“font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;” lang= “EN-US” xml:lang=”EN-US”>On Monday President Barack Obama conducted a teleconference with editors and publishers from the minority press, including The St. Louis American. This is the transcript of the president’s presentation to the black press, followed by the question posed by The American and Obama’s answer to it.
The president closed by exhorting the editors
to tell their readers that he personally had asked them to vote in
the Nov. 2 midterm elections.
“I want you to tell your readers that the
president of the United States specifically asked them to turn out
at the polls,” Obama said.
“They must make sure they participate in the
process, and if they do we will be able to move forward.”
President Barack Obama:
From the first day of my presidency, I have
focused on two main challenges: how to rescue our economy from the
worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, and how to build
a new foundation for economic growth.
“font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;” lang= “EN-US” xml:lang=”EN-US”>Before I was sworn in, the economy had lost more than four million jobs in the months before January 2009, and ultimately we lost nearly eight million jobs before any of my economic policies could take effect. I know many working and middle-class families, and working-class families that aspire to be middle-class – especially African-American families – are in jeopardy.
“font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;” lang= “EN-US” xml:lang=”EN-US”>I hoped we’d get Republicans to help us deal with these challenges. We didn’t. They decided to stand on the sidelines. They figured that given the scope of what we were in, if they said, “No” to everything, it would help them politically. We decided to focus not on politics but on what is right for the country and make some tough decisions about what is good for the economy.
“font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;” lang= “EN-US” xml:lang=”EN-US”>Twenty-one months later, the economy is growing again and we no longer face the possibility of another Great Depression. We have seen nine consecutive months of job growth. And we have worked on some other things that, before the crisis hit, no one in Washington was focused on.
“font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;” lang= “EN-US” xml:lang=”EN-US”>We have passed huge education reform, not only in K through 12 but in student loans, making billion of dollars available for Pell grants and students loans so students can go to college, including helping HBCUs.
“font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;” lang= “EN-US” xml:lang=”EN-US”>We passed changes in health care, which was bankrupting families and businesses and draining our federal budget. Now there is greater security for people who have health insurance, and people who don’t have it will be able to get it.
“font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;” lang= “EN-US” xml:lang=”EN-US”>We have helped small businesses get tax credits throughout country so they can afford to provide employee with health insurance. We have passed tax cuts for 95 percent of all Americans, instead of focusing on millionaires and billionaires.
“font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;” lang= “EN-US” xml:lang=”EN-US”>We have helped small businesses across the board, which will have a huge impact on minority businesses, who often have the greatest difficulty getting financing, making sure small businesses get the help they need.
“font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;” lang= “EN-US” xml:lang=”EN-US”>We have tried to make sure people stay in their homes. We have made changes to make sure people are not being taken advantage of, that mortgage brokers are not steering people into mortgages they can’t afford.
“font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;” lang= “EN-US” xml:lang=”EN-US”>So look at what we have been able to do, not just to stem the crisis but to deal with the long-standing issues. But I know we have a long ways go and a lot of people are hurting.
“font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;” lang= “EN-US” xml:lang=”EN-US”>The key to be able to move forward and continue any progress on behalf of the middle class, the only way, is to get me help on Capitol Hill. I intend to reach out to Republicans, but frankly this election is about who will be there to look out for the middle class and working-class families – or who will be able to roll back some of the reforms and changes we have initiated. The last thing we can afford to do is to return to the economic policies that nearly destroyed our economy in the first place. It’s a critical that everyone understand what is at stake and turn out the vote.
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“font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;” lang= “EN-US” xml:lang=”EN-US”>The American:
“font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;” lang= “EN-US” xml:lang=”EN-US”>How can we recommend that our readers vote for Democrats who are running away from you on the campaign trail and don’t claim to embrace your legislative accomplishments?
“font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;” lang= “EN-US” xml:lang=”EN-US”> “font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;” lang= “EN-US” xml:lang=”EN-US”>President Obama:
“font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;” lang= “EN-US” xml:lang=”EN-US”>Look, it’s a tough political environment. The fact of the matter is because there were so many things we had to do in such a tough environment, a lot people still don’t know what we did.
“font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;” lang= “EN-US” xml:lang=”EN-US”>If you ask people if we should invest in new infrastructure and spend to put people to work, they say it is a great idea. If you ask is it good idea to give tax cuts to 95 percent of the American people, they say, “Yeah, absolutely.” If you ask is it a good idea to invest in clean energy and solar panels and wind turbines, they say it is a great idea.
Well, did all that in the Recovery Act, with
the stimulus package. But then suddenly they say, “We don’t like
the Recovery Act.” There is a disconnect between the things we have
done and the successful branding of these things by Republicans.
I’m not surprised a lot of Democratic candidates who voted for some
of my legislation and supported me, but right now are having a hard
time getting traction, sometimes don’t advertise the help they
provided.
“font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;” lang= “EN-US” xml:lang=”EN-US”>I have a great deal of confidence that if we have Democrats in Washington, they will be folks I can work with and keep making progress to help small businesses, blighted neighborhoods, to be able to continue to build new infrastructure and put more people to work and still invest in clean energy. Democrats are far less likely to threaten to cut education by 20 percent, as some Republicans have suggested, or offer more tax cuts to the wealthiest.
“font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;” lang= “EN-US” xml:lang=”EN-US”>When you look at what Democrats did in the last two years for the good of the American people, the good they have done on behalf African Americans, then I say don’t worry so much about a bunch of TV ads. When you get into the political season, people just talk in sound bites, especially when millions are being spent on negative ads from independent, undisclosed organizations run by Republican operatives. They are getting pummeled every day.
