Transcript Part 1:
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J: Welcome back! My guest tonight is currently the
president of these United States. Please welcome back to the program, President
Barack Obama. Nice to see you. Please sit.
How are you?
O: I'm good. How are you? Good to see you, everybody. Good to see you.
J: How are you?
O: I am doing great. Before I do anything else I have to
acknowledge... We have some amazing women warriors.
J: Yes.
O: We've got a whole crew of veterans. I had nothing to do
with this. The USO wanted to bring them here.
J: It was a happy coincidenc.
O: I just want everyone to give them a big round of
applause.
J: Happy coincidence, by the way. They didn't even know you
were coming.
O: Absolutely.
J: I do want to ask you this, though. Before we... I'm
putting together a scrap book of the whole 2012 campaign, and I don't, I have
these great pictures from the 2 debates. But I don't know which debate they're
from so if you could... I have these 2 pictures. There's 1 picture. I don't
know if you can get that, and then there's the other picture. And I'm
wondering, could you tell me... which...
O: Cute.
J: I don't, I don't if I have the dates. Do you know which
debate was which?
O: Cute, cute, John.
J: What happened? What, did you feel.. did you? Here's what
happens to me sometimes. Sometimes I'll go on stage, and I'll have let's say an
open faced Turkey Sandwich and a shot of Nyquil, and uh...
O: That's a good combination.
J: And half way through I'll look up and go, "are we
on?" Did, did you sense, were you taken aback by then reaction to
it? Did you sense this wasn't going as well as you'd like it to? What, what
happened?
O: Look, you know, I think obviously I had an off night. The
presentation wasn't the way it was needed to be, but the issues haven't
changed. They didn't change after the first debate, and they didn't change in
the second debate. And that is that the stakes in this election are really big.
You know Governor Romney makes a good presentation, but the fundamentals of
what he's calling for are the same policies that got us into this mess that
we've been fighting against for the last 4 years, trying to dig are way out of
-- an economy that was good for a few folks at the top but wasn't working for
ordinary Americans. And after 31 months of consecutive job growth we've seen
5.2 million jobs created. Manufacturing is starting to come back.. The auto
industry (is) recovering. Housing is starting to rise again. I want to make
sure that we're not going back to those policies. And I want to make sure that
over the next four years we're building on the progress that we've already made
to create jobs right here in America for folks. And and to make sure that
middle class families have security.
J: Would you say...? Do you feel that you have a stronger
affirmative case for a second Barack Obama presidency or a stronger negative
case for a Mitt Romney presidency? What is, in your mind, what is the the the stronger
case to be made. Or do you prefer a melange. But what is, because I'm curious,
what do you think? Did you feel like you've, do you feel you've made the strong
enough affirmative case or a stronger negative case?
O: I think I've got a strong end on both ends. Four years
ago I said I'd end the war in Iraq. We did. I said we'd pass health care
reforms, make sure people don't go bankrupt when they get sick. We have. Said
that we would refocus our attention on Al Quiada. We have. Made sure that, made
sure that we'd save an auto industry that was on the brink of collapse. We've
done that. So we've got a very strong story to tell. Whether it's on social
issues like "don't ask, don't tell" or economic issues that matter
for, uh, middle class families. I do think that part of the president's job is
not only moving forward on things that will work but also preventing things
that won't work. So, I think you want a president in the Oval Office who is
going to say "no, we're not going amend our constitution for the first
time to restrict rights for gay and lesbian couples... We're not gonna, we're
not gonna pass a budget where all the work we've done to make college more
affordable for young people gets wiped aside so that suddenly lenders and banks
are getting extra tens of billions of dollars.
We're not going to roll back health care so that millions of
people are thrown off the roles.
We're not going to turn Medicare into a voucher system. So,
but, but when you think about it, it is two sides of the same coin. The
question is what kind of vision do you have for this country? We need to make
sure that we're developing oil and gas, but we're also developing solar and
wind so we're leapfrogging current technology and making sure we're, that that
the technology 20 or 30 years from now is developed here in the United States.
That's what create jobs, and I, the most important thing is, when you think
about the economy, I'm absolutely convinced, when you look at the historical
record, that when middle class families do well, when there are ladders of
opportunity for poor families to get into the middle class the entire economy
does well. And when a few folks are doing very well at the top and everyone
else is getting squeezed the economy grows slower. And and that is the central
issue of this election that we've got to make sure we address.
J: If you had to say Governor Romney there's one place where
you feel like, "man that's an area I wish I had done, I had a stronger
record on that he hits" -- is it unemployment? Is it, uh, the case he he talked
in the debate you know, uh, the administration that said we're going to have
this thing down to 5.4%. It's still at 7.8%. That's a difference of 9 million
people. Is there, is there something in what he says? Or is there a certain
inevitability to a slower economic comeback.
O: Well, here's what happened. We had the worst financial
crisis since "The Great Depression." We could be growing even faster
than we have, if Governor Romney's allies in Congress would move on some of the
things we've recommended.
I'll give you an example on housing. Right now, we could make
sure that families whose homes are underwater -- where they own more than their
mortgage. Or or owe more than their house is worth. If they refinance,
typically they'd get 3,000 bucks in their pockets each year. That's $3,000
they're spending or $3,000 dollars that they're putting back into equity in their
home. Housing market would be helped. Employment would be helped. Even Governor
Romney's own advisor says this is a good idea and yet Governor Romney opposes
it so...
J: Don't you have a hemp program? Don't you have...? Wasn't
50 billion dollars set aside for HAMP? And only 5 and a half billion has been
used?
O: Actually, what's happened is we've had 5 million
that have already, we've seen foreclosures prevented. We
have a settlement with the banks that provides another 25 billion dollars to
help the housing market. But the central question is: there are a whole bunch
of things that we can do right now that will make the recovery even stronger,
put more folks back to work. When you look at what we did with the auto
industry, that's not the only industry where manufacturing can take root back
in the United States again. We've got a whole bunch of cities where you've got
workers who are trained in machinery and advanced manufacturing and companies
are starting to look at maybe we insource instead of outsource. But we're going
to have to change the tax code to make sure that companies have a strong
incentive to do that.
J: If the Republican Congress was obstinate before, aren't
they still going to be there? Or if you win again, do you get to at some point
say, and I'm just gonna throw a phrase out there:" abracadabra." But
so, if their obstinacy is what created the drag on the economy and that is not
going to be ameliorated...what, what would be the difference?
O: Number one, I want to make sure we get as many democrats reelected
as possible and maybe we can take some seats back.
Number two, when you look at some of the things that we need
to do, let's say in the first year, 2013. Having a plan to bring down our
deficit that's balanced. That will be settled one way or another next year. The
question is going to be do we do it in a balanced responsible way or are we not
asking millionaires and billionaires to pay a dime of extra taxes to preserve
investments in education.
J: Wait. I'm sorry. This is the first I'm hearing of this.
What is that about billionaires.
O: It's true. It's true.
J: What are you doing to us?
O: John?
J: No, I'm going to throw to commercial and you and I are
going to have a conversation. And then we'll come back. But we are going to
have to go to commercial.
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