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.