20:58: Obama says that some Democrats have been "too resistant to reform" in education. Says bad teachers need to be fired. That "we should have high standards" ... "My whole goal over the next four years is to make sure that whatever arguments are persuasive and back up by facts and evidence and proof that they can work, that we are pulling people together around that kind of pragmatic agenda."
20:51: Sam Stein of the Huffington Post gets to ask a question. Asks about Leahy's proposal for a truth commission. Obama says he hasn't seen it. Restates positions on torture. Obama:
nobody's above the law. "if there are clear instances of wrongdoing, people should be prosecuted." Generally speaking, people should be looking forward, rather than backward.
20:50: Come on, guys. Ask about Jeppesen. I just might have to go down there myself the next time.
20:49: Helen Ven.. I always wrote Helen Vendler. Helen Thomas asks whether Pakistan is allowing terrorists to operate, and she tries to get Obama to admit that Israel possess nuclear weapons. Helen Vendler might ask a question about why the Falcon Cannot Hear The Falconer.
20:47: Obama asked about A-Rod! Ok, but can someone ask about Jeppesen? Obama gives the presidential answer. I'm ticked. The presser is over, and no one has asked him about the second biggest story of the day.
20:43: Major Garrett asks about VP Biden's 30% wrong prediction....Obama laughs... "I don't remember exactly what Joe was referring to. Not surprisingly. I think what Joe may have been suggesting, although I won't' ascribe any numerical percentage to any of this, given the magnitude of the challenges that we have, any single that we do is going to be part of the solution not all of the solution."
20:38: CNN's Ed Henry asks about when Obama will remove troops from Afghanistan and will reverse the blackout policy on troops being photographed coming home. "This is going to be a big challenge." Says that "you get a sense that the political system is now functioning in a meaningful way" in Iraq. Says government in Afghanistan "seems distached" ... Taliban operating in Fata and border regions. Ties the costs of getting Afghanistan right to 9/11. "We cannot allow Al Q to operate. We cannot have those safe havens in those regions."
20:35: Jake Tapper: beyond avoiding the catastrophe, once all the legs of the stools are in place...how can the American people gauge whether Obama's plan is working? Obama: "My initial measure of success is creating or saving four million jobs." Jobs --> Confidence ---> Spending --> Business investments --> More jobs. Then -- "seeing if our credit markets operate." Step 3 -- Housing. "Have we stabilized the housing market." Says that "if we get things right," country will start to see improvement next year.
20:32: Won't the government need more than the $350 billion in TARP funds? [The answer is yes. But the White House doesn't want to acknowledge this publicly this yet.] Obama: "My immediate task is making sure that ... $350 billion ... is spent properly....before I even think about anything else." Says Giethner and Summers are working together on transparency .... "We are going to have to work with the banks in an effective way to clean up their balance sheets." Obama: "We don't know yet.... whether we'll need any additional money." He makes a good point: we gotta see how institutions handle the money they're getting before we can figure out whether we need more.
20:31: Priority two: "midterm and long term budget is dealt with." Same is true for consumers.
20:27: Obama on priorities. Immediate job is "to stop the downward spiral." Doing so means an increase in demand. "The biggest problem we're going to have is our federal budget is if we continue a situation where there is no tax revenues ... and we have more demand for unemployment insurance...food stamps." Basically, to close the deficits long-term, more spending is needed in the short term.
20:26: Obama's upset at some of the cuts for school construction. Says that opposition suggests that people don't want the government to be involved in school construction. The opposition doesn't exactly make that argument.
20:25: Making the eco-proofing argument .... this stuff creates jobs. Reducing dependence on foreign oil. Puts money in politics. We're in an Obamalog here... about six minutes of defensiveness.
20:21: Obama: "there seems to be a set of folks who believe that we should do nothing." Not sure who these folks are. Is he setting up a straw man here? Those who are "sincere" about doing something... "What I've been concerned about is some of the language that has been used..." about pork, wasteful spending... when he hears it from folks who "provided over the doubling of the national debt" -- it's a little rich. Number 2 -- some of the programs "aren't job creators." True -- "those programs should be out of this particular recovery package and we can deal with them later." No earmarks -- a knock at McCain? (There aren't earmarks, but there are projects that certainly are destined for particular areas.)
20:18: Chip Reid of CBS asks about bipartisanship. Advisers say "not the number of votes, it's the number of jobs are created." Is Obama creeping away from bipartisanship? Obama: "it's going to take time to break down a lot of the bad habits." Obama "can't afford" to see Congress play the usual political games. Obama says he hopes his outreach pays dividends over the long-term.
20:16: All about Iran: Obama recaps his campaign answer. Says his national security is reviewing existing Iran policy, looking at areas where dialog can be constructed... in the coming months, we will be looking for openings that can be created...where we can start sitting across the table, face-to-face. Seeks signals from Iran "that it will act differently" as well.
20:15: "What I won't do is return to the theories of the past 8 years that got us into this message in the first place." ... "That's kinda what the election is about."
20:13 $800 billion wasn't plucked out of... a hat, he says, because demand will decline by approximately $1 trillion. Save or create 4 million jobs... (how will this be measured, again?)...one leg of the stool.. previewing tomorrow's steps to get the credit market loosened up...massaging it..."condition taxpayer dollars that are being provided to banks on them showing restraint"....
20:12: Obama on criticisms -- he brings these up himself. Some don't like government intervention -- these are "well-meaning" people; people who fault FDR for intervening in the New Deal. Obama's argument is that only government can step in to break the cycle.
20:11: Obama's "absolutely confident" that "we can solve this problem." Step 1 is passing the economic recovery plan.
20:10: AP's Jennifer Loven asks about Obama's earlier words by saying that the country is headed toward nonreversable catastrophe. Is he talking down the country? "Oh, no, no, no." Obama 'splains: delaying perpetuates a spiral that is much more difficult to get out of. Cites Japan's lost decade; "they did not act quickly enough."
20:09: Obama speaks for ten minutes; calls on Congress to act expeditiously.
This article available online at:
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2009/02/liveblogging-the-obama-news-conference/474/
