President Barack Obama addressed several issues facing our nation and answered questions posed by leading news publications in America in his first primetime news conference Monday.
"Before I even think about what else I've got to do, my first task is to make sure that my Secretary of the Treasury, Tim Geithner, working with Larry Summers, my National Economic Advisor, and others, are coming up with the best possible plan to use this money wisely," Obama said. "In a way that's transparent; in a way that provides clear oversight; that we are conditioning any money that we give to banks on them reducing executive compensation to reasonable levels; and to make sure that they're not wasting that money."
"What I know is, I'm not going to allow al Qaeda or bin Laden to operate with impunity, planning attacks on the U.S. homeland," said Obama.
Some topics of concern addressed by the president were the current economic crisis, the lack of bipartisanship in Washington, the credit crisis and the current war in Iraq and other terrorist organizations.
1) The economic crisis:
President Obama said we are going through the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Obama addressed the state of our economy and gave reasons why he needs to put the recovery package into place as soon as possible.
"The single most important part of this recovery plan is that it will save or create up to four million jobs. That is what America needs," said Obama.
Obama hopes his initial economic recovery plan will be passed by Congress.
2) The lack of bipartisanship:
When posed the question whether he thought his administration was moving away from the emphasis on bipartisanship, President Obama said there had been a lot of bad habits built up in Washington and it was going to take some time to break those down.
Obama also addressed that he had made a "series of overtures to the Republicans... designed to try and build up some trust over time." He hopes these will be reciprocated.
But Obama really had one goal he wanted to get across to the American people.
"I can't afford to see Congress play the usual political games," Obama said. "What we have to do right now is deliver for the american people. So my bottom line when it comes to the recovery package is send me a bill that creates or saves 4 million jobs."
Bipartisanship has been integral to the success of America's democracy, and the topic is explored deeper in the myths and realities of bipartisanship in D.C.
3) The credit crisis:
President Obama only has $350 billion remaining in the financial rescue funds to solve the credit crisis. But won't Obama need more than this to actually solve the crisis?
Obama said his first task is to make sure the money is spent properly.
"Before I even think about what else I've got to do, my first task is to make sure that my Secretary of the Treasury, Tim Geithner, working with Larry Summers, my National Economic Advisor, and others, are coming up with the best possible plan to use this money wisely," Obama said. "In a way that's transparent; in a way that provides clear oversight; that we are conditioning any money that we give to banks on them reducing executive compensation to reasonable levels; and to make sure that they're not wasting that money."
The credit crisis is far from over and it will be crucial for Obama and his administration to work diligently to solve this problem.
4) The war in Iraq and Afghanistan:
President Obama addressed the issue of removing troops from Iraq and Afghanistan as "timely."
Iraq just had an election that went rather peacefully, but Afghanistan is not ready to see its own elections run as smoothly.
However, Obama's bottome line is to not allow al Qaeda to operate and maintain safe havens for these terrorist organizations.
"What I know is, I'm not going to allow al Qaeda or bin Laden to operate with impunity, planning attacks on the U.S. homeland," said Obama.
Obama's transcript from the news conference fills in the remaining holes of this article.
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