending $300 million-plus to the Centers for Disease Control to do whatever is not going to create new jobs in America. We’re going to build bigger bureaucracies. Or we can talk about the $650 million that’s going to be spent with digital TV coupons. Now this looks like a slush fund to me because about 94% of the old TV’s that need these boxes to receive signals have already been purchased. So only about 6% of the TV’s in America actually need these boxes. So that would be about $30 or $40, maybe $50 million. What is the other $600 million going to be used for? The point is, is that the underlying bill, while it certainly has some good provisions, has a lot of wasteful spending, a lot of slow-moving government spending in it.
“When I gave Ms. Pelosi the gavel on the opening day as Speaker of the House, I told her the Republicans would not come to the floor and just be the party of no. That we would try to be the Party of better ideas and last week when we had the SCHIP bill on the floor, we brought a proposal out here which we thought was a better idea. Today, in this debate we think that we have a better idea. President Obama has made clear that he believes that the goal here should be to preserve jobs in America and to create new jobs in America. And I think that the proposal that we have that puts more money back in the hands of American families and small businesses, that helps homeowners and people who want to buy a home and that takes away the tax liability for those who are unemployed and getting unemployment insurance – that this bill in fact will be better for the American people that better meets the goal that the President himself has outlined.
“And we want to work with the President. We’ve made clear to him that he’s reached out and we’re reaching out to him because at the end of the day, the American people need a plan that works. We all know our economy is in a difficult strait. We all know people are losing their jobs, tens of thousands of them, every week. And so we have to act. And we have to help our ailing economy. The question is, how do we do it best? And we believe this fast-acting tax relief is the way to get it done.
“Then we find out today that our proposal will create 6.2 million jobs over the next two years. About twice as many as the underlying bill and at about half the cost. Remember, at the end of the day, this bill we’re going to pass is not being paid for by taxpayers today. It’s going to be paid for by our kids and our grandkids and their kids. And we have to be cognizant of the debt that we’re putting on them. So I would urge my colleagues to support the Republican substitute, support a bill that will create 6.2 million jobs, twice as many as the underlying bill at about half the cost. And I yield back the balance of my time.”
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Boehner: “This Was a Bipartisan Rejection of a Partisan Bill”
WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) issued the following statement after the House advanced a trillion dollar spending bill authored solely by congressional Democratic leaders:
“This was a bipartisan rejection of a partisan bill. Families and small businesses across America are struggling, and they are counting on their leaders in Washington for ways to strengthen our economy. House Republicans want to work with congressional Democrats on legislation that fulfills the goal set by President Obama: crafting a bipartisan plan focused on job creation. Unfortunately, the trillion dollar government spending bill before the House today was not that plan, and a bipartisan coalition of Members rightfully rejected it. It is time for Capitol Hill Democrats to finally work with Republicans on a job creation package that lets families and small businesses keep more of what they earn and that is supported by the bipartisan majority that the American people expect on an issue so important.”
NOTE: No House Republicans voted for the legislation, while eleven Democrats crossed party lines to vote against it. Earlier today on the House floor, Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) and Ways & Means Committee Ranking Republican Dave Camp (R-MI) offered a House GOP economic recovery plan that will create 6.2 million new American jobs over the next two years, according to a methodology used by President Obama’s own nominee as Chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisors, Dr. Christina Romer. House Democrats rejected the plan.
#####
Boehner Floor Speech Opposing Democrats’ Trillion Dollar Spending Plan, Supporting House GOP’s Economic Recovery Plan to Create 6.2 Million New Jobs
WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) made the following remarks today on the House floor opposing Democrats’ $1 trillion “stimulus” package and supporting the Republican proposal crafted by House Ways & Means Committee ranking member Dave Camp (R-MI) and Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) that provides fast-acting tax relief that will create jobs in America – a plan that would create 6.2 million new jobs by the end of 2010, according to a methodology used by President Obama’s own nominee as Chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisors, Dr. Christina Romer:
“Let me thank my colleague from Michigan for yielding and congratulate him and our Republican whip for the proposal that they have on the floor. I think that the plan that we have on the floor, our alternative, is rooted in the principle that fast-acting tax relief will create more jobs in America than a lot of slow-moving government programs.
“The bill that we have on the floor, the underlying bill, has as an example 32 new, brand new, government programs that spend $136 billion. Now, we all know how long it takes to get a new program up, the bureaucracy that has to be hired before we can ever get that money out into the economy. We also know there’s a lot of other spending in this bill that while it may be well-meaning, it may be well-intentioned, we know it not going to create jobs. Sending $300 million-plus to the Centers for Disease Control to do whatever is not going to create new jobs in America. We’re going to build bigger bureaucracies. Or we can talk about the $650 million that’s going to be spent with digital TV coupons. Now this looks like a slush fund to me because about 94% of the old TV’s that need these boxes to receive signals have already been purchased. So only about 6% of the TV’s in America actually need these boxes. So that would be about $30 or $40, maybe $50 million. What is the other $600 million going to be used for? The point is, is that the underlying bill, while it certainly has some good provisions, has a lot of wasteful spending, a lot of slow-moving government spending in it.
“When I gave Ms. Pelosi the gavel on the opening day as Speaker of the House, I told her the Republicans would not come to the floor and just be the party of no. That we would try to be the Party of better ideas and last week when we had the SCHIP bill on the floor, we brought a proposal out here which we thought was a better idea. Today, in this debate we think that we have a better idea. President Obama has made clear that he believes that the goal here should be to preserve jobs in America and to create new jobs in America. And I think that the proposal that we have that puts more money back in the hands of American families and small businesses, that helps homeowners and people who want to buy a home and that takes away the tax liability for those who are unemployed and getting unemployment insurance – that this bill in fact will be better for the American people that better meets the goal that the President himself has outlined.
“And we want to work with the President. We’ve made clear to him that he’s reached out and we’re reaching out to him because at the end of the day, the American people need a plan that works. We all know our economy is in a difficult strait. We all know people are losing their jobs, tens of thousands of them, every week. And so we have to act. And we have to help our ailing economy. The question is, how do we do it best? And we believe this fast-acting tax relief is the way to get it done.
“Then we find out today that our proposal will create 6.2 million jobs over the next two years. About twice as many as the underlying bill and at about half the cost. Remember, at the end of the day, this bill we’re going to pass is not being paid for by taxpayers today. It’s going to be paid for by our kids and our grandkids and their kids. And we have to be cognizant of the debt that we’re putting on them. So I would urge my colleagues to support the Republican substitute, support a bill that will create 6.2 million jobs, twice as many as the underlying bill at about half the cost. And I yield back the balance of my time.”
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Tuesday, January 27, 2009
In Left Field
The National Mall is a very beautiful place. I've spent many a summer evening there, drinking a frosty one (in a plastic cup of course to avoid the United States Park Police) as a Congressional staffer while playing a friendly game of softball.
Back in 2006, I trained on the National Mall for the Cherry Blossom ten miler and have run it literally dozens of times (3.67 miles from the Capitol-to-Lincoln Memorial and back).
I had the pleasure of looking out from then Speaker Hastert's balcony more times than I can count with the Washington monument there in all its grandeur.
As big of a fan that I am of the national mall, I just can't understand how $200 million in stimulus money from Congress to be spent on the National Mall is going to help stimulate the economy.
Everyone has seen the pictures of the mall, it's mostly grass and gravel. Yet they're only (only!!!) going to spend $21 million on new sod for the mall. I presume this means in the stimulus bill now being considered by Congress they're proposing spending the other $179 million of gravel? I can't figure it out.
To put it into perspective, according to this press release from The Pentagon in 2004, only $170 million went into building the World War II Memorial that is on the National Mall.
What are the Democrats planning to do to The National Mall that is grander than the World War II memorial?
This video from newly-minted White House flack Robert Gibbs is priceless
I like how he says, "the first day of our Presidency we met on the mall." Maybe they're planning to build a $200 million memorial to Obamastock. Whatever it is, I don't believe they're going to be able to pull the wool over the eyes of the American people and expect them to think this will create jobs and stimulate the economy.
Like an summer intern playing softball, I think Gibbs, the White House and the Democrat leadership on this hill are out in left field here.
Some transparency is definently in order.
Back in 2006, I trained on the National Mall for the Cherry Blossom ten miler and have run it literally dozens of times (3.67 miles from the Capitol-to-Lincoln Memorial and back).
I had the pleasure of looking out from then Speaker Hastert's balcony more times than I can count with the Washington monument there in all its grandeur.
As big of a fan that I am of the national mall, I just can't understand how $200 million in stimulus money from Congress to be spent on the National Mall is going to help stimulate the economy.
Everyone has seen the pictures of the mall, it's mostly grass and gravel. Yet they're only (only!!!) going to spend $21 million on new sod for the mall. I presume this means in the stimulus bill now being considered by Congress they're proposing spending the other $179 million of gravel? I can't figure it out.
To put it into perspective, according to this press release from The Pentagon in 2004, only $170 million went into building the World War II Memorial that is on the National Mall.
What are the Democrats planning to do to The National Mall that is grander than the World War II memorial?
This video from newly-minted White House flack Robert Gibbs is priceless
I like how he says, "the first day of our Presidency we met on the mall." Maybe they're planning to build a $200 million memorial to Obamastock. Whatever it is, I don't believe they're going to be able to pull the wool over the eyes of the American people and expect them to think this will create jobs and stimulate the economy.
Like an summer intern playing softball, I think Gibbs, the White House and the Democrat leadership on this hill are out in left field here.
Some transparency is definently in order.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Inauguration Day
Just returned home from Andrew's Air Force Base where I was able to say farewell with my wife and son Jack to our nation's 43rd President of the United States George W. Bush. I'm happy to say that he was in good spirits and is leaving Washington, DC with his head held high.
Good thing considering this awful video from some revelers at the National Mall.
Notice two things. Chris Matthews, to his credit, condems the crowd. And the guy who is dancing and yelling at Bush (:29 sec mark) has his flag flying upside down. This is unfortunate.
More on my day later.
Good thing considering this awful video from some revelers at the National Mall.
Notice two things. Chris Matthews, to his credit, condems the crowd. And the guy who is dancing and yelling at Bush (:29 sec mark) has his flag flying upside down. This is unfortunate.
More on my day later.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Hypocrisy Doesn't Equal Change
Secretary of the Treasury-designate Tim Geithner has a problem.
It seems that not only forgot to pay over $42,000 taxes to an agency he hopes to control as Treasury Secretary, he also hired an undocumented worker.
This of course, was discovered during the official vetting process of the Obama team but didn't come out until yesterday. Covering up or hiding the facts is not change we can believe in and smacks of hypocrisy from a former Senator who passed transparency in government legislation. Shouldn't we hope for transparency of the transition team too?
What smacks of even more hypocrisy is the apparent willingness of Democrat Senators and liberal special interests to forgive. It's understandable the need to fill the Treasury Secretary post - we're in a financial crisis. But there have been plenty of scenarios planned for over at Treasury that I think that we could go a couple of days and maybe even a week so that Geithner could at least answer some questions.
Back in 2001, then Labor Secretary-designate Linda Chavez was crucified by the organized labor and strongly questioned by then-Senate Minority Leader and a current Secretary of HHS-designate Tom Daschle for employing an undocumented worker. The controversy was so much so that Linda Chavez, as you recall she backed out of the confirmation process and never even got a hearing. The kicker is, hiring undocumented workers wasn't even illegal at the time (not that I condone illegals).
At the time, Daschle said:
"The labor secretary ought to set the example to be able to enforce all of the laws. If she hasn't been able to do that in the past, one would have serious questions about whether she'd be able to do it in her capacity as secretary of labor."
Does Tom Daschle's standard still apply? Of course it doesn't.
Today, Senate Democrats are saying things like Geithner just made a mistake.
But there have been plenty of other mistakes made by Republicans that equal to (see Chavez) or lesser than which Democrats and their special interest allies have made plenty of hay about.
It seems that not only forgot to pay over $42,000 taxes to an agency he hopes to control as Treasury Secretary, he also hired an undocumented worker.
This of course, was discovered during the official vetting process of the Obama team but didn't come out until yesterday. Covering up or hiding the facts is not change we can believe in and smacks of hypocrisy from a former Senator who passed transparency in government legislation. Shouldn't we hope for transparency of the transition team too?
What smacks of even more hypocrisy is the apparent willingness of Democrat Senators and liberal special interests to forgive. It's understandable the need to fill the Treasury Secretary post - we're in a financial crisis. But there have been plenty of scenarios planned for over at Treasury that I think that we could go a couple of days and maybe even a week so that Geithner could at least answer some questions.
Back in 2001, then Labor Secretary-designate Linda Chavez was crucified by the organized labor and strongly questioned by then-Senate Minority Leader and a current Secretary of HHS-designate Tom Daschle for employing an undocumented worker. The controversy was so much so that Linda Chavez, as you recall she backed out of the confirmation process and never even got a hearing. The kicker is, hiring undocumented workers wasn't even illegal at the time (not that I condone illegals).
At the time, Daschle said:
"The labor secretary ought to set the example to be able to enforce all of the laws. If she hasn't been able to do that in the past, one would have serious questions about whether she'd be able to do it in her capacity as secretary of labor."
Does Tom Daschle's standard still apply? Of course it doesn't.
Today, Senate Democrats are saying things like Geithner just made a mistake.
But there have been plenty of other mistakes made by Republicans that equal to (see Chavez) or lesser than which Democrats and their special interest allies have made plenty of hay about.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Unbelivable
Ben Smith from The Politico has a great article on Hill Staffers who are selling official inaugural tickets on Criagslist.
This really is no different than Blago selling a Senate seat. And you thought the Republican Congress was corrupt?
This really is no different than Blago selling a Senate seat. And you thought the Republican Congress was corrupt?
Sunday, January 11, 2009
"With Whom I am Well Pleased...."
This morning in church our Gospel lesson revovles around when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. (Matthew 3:13). You all know the story, hopefully, if not, I will share.
Jesus repented for change prior to his Baptism. Then, he was Baptized, and he was wet. Suddenly, the clouds part, the skies open up and a voice says, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
Now, I'm not mocking the Bible, but comparitively speaking, I immediately had thoughts of Obama taking the oath of office and hundreds of thousands gathered at on the National Mall expecting the same thing to happen.
Jesus repented for change prior to his Baptism. Then, he was Baptized, and he was wet. Suddenly, the clouds part, the skies open up and a voice says, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
Now, I'm not mocking the Bible, but comparitively speaking, I immediately had thoughts of Obama taking the oath of office and hundreds of thousands gathered at on the National Mall expecting the same thing to happen.
My Poor Wife
My poor wife. Yesterday she goes out to get some new business suits, because like most Republicans in town she is looking for a new job. Adding insult to injury were all the Obamaniacs out looking for inaugural gowns. Even worse, on each floor, there were displays featuring commemorative Obama Waterford Crystal displays.
So while she's looking suits because she's looking for a new job because of the new President - she has to hear from all these people who excited they are about the inauguration.
Can't wait until this is all over.
So while she's looking suits because she's looking for a new job because of the new President - she has to hear from all these people who excited they are about the inauguration.
Can't wait until this is all over.
Obama Interview with George Stephanopoulos
Earlier today, the Politico's Mike Allen reported transcripts from Obama's interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos in which Obama said in order to fix the economy, everyone will have to have some "skin in the game" (which is apparently a favorite saying of Rahm).
Translation: Obama hasn't taken office yet and he's aleady retracting his pledge to not raise taxes. See the entire transcript below:
http://www.shadowtv.com/redirect/notification.jsp?vid=082502e1d140bca5f3fbe8a57d3c5853
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: This morning, barack obama is our exclusive headliner. Welcome back to "this week."
PRESIDENT-ELECT BARACK OBAMA: Thank you, george.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Does it feel like you're president already?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: No. All those bells and whistles, as much as, you know, we are working hard in the next couple of weeks, i think that when you're actually in the oval office making decisions, i think that's going to be different.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You know, we asked our viewers what they wanted to hear from you. And we got hundreds of pages of questions. Thousands of questions almost all about the economy.
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Absolutely.
STEPHANOPOULOS: It's clear, there's a lot of pain out there.
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Right.
STEPHANOPOULOS: A lot of fear. If i could sum up the questions, it would be very simple, can you fix this?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: I think we can fix it. But it's going to take some time. It's not going to happen overnight. And what we tried to do this week was first of all, explain where we are in the economy. That the jobs numbers this week were terrible. That means we've lost 2.5 Million jobs last year. That's the most since world war ii. You've got another 3.4 Million people who have gone from full-time work to part-time work. Or want full-time work. So the underemployment rate is extremely high. And whether it's retail sales, manufacturing, all the indicators show that we are in the worst recession since the great depression. And it's going to take some time to fix it. But what we tried to do was put forward a plan that says let's act boldly, let's act swiftly. Let's not only provide a jump-start to the economy and immediately create or save 3 million jobs, but let's also put a down payment on some of the structural problems that we have in our economy.
STEPHANOPOULOS: It's been pretty well received in the congress. But you're getting pushback as well, especially from senate democrats on tax cut portion. Senator tom harkle said this is trickledown economics, all over again, their focus is especially on the business taxes. Do you really believe those business tax cuts are going to work to create jobs or did you put them in to get republican votes?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Well, let's look at the package as a whole. The bulk of the package is direct government spending. And here are a few things we are going to do. We are going to double alternative energy production. We're going to weatherize 2 million homes. We are going to create a much more efficient energy system. And that's going to have enormous ramifications for the economy as a whole down the line. I think we can create a new green economy. And that's going to be one of the keys to the 21st century. Health care. Which is a drain on our economy. Both families and businesses. We're going to make investments in information technology. Update how our systems work. Reduce, that's going to create a classroom for the 21st century for every child, as well as community colleges and public universities. So we're making a series of investments that point to the future, as well as just dealing with rebuilding our roads, bridges, et cetera. Now, there's no doubt that that probably gives you the most bang for the buck in terms of stimulus. In terms of getting the economy started, putting people back to work. But there are only so many projects that you can do quickly of that sort. So the question becomes, do tax cuts also provide a stimulus. Do they also help. And they may not help as much as some of the direct spending projects do, but they still provide a stimulus, especially if they are targeted towards people who are really in need. And there are a lot of families hurting out there. What we've done is design the bulk of our tax cuts.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But may give up on business tax cuts?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Well, there are a range of business tax cuts that we propose. That we've looked at. Some of them are accelerating the depreciation. Accelerating the losses that can be written off by businesses. It turns out those of short-term temporary measures that can actually have an impact. Our general philosophy, i said this yesterday when i was asked in the press conference. We don't have pride of authorship. There are a couple of principles that i've laid out. We've got to move quickly. We've got to make sure any investments that we make have long-term benefit for the economy, not just short term. We can't set up that are adding to the structural deficit. We can't have waste and abuse in it. We can't have earmarks.
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Let's -- if people have better ideas on certain provisions, if they say this is going to work better than that then we welcome that, we're going to have a collaborative consul tate ive process with congress over the next few days. But what we can't do is get involved in the political rankling or bargaining.
STEPHANOPOULOS: That's what i wanted to ask you, one of the signature is the museum of organized crime out in las vegas. I had mitch mcconnell on last week and he ridiculed it. Saying this is the example of the kind of pork we don't want. The advocates say wait a minute, it's a construction project, it's ready to go, it's going to create jobs. Is that the kind of project you that want to funds or not?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Let's be clear. That was a project that was proposed as part of the mayor's project. The country's mayors put together projects that we can do. We didn't include that.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Did you want to fund it or not?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: I think what we can do is evaluate whether or not these are projects as i said are going to provide long-term benefits to the economy. I would prefer spending money on things like making sure that all federal buildings are energy efficient so taxpayers are saving money over the long term. I want to make sure that on health care, we are creating the infrastructure that can make the health care system more efficient. So we want to spend the money wisely. We want to spend it prudently. In a package of this magnitude, will there end up being certain projects that potentially don't meet that criteria of helping on health care, energy or education? Certainly. But what we don't want is this thing to be a christmas tree, loaded up with a whole bunch of pet projects that people have for their local communities.
STEPHANOPOULOS: I've heard on capitol hill that the one thing you've been most focused on is get this done now. Has to be done by presidents' day weekend. What happens if it's not?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Well, then, congress is going to hear from me. I was pleased to hear nancy pelosi saying that if we don't get it done by the presidents day recess, we don't have a presidents day recess.
STEPHANOPOULOS: What's your fear?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Well, the concern is, that in a nonemergency situation, congress exercises all sorts of prerogatives. They've got all sorts of procedures. Everybody wants to be heard. And i'm respectful of that. I'm coming from the united states senate. I understand why that is important. And one of the things that we're trying to set a tone on is that, you know, congress is a coequal branch of government. We're not trying to jam anything down people's throats. Here's what we know, though. That the sooner a recovery and reinvestment package is in place, the sooner we can start turning the economy around. We can't afford three, four, five, six more months where we're losing 500,000 jobs a month. The estimates are if we don't do anything, we could see 4 million jobs lost this year.
STEPHANOPOULOS: And another part is the financial rescue package. Do you want president bush to request that second $350 billion? And how do you want that spent differently than the first?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Well, i started off with the premise when this crisis first arose, that we have to keep our financial system stable, and we have to maintain the flow of credit to businesses and families. That's as important as what's happening in terms of consumer spending or business investment. Because if companies can't make payroll, people get laid off. If a guy can't borrow for a car loan that affects not only him but the car dealer and the car manufacturer. So keeping full credit is critical. And we had to do something last fall. I, like many, are disappointed with how the whole t.A.R.P. Process has unfolded. There hasn't been enough oversight. We found out this week in a report that we are not tracking where this money is going. I think that when you look at how we have handled the home foreclosure situation, and whether we've done enough in terms of helping families on the ground, who may have lost their homes because they lost their jobs or because they got sick.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Congressman frank says he wants $50 billion of the new money to go just to that?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Well, so, here is what we have done. What i've done is asked my team to come together. Come up with a set of principles around how we are going to maintain transparency. What are we going to do in terms of housing. How are we going to target small businesses that are under enormous business crunch. Let's lay out very specifically some of the things we're going to do with the next $350 billion of money. I think that we can gain -- regain the confidence of both congress and the american people that this is not just money that is being given to banks without any strings attached and nobody knows what happens, but, rather, that it is targeted very specifically at getting credit flowing again to businesses and families.
STEPHANOPOULOS: If both these packages go through, that's more than 1 trillion dollars in spending in your first couple of months. When you look at the array of things you want to do as president, something has to give. Which of your campaign promises will you have to scale back on because of all of this?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Well, we are going to be presenting a budget in february. As we learned this week, we are inheriting over $1 trillion deficit. Unheard of in recent history.
STEPHANOPOULOS: 8% Goes to nondomestic gross product.
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Right. What i said to my economic team, we are going to have to make tough choices under my watch to ensure that on the medium term and long term that we're starting to bend the curve where we are getting the deficit under control. They are going to report back to me in the next month to give me a plan. Now, as difficult as it is to spend money wisely, it's going to be even tougher to make some of the adjustments that are needed to get the deficit under control.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, we have hard choices. You've got on health care a couple times. During the campaign, you said you would pay for health care by repealing the bush tax cuts on the wealthy. According to cbo, you're going to get a 1.2 To 1.8 Billion dollar deficit even if all the tax cuts are repealed. How do you pay for health care?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Well, we're going to have to make choices. What i've done is indicated to my team that we've got to eliminate programs that don't work. I'll giver you an example in the health care area. We are spending a lot of money subsidizing the insurance companies around something called "medicare advantage." A program that gives them subsidies to accept medicare necessarily make people on medicare healthy. If we eliminate that and other programs we can potentially save $200 billion out of the system that we're currently spending and take that money and use it in ways that are actually going to make people healthier and improve quality. So what our challenge is going to be, is identifying what works, putting more money into that, eliminating things that don't work and making things that we have more efficient. i'm not suggesting, george, i want to be realistic here. Not everything that we talked about in the campaign are we able to be able to do on the pace that we had hoped.
STEPHANOPOULOS: At the end of the day, are you really talking over the course of your presidency, some kind of a grand bargain? That you have tax reform, health care reform, entitlement reform, including social security and medicare where everybody in the country is going to have to sacrifice something except change for the greater good?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Yes.
STEPHANOPOULOS: And when will that get done?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Right now, i'm focused on a pretty heavy lift which is making sure we get the reinvestment and recovery package in place. But what you described is exactly what we have to do. What we have to do is take a look at our structural deficit. How are we paying for government, what are we getting for it. And how do we make the system more efficient.
STEPHANOPOULOS: And eventually sacrifice from everyone?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Everybody's going to have to have some skin in the game.
STEPHANOPOULOS: We're now in the second week in the conflict in gaza between israel and the palestinians. I know you've been reluctant to speak out too much on this. Let me show everyone what you said whether you were in israel last july.
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA (clip): I don't think any country would find it acceptable to have missiles raining down on the heads of their citizens. If somebody was sending rockets into my house where my two daughters sleep at night, i'm going to do everything in my power to stop that. And i would expect israelis to do the same thing.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Would you say that in israel today?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: I think that's the basic principle of any country, is that they've got to protect their citizens. So what i've said is that given the delicacy of the situation, the one area where the principle of one president at a time has to hold is when it comes to foreign policy. We cannot have two administrations at the same time, simultaneously sending signals in a volatile situation. But what i am doing right now is putting together the team so that on january 20th, starting on day one, we have the best possible people who are going to be immediately engaged in the middle east peace process as a whole that are going to be engaging with all the actors there. That will work to create a strategic approach that ensures that both israelis and palestinians can meet their aspirations.
STEPHANOPOULOS: As you know, in much of the arab world, your silence, your relative silence has been interpreted as callousness. We had a viewer question, why is obama remaining silent on the gaza crisis when so many innocent people are being killed?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Look, i said this a couple days back, that when you see civilians, whether palestinian or israeli, harmed under a hardship, it's heartbreaking. And obviously, what that does is it makes me much more determined to try to break a deadlock that has gone on for decades now.
STEPHANOPOULOS: More broadly, will your policy in the middle east be building on the bush policy or a clean break?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Well, you know, i think if you look at not just the bush administration, but also what happened under the clinton administration, you are seeing the general outlines of an approach. And i think that players in the region understand the compromises that are going to need to be made for the politics. And the reason that it's so important for the united states to be engaged and involved immediately, not waiting until the end of their term, is because working through the politics of this requires a third party that everybody has confidence, wants to see a fair and just outcome. And i think that an obama administration, if we do it right, can provide that kind of interlocking.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Bill perry said at a conference you that will almost certainly face, almost certainly face a conflict, a crisis with iran in your first year in office. Based on what you've learned, do you agree with that analysis? And are you ready for it?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: I think iran is going to be one of our biggest challenges. As i said, during the campaign, we have a situation in which not only is iran exporting terrorism through hamas, through hezbollah, but they're pursuing a nuclear weapon that could potentially trigger a nuclear arms race at the least.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You'll have to deal with that this year?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: And we are going to have to take a new approach. And i've outlined my belief that engagement is the place to start. That the international community is going to be taking cues from us. In how we want to approach iran. And i think that sending a signal that we respect the aspirations of the iranian people, but that we also have certain expectations in terms of how an international actor behaves.
STEPHANOPOULOS: With a new emphasis on respect?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Well, i think a new emphasis on respect and a new emphasis on being willing to talk. But also a clarity about what our bottom lines are, and we are in preparations for that. We anticipate that we're going to have to move swiftly in that area.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Let me ask you about homeland security. You haven't talked too much about it. This week, president bush's homeland security adviser was talking about the mumbai attacks. He said you can envision it happening in any american city. It's chilling when you think about it. And, you know, you've been getting the president's daily brief every single day. Do you agree with that?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: I think homeland security always has to be the number one priority. When i've set up the hierarchy of things that i've got to do, the number one priority every single day that i wake up is how do i make sure that the american people are safe. We've got an outstanding person in janet napolitano heading up the homeland security department. She's in deep consultation with other members of my national security team. And we are going to have to stay vigilant. And that's something that doesn't change from administration to administration. When you see what happened in mumbai, you know, that potentially points to a new strategy, not simply suicide bombings but commandos taking over. It.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Could happen here?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Well, i think the dangers are always there. And i think you have to anticipate that having seen the mayhem what was created in mumbai, that there are going to be potential copycats or other terrorist organizations that think this is something they can replicate so we're going to have to be vigilant in terms of our intelligence. We're going to have to make sure we're more effective in terms of anticipating these issues. And we're going to continue to put pressure on al qaeda which is our major target. That's something that i talked about extensively during the campaign. That has to be one of our primary areas of focus, whether it comes to our international security.
STEPHANOPOULOS: So based on what you've learned during the intelligence briefings, are we safer or more at risk than you believed during the campaign?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: George, you know i can't say --
STEPHANOPOULOS: just generally.
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: I think we have made progress in certain areas, but those dangers are still there. And those dangers are not going to immediately go away. Because we're not talking about conventional armies where we have very clear measures of what their capacity is. We know exactly what they're planning, where they're positioned. If you have a small group of people in today's world with today's technology who are intent on doing harm and are willing to die, that is something that's always going to be a challenge.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Let's go to another question. I was thinking of harry truman. When he took office, he didn't even know about the manhattan project. Found out about it after he was president. Have you been shocked by anything you've learned?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: You know, most of what i've learned are things that i anticipated, partly because i was in the senate, and although i wasn't on the intelligence committee, we would get top secret briefings. So there hasn't been something that was eye-popping. But the situation still requires vigilance.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Vice president cheney has been giving a series of exit interviews. He told mark knoller that it made the united states safer and he added this piece of advice for you.
VICE PRESIDENT DICK CHENEY (clip):
STEPHANOPOULOS: Are you going to take it?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: I think that was pretty good advice which is i should know what's going before we make judgments and that we shouldn't be making judgments on the basis of incomplete information or campaign rhetoric. I've got no quibble with that particular quote. I think if vice president cheney were here, he and i would have disagreements on things we know happened.
STEPHANOPOULOS: He would say, for example?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: For example, vice president cheney, i think, continues to defends what he calls extraordinary measures or procedures when it comes to interrogations. And from my view, waterboarding is torture. I have said that under my administration, we will not torture.
STEPHANOPOULOS: How about them taking that to the next step, though? Right now, the cia has a special program, would you require that that program, basically every government interrogation program be understand the same standard? Be in accordance with the army field manual?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: My general view is our united states military is under fire and has huge stakes in getting good intelligence. And if our top army commanders feel comfortable with interrogation techniques that are squarely within the boundaries of rule of law, our constitution and international standards, then those are things that we should be able to use generally.
STEPHANOPOULOS: So no more special cia program?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: I'm not going to lay out a particular program because, again, i thought dick cheney's advice was good, which is let's make sure we know everything that's being done. But the interesting thing, george, was that during the campaign, although john mccain and i had a lot of differences on a lot of issues, this is one where we didn't have a difference, which is, it is possible for to us keep the american people safe while still adhering to our core values and ideals. And that's what i intend to carry forward in my administration.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You also agreed on guantanamo. And you said you're still going to shut it down. Is it turning out harder than you expected? Will you get that done in the first 100 days?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: It is more difficult than i think a lot of people realize. And we are going to get it done, but part of the challenge you have is you've got a bunch of folks who have been detained, many of whom may be very dangerous who have not been put on trial or have not gone through some adjudication. And some of the evidence on them may be tainted, even though it's true. And so how to balance creating a process that adheres to rule of law, habeas corpus, basic principles of anglo-american legal system by doing it in a way that doesn't result in releasing people who are intent on blowing us up. That is the challenge. It's going to take some time. And our legal teams are working in consultation with our national security apparatus as we speak to help design exactly what we need to do. I don't want to be ambiguous about this. We are going to close guantanamo. And we are going to make sure that the procedures we set up are ones that abide by our constitution. That is not only the right thing to do but actually has to be part of our broader national security strategy, because we will send a message to the world that we are serious about our values.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Most popular on your website comes from bob fertik of new york city, he asks --
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: we're still evaluating how we're going to approach the whole issue of interrogations, detentions and so forth. Obviously, we're going to be looking at past practices. And i don't believe that anybody is above the law. On the other hand, i also have a belief that we need to look forward, as opposed to looking backwards. And part of my job is to make sure that, for example, with the cia, you've got extraordinarily talented people who are working very hard to keep americans safe. I don't want them to suddenly feel like they've got to spend all their time looking over their shoulders and lawyering up.
STEPHANOPOULOS: So no 9/11 commission of independent power?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: We have not made final decisions, but my instinct is for us to focus on how to we make sure we're moving forward, we are doing the right thing. That doesn't mean that if somebody has blatantly broken the law that they are above the law, but my orientation is going to be moving forward.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Let me just stress that one more time. You're not ruling out prosecution, but will you tell your justice department to investigate the cases and follow the evidence wherever it leads?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: I think my general view when it comes to my attorney general is, he's the people's lawyer. Eric holder's been nominated. His job is to uphold the constitution and to look after the american people. And not to be swayed by my everyday politics. So ultimately he's going to be making some calls. But my general belief is that when it comes to national security, what we have to focus on is getting things right in the future as opposed to what we've got on in the past.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You mentioned eric holder, there's some fire on capitol hill with arlen specter and others that he's not going to be independent. Are you confident he's going to be con firled?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Yes.
STEPHANOPOULOS: And are you worried at all, troubled at all about the questions being asked about his independence and questions about the mark rich case?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: I think most of the questions have revolved around the mark rich pardon. He's acknowledged it was a mistake. George, you know, if the criteria for somebody being confirmed on a cabinet or being elected president was that they never made a mistake --
STEPHANOPOULOS: nobody would get in.
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: -- Nobody would get in. Here's somebody who's publicly taken responsibility. He said he dropped the ball on that one. Beyond that, though, everybody will acknowledge you that you can't find a guy who is more qualified. He's was second on the justice department. Has been a prosecutor. Has been a judge. And with respect to issues of independence, he locked up the most powerful democrat on the hill, dan roscokowski.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You say you've been reading a lot of lincoln. Is there anything that you've come across in preparing the speech that's been a particular inspiration to you?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Well, you know, i have been reading lincoln. I'm not sure whether that's been wise. Because every time you read --
STEPHANOPOULOS: high bar?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Every time you start reading that second inaugural, you start getting intimidated especially because it's really short. There's a genius to lincoln that is not going to be matched. People are pointing to kennedy's inauguration speech. Sorensen and kennedy together did an extraordinary job. Some of the others are not as inspiring.
STEPHANOPOULOS: To say the least.
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: So i think the main task for me in the inauguration speech and i think this is true for my presidency generally, is to try to capture as best i can the moment that we are in. I mean, i think that when you have a successful presidential speech of any sort, it's because that president is able to say -- is able to put their finger on -- here's the moment we're in. This is the crossroad that we're at. And then to project confidence that if we take the right measures, that we can once again be that country -- that beacon for the world. And so my focus is to try to be able to describe in simple plain terms what are the challenges we face, but then also to let people know i have every intention of working with the american people, so that we meet those challenges.
STEPHANOPOULOS: I just have a couple more questions. You've been without a worship community for about a year. Do you miss it?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: So I do. And it's been a difficult time. Now, i've got a wonderful community of people who are praying for me every day. And they call me up. You know, but it's not the same as going to church and the choir's going.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Do you have a church here in washington?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: So Not yet. So one of the things that michelle and i will be doing is probably visiting some churches and seeing what's comfortable. It is tougher, as president, you know, this is not just an issue of going to church, it's an issue of going anywhere. You don't want to subject your fellow church members, the rest of the congregation, to being nagged every time you go to church. So we're going to try to be balancing not being disruptive to the city, but also saying we want to be part of washington, d.C. One of the things that i don't like historically about washington is the way that you've got one part of washington, which is a company town, all about government. And is generally pretty prosperous. And then you've got another half of d.C. That is going through enormous challenges. I want to see if we can bring those two washingtons together.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Also, your girls started school this week.
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: So Yeah.
STEPHANOPOULOS: How did the first week go?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: So They seemed to thrive. I'm trying to figure out why they are not fazed by anything. Folks think i'm cool. They are a lot cooler than i am. They don't seem to be --
STEPHANOPOULOS: they're touring the newseum right now. I heard they were taken straight to the first dog exhibits. While you were getting made up, they went into the control room and played director and producer. They gave me a question they want me to ask you, you know exactly what it's going to be?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: So Go ahead.
STEPHANOPOULOS: What kind of a dog are we getting? And when are we getting it?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: So They seemed to have narrowed it down to a labradoodle or a portuguese water hound.
STEPHANOPOULOS: A medium size?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: So Medium-sized dog. So we're now looking at shelters to see when one of those dogs might come up.
STEPHANOPOULOS: So you're closing in on it?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: We're closing in on it. This is tougher than finding a commerce secretary.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Thank you very much for your time today and best of luck.
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Appreciate it. Thank you, george.
Translation: Obama hasn't taken office yet and he's aleady retracting his pledge to not raise taxes. See the entire transcript below:
http://www.shadowtv.com/redirect/notification.jsp?vid=082502e1d140bca5f3fbe8a57d3c5853
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: This morning, barack obama is our exclusive headliner. Welcome back to "this week."
PRESIDENT-ELECT BARACK OBAMA: Thank you, george.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Does it feel like you're president already?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: No. All those bells and whistles, as much as, you know, we are working hard in the next couple of weeks, i think that when you're actually in the oval office making decisions, i think that's going to be different.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You know, we asked our viewers what they wanted to hear from you. And we got hundreds of pages of questions. Thousands of questions almost all about the economy.
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Absolutely.
STEPHANOPOULOS: It's clear, there's a lot of pain out there.
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Right.
STEPHANOPOULOS: A lot of fear. If i could sum up the questions, it would be very simple, can you fix this?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: I think we can fix it. But it's going to take some time. It's not going to happen overnight. And what we tried to do this week was first of all, explain where we are in the economy. That the jobs numbers this week were terrible. That means we've lost 2.5 Million jobs last year. That's the most since world war ii. You've got another 3.4 Million people who have gone from full-time work to part-time work. Or want full-time work. So the underemployment rate is extremely high. And whether it's retail sales, manufacturing, all the indicators show that we are in the worst recession since the great depression. And it's going to take some time to fix it. But what we tried to do was put forward a plan that says let's act boldly, let's act swiftly. Let's not only provide a jump-start to the economy and immediately create or save 3 million jobs, but let's also put a down payment on some of the structural problems that we have in our economy.
STEPHANOPOULOS: It's been pretty well received in the congress. But you're getting pushback as well, especially from senate democrats on tax cut portion. Senator tom harkle said this is trickledown economics, all over again, their focus is especially on the business taxes. Do you really believe those business tax cuts are going to work to create jobs or did you put them in to get republican votes?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Well, let's look at the package as a whole. The bulk of the package is direct government spending. And here are a few things we are going to do. We are going to double alternative energy production. We're going to weatherize 2 million homes. We are going to create a much more efficient energy system. And that's going to have enormous ramifications for the economy as a whole down the line. I think we can create a new green economy. And that's going to be one of the keys to the 21st century. Health care. Which is a drain on our economy. Both families and businesses. We're going to make investments in information technology. Update how our systems work. Reduce, that's going to create a classroom for the 21st century for every child, as well as community colleges and public universities. So we're making a series of investments that point to the future, as well as just dealing with rebuilding our roads, bridges, et cetera. Now, there's no doubt that that probably gives you the most bang for the buck in terms of stimulus. In terms of getting the economy started, putting people back to work. But there are only so many projects that you can do quickly of that sort. So the question becomes, do tax cuts also provide a stimulus. Do they also help. And they may not help as much as some of the direct spending projects do, but they still provide a stimulus, especially if they are targeted towards people who are really in need. And there are a lot of families hurting out there. What we've done is design the bulk of our tax cuts.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But may give up on business tax cuts?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Well, there are a range of business tax cuts that we propose. That we've looked at. Some of them are accelerating the depreciation. Accelerating the losses that can be written off by businesses. It turns out those of short-term temporary measures that can actually have an impact. Our general philosophy, i said this yesterday when i was asked in the press conference. We don't have pride of authorship. There are a couple of principles that i've laid out. We've got to move quickly. We've got to make sure any investments that we make have long-term benefit for the economy, not just short term. We can't set up that are adding to the structural deficit. We can't have waste and abuse in it. We can't have earmarks.
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Let's -- if people have better ideas on certain provisions, if they say this is going to work better than that then we welcome that, we're going to have a collaborative consul tate ive process with congress over the next few days. But what we can't do is get involved in the political rankling or bargaining.
STEPHANOPOULOS: That's what i wanted to ask you, one of the signature is the museum of organized crime out in las vegas. I had mitch mcconnell on last week and he ridiculed it. Saying this is the example of the kind of pork we don't want. The advocates say wait a minute, it's a construction project, it's ready to go, it's going to create jobs. Is that the kind of project you that want to funds or not?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Let's be clear. That was a project that was proposed as part of the mayor's project. The country's mayors put together projects that we can do. We didn't include that.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Did you want to fund it or not?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: I think what we can do is evaluate whether or not these are projects as i said are going to provide long-term benefits to the economy. I would prefer spending money on things like making sure that all federal buildings are energy efficient so taxpayers are saving money over the long term. I want to make sure that on health care, we are creating the infrastructure that can make the health care system more efficient. So we want to spend the money wisely. We want to spend it prudently. In a package of this magnitude, will there end up being certain projects that potentially don't meet that criteria of helping on health care, energy or education? Certainly. But what we don't want is this thing to be a christmas tree, loaded up with a whole bunch of pet projects that people have for their local communities.
STEPHANOPOULOS: I've heard on capitol hill that the one thing you've been most focused on is get this done now. Has to be done by presidents' day weekend. What happens if it's not?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Well, then, congress is going to hear from me. I was pleased to hear nancy pelosi saying that if we don't get it done by the presidents day recess, we don't have a presidents day recess.
STEPHANOPOULOS: What's your fear?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Well, the concern is, that in a nonemergency situation, congress exercises all sorts of prerogatives. They've got all sorts of procedures. Everybody wants to be heard. And i'm respectful of that. I'm coming from the united states senate. I understand why that is important. And one of the things that we're trying to set a tone on is that, you know, congress is a coequal branch of government. We're not trying to jam anything down people's throats. Here's what we know, though. That the sooner a recovery and reinvestment package is in place, the sooner we can start turning the economy around. We can't afford three, four, five, six more months where we're losing 500,000 jobs a month. The estimates are if we don't do anything, we could see 4 million jobs lost this year.
STEPHANOPOULOS: And another part is the financial rescue package. Do you want president bush to request that second $350 billion? And how do you want that spent differently than the first?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Well, i started off with the premise when this crisis first arose, that we have to keep our financial system stable, and we have to maintain the flow of credit to businesses and families. That's as important as what's happening in terms of consumer spending or business investment. Because if companies can't make payroll, people get laid off. If a guy can't borrow for a car loan that affects not only him but the car dealer and the car manufacturer. So keeping full credit is critical. And we had to do something last fall. I, like many, are disappointed with how the whole t.A.R.P. Process has unfolded. There hasn't been enough oversight. We found out this week in a report that we are not tracking where this money is going. I think that when you look at how we have handled the home foreclosure situation, and whether we've done enough in terms of helping families on the ground, who may have lost their homes because they lost their jobs or because they got sick.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Congressman frank says he wants $50 billion of the new money to go just to that?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Well, so, here is what we have done. What i've done is asked my team to come together. Come up with a set of principles around how we are going to maintain transparency. What are we going to do in terms of housing. How are we going to target small businesses that are under enormous business crunch. Let's lay out very specifically some of the things we're going to do with the next $350 billion of money. I think that we can gain -- regain the confidence of both congress and the american people that this is not just money that is being given to banks without any strings attached and nobody knows what happens, but, rather, that it is targeted very specifically at getting credit flowing again to businesses and families.
STEPHANOPOULOS: If both these packages go through, that's more than 1 trillion dollars in spending in your first couple of months. When you look at the array of things you want to do as president, something has to give. Which of your campaign promises will you have to scale back on because of all of this?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Well, we are going to be presenting a budget in february. As we learned this week, we are inheriting over $1 trillion deficit. Unheard of in recent history.
STEPHANOPOULOS: 8% Goes to nondomestic gross product.
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Right. What i said to my economic team, we are going to have to make tough choices under my watch to ensure that on the medium term and long term that we're starting to bend the curve where we are getting the deficit under control. They are going to report back to me in the next month to give me a plan. Now, as difficult as it is to spend money wisely, it's going to be even tougher to make some of the adjustments that are needed to get the deficit under control.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, we have hard choices. You've got on health care a couple times. During the campaign, you said you would pay for health care by repealing the bush tax cuts on the wealthy. According to cbo, you're going to get a 1.2 To 1.8 Billion dollar deficit even if all the tax cuts are repealed. How do you pay for health care?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Well, we're going to have to make choices. What i've done is indicated to my team that we've got to eliminate programs that don't work. I'll giver you an example in the health care area. We are spending a lot of money subsidizing the insurance companies around something called "medicare advantage." A program that gives them subsidies to accept medicare necessarily make people on medicare healthy. If we eliminate that and other programs we can potentially save $200 billion out of the system that we're currently spending and take that money and use it in ways that are actually going to make people healthier and improve quality. So what our challenge is going to be, is identifying what works, putting more money into that, eliminating things that don't work and making things that we have more efficient. i'm not suggesting, george, i want to be realistic here. Not everything that we talked about in the campaign are we able to be able to do on the pace that we had hoped.
STEPHANOPOULOS: At the end of the day, are you really talking over the course of your presidency, some kind of a grand bargain? That you have tax reform, health care reform, entitlement reform, including social security and medicare where everybody in the country is going to have to sacrifice something except change for the greater good?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Yes.
STEPHANOPOULOS: And when will that get done?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Right now, i'm focused on a pretty heavy lift which is making sure we get the reinvestment and recovery package in place. But what you described is exactly what we have to do. What we have to do is take a look at our structural deficit. How are we paying for government, what are we getting for it. And how do we make the system more efficient.
STEPHANOPOULOS: And eventually sacrifice from everyone?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Everybody's going to have to have some skin in the game.
STEPHANOPOULOS: We're now in the second week in the conflict in gaza between israel and the palestinians. I know you've been reluctant to speak out too much on this. Let me show everyone what you said whether you were in israel last july.
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA (clip): I don't think any country would find it acceptable to have missiles raining down on the heads of their citizens. If somebody was sending rockets into my house where my two daughters sleep at night, i'm going to do everything in my power to stop that. And i would expect israelis to do the same thing.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Would you say that in israel today?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: I think that's the basic principle of any country, is that they've got to protect their citizens. So what i've said is that given the delicacy of the situation, the one area where the principle of one president at a time has to hold is when it comes to foreign policy. We cannot have two administrations at the same time, simultaneously sending signals in a volatile situation. But what i am doing right now is putting together the team so that on january 20th, starting on day one, we have the best possible people who are going to be immediately engaged in the middle east peace process as a whole that are going to be engaging with all the actors there. That will work to create a strategic approach that ensures that both israelis and palestinians can meet their aspirations.
STEPHANOPOULOS: As you know, in much of the arab world, your silence, your relative silence has been interpreted as callousness. We had a viewer question, why is obama remaining silent on the gaza crisis when so many innocent people are being killed?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Look, i said this a couple days back, that when you see civilians, whether palestinian or israeli, harmed under a hardship, it's heartbreaking. And obviously, what that does is it makes me much more determined to try to break a deadlock that has gone on for decades now.
STEPHANOPOULOS: More broadly, will your policy in the middle east be building on the bush policy or a clean break?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Well, you know, i think if you look at not just the bush administration, but also what happened under the clinton administration, you are seeing the general outlines of an approach. And i think that players in the region understand the compromises that are going to need to be made for the politics. And the reason that it's so important for the united states to be engaged and involved immediately, not waiting until the end of their term, is because working through the politics of this requires a third party that everybody has confidence, wants to see a fair and just outcome. And i think that an obama administration, if we do it right, can provide that kind of interlocking.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Bill perry said at a conference you that will almost certainly face, almost certainly face a conflict, a crisis with iran in your first year in office. Based on what you've learned, do you agree with that analysis? And are you ready for it?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: I think iran is going to be one of our biggest challenges. As i said, during the campaign, we have a situation in which not only is iran exporting terrorism through hamas, through hezbollah, but they're pursuing a nuclear weapon that could potentially trigger a nuclear arms race at the least.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You'll have to deal with that this year?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: And we are going to have to take a new approach. And i've outlined my belief that engagement is the place to start. That the international community is going to be taking cues from us. In how we want to approach iran. And i think that sending a signal that we respect the aspirations of the iranian people, but that we also have certain expectations in terms of how an international actor behaves.
STEPHANOPOULOS: With a new emphasis on respect?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Well, i think a new emphasis on respect and a new emphasis on being willing to talk. But also a clarity about what our bottom lines are, and we are in preparations for that. We anticipate that we're going to have to move swiftly in that area.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Let me ask you about homeland security. You haven't talked too much about it. This week, president bush's homeland security adviser was talking about the mumbai attacks. He said you can envision it happening in any american city. It's chilling when you think about it. And, you know, you've been getting the president's daily brief every single day. Do you agree with that?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: I think homeland security always has to be the number one priority. When i've set up the hierarchy of things that i've got to do, the number one priority every single day that i wake up is how do i make sure that the american people are safe. We've got an outstanding person in janet napolitano heading up the homeland security department. She's in deep consultation with other members of my national security team. And we are going to have to stay vigilant. And that's something that doesn't change from administration to administration. When you see what happened in mumbai, you know, that potentially points to a new strategy, not simply suicide bombings but commandos taking over. It.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Could happen here?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Well, i think the dangers are always there. And i think you have to anticipate that having seen the mayhem what was created in mumbai, that there are going to be potential copycats or other terrorist organizations that think this is something they can replicate so we're going to have to be vigilant in terms of our intelligence. We're going to have to make sure we're more effective in terms of anticipating these issues. And we're going to continue to put pressure on al qaeda which is our major target. That's something that i talked about extensively during the campaign. That has to be one of our primary areas of focus, whether it comes to our international security.
STEPHANOPOULOS: So based on what you've learned during the intelligence briefings, are we safer or more at risk than you believed during the campaign?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: George, you know i can't say --
STEPHANOPOULOS: just generally.
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: I think we have made progress in certain areas, but those dangers are still there. And those dangers are not going to immediately go away. Because we're not talking about conventional armies where we have very clear measures of what their capacity is. We know exactly what they're planning, where they're positioned. If you have a small group of people in today's world with today's technology who are intent on doing harm and are willing to die, that is something that's always going to be a challenge.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Let's go to another question. I was thinking of harry truman. When he took office, he didn't even know about the manhattan project. Found out about it after he was president. Have you been shocked by anything you've learned?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: You know, most of what i've learned are things that i anticipated, partly because i was in the senate, and although i wasn't on the intelligence committee, we would get top secret briefings. So there hasn't been something that was eye-popping. But the situation still requires vigilance.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Vice president cheney has been giving a series of exit interviews. He told mark knoller that it made the united states safer and he added this piece of advice for you.
VICE PRESIDENT DICK CHENEY (clip):
STEPHANOPOULOS: Are you going to take it?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: I think that was pretty good advice which is i should know what's going before we make judgments and that we shouldn't be making judgments on the basis of incomplete information or campaign rhetoric. I've got no quibble with that particular quote. I think if vice president cheney were here, he and i would have disagreements on things we know happened.
STEPHANOPOULOS: He would say, for example?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: For example, vice president cheney, i think, continues to defends what he calls extraordinary measures or procedures when it comes to interrogations. And from my view, waterboarding is torture. I have said that under my administration, we will not torture.
STEPHANOPOULOS: How about them taking that to the next step, though? Right now, the cia has a special program, would you require that that program, basically every government interrogation program be understand the same standard? Be in accordance with the army field manual?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: My general view is our united states military is under fire and has huge stakes in getting good intelligence. And if our top army commanders feel comfortable with interrogation techniques that are squarely within the boundaries of rule of law, our constitution and international standards, then those are things that we should be able to use generally.
STEPHANOPOULOS: So no more special cia program?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: I'm not going to lay out a particular program because, again, i thought dick cheney's advice was good, which is let's make sure we know everything that's being done. But the interesting thing, george, was that during the campaign, although john mccain and i had a lot of differences on a lot of issues, this is one where we didn't have a difference, which is, it is possible for to us keep the american people safe while still adhering to our core values and ideals. And that's what i intend to carry forward in my administration.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You also agreed on guantanamo. And you said you're still going to shut it down. Is it turning out harder than you expected? Will you get that done in the first 100 days?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: It is more difficult than i think a lot of people realize. And we are going to get it done, but part of the challenge you have is you've got a bunch of folks who have been detained, many of whom may be very dangerous who have not been put on trial or have not gone through some adjudication. And some of the evidence on them may be tainted, even though it's true. And so how to balance creating a process that adheres to rule of law, habeas corpus, basic principles of anglo-american legal system by doing it in a way that doesn't result in releasing people who are intent on blowing us up. That is the challenge. It's going to take some time. And our legal teams are working in consultation with our national security apparatus as we speak to help design exactly what we need to do. I don't want to be ambiguous about this. We are going to close guantanamo. And we are going to make sure that the procedures we set up are ones that abide by our constitution. That is not only the right thing to do but actually has to be part of our broader national security strategy, because we will send a message to the world that we are serious about our values.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Most popular on your website comes from bob fertik of new york city, he asks --
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: we're still evaluating how we're going to approach the whole issue of interrogations, detentions and so forth. Obviously, we're going to be looking at past practices. And i don't believe that anybody is above the law. On the other hand, i also have a belief that we need to look forward, as opposed to looking backwards. And part of my job is to make sure that, for example, with the cia, you've got extraordinarily talented people who are working very hard to keep americans safe. I don't want them to suddenly feel like they've got to spend all their time looking over their shoulders and lawyering up.
STEPHANOPOULOS: So no 9/11 commission of independent power?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: We have not made final decisions, but my instinct is for us to focus on how to we make sure we're moving forward, we are doing the right thing. That doesn't mean that if somebody has blatantly broken the law that they are above the law, but my orientation is going to be moving forward.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Let me just stress that one more time. You're not ruling out prosecution, but will you tell your justice department to investigate the cases and follow the evidence wherever it leads?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: I think my general view when it comes to my attorney general is, he's the people's lawyer. Eric holder's been nominated. His job is to uphold the constitution and to look after the american people. And not to be swayed by my everyday politics. So ultimately he's going to be making some calls. But my general belief is that when it comes to national security, what we have to focus on is getting things right in the future as opposed to what we've got on in the past.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You mentioned eric holder, there's some fire on capitol hill with arlen specter and others that he's not going to be independent. Are you confident he's going to be con firled?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Yes.
STEPHANOPOULOS: And are you worried at all, troubled at all about the questions being asked about his independence and questions about the mark rich case?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: I think most of the questions have revolved around the mark rich pardon. He's acknowledged it was a mistake. George, you know, if the criteria for somebody being confirmed on a cabinet or being elected president was that they never made a mistake --
STEPHANOPOULOS: nobody would get in.
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: -- Nobody would get in. Here's somebody who's publicly taken responsibility. He said he dropped the ball on that one. Beyond that, though, everybody will acknowledge you that you can't find a guy who is more qualified. He's was second on the justice department. Has been a prosecutor. Has been a judge. And with respect to issues of independence, he locked up the most powerful democrat on the hill, dan roscokowski.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You say you've been reading a lot of lincoln. Is there anything that you've come across in preparing the speech that's been a particular inspiration to you?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Well, you know, i have been reading lincoln. I'm not sure whether that's been wise. Because every time you read --
STEPHANOPOULOS: high bar?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Every time you start reading that second inaugural, you start getting intimidated especially because it's really short. There's a genius to lincoln that is not going to be matched. People are pointing to kennedy's inauguration speech. Sorensen and kennedy together did an extraordinary job. Some of the others are not as inspiring.
STEPHANOPOULOS: To say the least.
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: So i think the main task for me in the inauguration speech and i think this is true for my presidency generally, is to try to capture as best i can the moment that we are in. I mean, i think that when you have a successful presidential speech of any sort, it's because that president is able to say -- is able to put their finger on -- here's the moment we're in. This is the crossroad that we're at. And then to project confidence that if we take the right measures, that we can once again be that country -- that beacon for the world. And so my focus is to try to be able to describe in simple plain terms what are the challenges we face, but then also to let people know i have every intention of working with the american people, so that we meet those challenges.
STEPHANOPOULOS: I just have a couple more questions. You've been without a worship community for about a year. Do you miss it?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: So I do. And it's been a difficult time. Now, i've got a wonderful community of people who are praying for me every day. And they call me up. You know, but it's not the same as going to church and the choir's going.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Do you have a church here in washington?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: So Not yet. So one of the things that michelle and i will be doing is probably visiting some churches and seeing what's comfortable. It is tougher, as president, you know, this is not just an issue of going to church, it's an issue of going anywhere. You don't want to subject your fellow church members, the rest of the congregation, to being nagged every time you go to church. So we're going to try to be balancing not being disruptive to the city, but also saying we want to be part of washington, d.C. One of the things that i don't like historically about washington is the way that you've got one part of washington, which is a company town, all about government. And is generally pretty prosperous. And then you've got another half of d.C. That is going through enormous challenges. I want to see if we can bring those two washingtons together.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Also, your girls started school this week.
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: So Yeah.
STEPHANOPOULOS: How did the first week go?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: So They seemed to thrive. I'm trying to figure out why they are not fazed by anything. Folks think i'm cool. They are a lot cooler than i am. They don't seem to be --
STEPHANOPOULOS: they're touring the newseum right now. I heard they were taken straight to the first dog exhibits. While you were getting made up, they went into the control room and played director and producer. They gave me a question they want me to ask you, you know exactly what it's going to be?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: So Go ahead.
STEPHANOPOULOS: What kind of a dog are we getting? And when are we getting it?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: So They seemed to have narrowed it down to a labradoodle or a portuguese water hound.
STEPHANOPOULOS: A medium size?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: So Medium-sized dog. So we're now looking at shelters to see when one of those dogs might come up.
STEPHANOPOULOS: So you're closing in on it?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: We're closing in on it. This is tougher than finding a commerce secretary.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Thank you very much for your time today and best of luck.
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Appreciate it. Thank you, george.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Israel Part 2
I learned that Isreal was attacked yesterday with 30 rockets and mortars from Hamas militants hiding out in Gaza. Throughout 2008, Hamas fired 4,681. Simple math says that's an average of 13 times a day.
Donate your Facebook status. http://qassamcount.com/fb
Donate your Facebook status. http://qassamcount.com/fb
Mike Allen's Politico Playbook reports:
SCOOP: MITT ROMNEY will appear on Capitol Hill on Thursday "to offer House Republicans his policy prescriptions for the ailing economy at a hearing … to discuss the pending stimulus package," Politico's Patrick O'Connor reports. "The former Massachusetts governor is scheduled to appear at a hearing … organized by party Whip Eric Cantor (Va.), where Republicans will outline their policy proposals for a massive economic stimulus bill that could exceed $800 billion. 'Last week, President Elect-Obama challenged the House Republicans to help him craft a stimulus bill. We are embracing this challenge and asking as many people as possible to help us create the ideas we need to cut taxes on middle class taxpayers and small businesses,' Cantor Deputy Chief of Staff Rob Collins said."
I think Romney has a big role to play. Great forsight the distinguished Minority Whip (and even better quote by his Deputy Chief of Staff).
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
SCOOP: MITT ROMNEY will appear on Capitol Hill on Thursday "to offer House Republicans his policy prescriptions for the ailing economy at a hearing … to discuss the pending stimulus package," Politico's Patrick O'Connor reports. "The former Massachusetts governor is scheduled to appear at a hearing … organized by party Whip Eric Cantor (Va.), where Republicans will outline their policy proposals for a massive economic stimulus bill that could exceed $800 billion. 'Last week, President Elect-Obama challenged the House Republicans to help him craft a stimulus bill. We are embracing this challenge and asking as many people as possible to help us create the ideas we need to cut taxes on middle class taxpayers and small businesses,' Cantor Deputy Chief of Staff Rob Collins said."
I think Romney has a big role to play. Great forsight the distinguished Minority Whip (and even better quote by his Deputy Chief of Staff).
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
You've got to be kidding me
So, I got up this morning, made some pancakes for Karla, Jack and I - cinnamon by the way - and now Jack and I are hanging out watching the news.
TJ who's last name I can't remember from CNN seems to be completely dumbfounded that Israel is continuing to bomb Hamas. Apparently, Israel should give Hamas time to re-stock and get supplies and bury their dead so Israel should stop.
Also a concern was the civilans, many of whom are in the crossfire. So TJ wants Israel should stop and give warning that they're about to attack. I wonder if he was interviewing a Hamas spokesperson; would he would ask if Hamas should give warning to Israeli civilians before a suicide attack?
The best part of the who interview was when he asked the spokeswoman from the IDF, "We've been watching this bombing for the last two weeks, don't you think it's enough?"
Her response, "You've been watching it or the last two weeks, but the people of Israel have been watching it for the last eight years!"
Keep up it Israel!
TJ who's last name I can't remember from CNN seems to be completely dumbfounded that Israel is continuing to bomb Hamas. Apparently, Israel should give Hamas time to re-stock and get supplies and bury their dead so Israel should stop.
Also a concern was the civilans, many of whom are in the crossfire. So TJ wants Israel should stop and give warning that they're about to attack. I wonder if he was interviewing a Hamas spokesperson; would he would ask if Hamas should give warning to Israeli civilians before a suicide attack?
The best part of the who interview was when he asked the spokeswoman from the IDF, "We've been watching this bombing for the last two weeks, don't you think it's enough?"
Her response, "You've been watching it or the last two weeks, but the people of Israel have been watching it for the last eight years!"
Keep up it Israel!
Friday, January 9, 2009
Blago is Gonzo!
I figured I'd start my new blog with a post about perhaps the most scandolous story from last year. The Illinois Governor trying to sell Barack Obama's Senate seat.
I was talking to my wife about this today and I thought she was going to kill me. Now, before I begin, I want to state unequivocaly that I hope he gets everything that is coming to him and I believe he is guilty as sin.
Moving on. He's really no different than most other politicians. Maybe I've been in DC to long and I'm jaded. But really, isn't that why people make contributions to candidates in the first place? Not to say that everyone is inherently unethical. But I see nothing wrong with helping your friends and your friends helping you. Nothing wrong with that. People do it in business all the time. Take a client to dinner. Give them tickets to a game. Does that make each businessperson in America unethical when they send their clients Christmas gifts that are over $100 or take them to a plated dinner where you can sit down and it's not "well-attended"?
But Blago takes it way over the line. And that's giving him the benefit of the doubt he actually has friends. Not only is a complete moron - he's a careless moron. He really had no friends to help and no one certainly wanted to help him. At least Duke Cunningham was smart enough to actually make some cash for himself as opposed to just his campaign committee when he got caught.
Of course, Duke Cunningham was also smart enough to resign.
Blago's going to get everything that's coming to him. Thankfully because the people of Illinois deserve a lot better.
I was talking to my wife about this today and I thought she was going to kill me. Now, before I begin, I want to state unequivocaly that I hope he gets everything that is coming to him and I believe he is guilty as sin.
Moving on. He's really no different than most other politicians. Maybe I've been in DC to long and I'm jaded. But really, isn't that why people make contributions to candidates in the first place? Not to say that everyone is inherently unethical. But I see nothing wrong with helping your friends and your friends helping you. Nothing wrong with that. People do it in business all the time. Take a client to dinner. Give them tickets to a game. Does that make each businessperson in America unethical when they send their clients Christmas gifts that are over $100 or take them to a plated dinner where you can sit down and it's not "well-attended"?
But Blago takes it way over the line. And that's giving him the benefit of the doubt he actually has friends. Not only is a complete moron - he's a careless moron. He really had no friends to help and no one certainly wanted to help him. At least Duke Cunningham was smart enough to actually make some cash for himself as opposed to just his campaign committee when he got caught.
Of course, Duke Cunningham was also smart enough to resign.
Blago's going to get everything that's coming to him. Thankfully because the people of Illinois deserve a lot better.
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