The White House has cancelled an event for the First Lady.
UPDATED DAILY GUIDANCE FOR FIRST LADY MICHELLE OBAMA
Monday, March 2, 2009 - The First Lady’s “Read Across America’ event - previously scheduled for today at the Library of Congress with the NEA and Secretary Arne Duncan - has been cancelled due to inclement weather.
A snow storm and the potential of ice are gripping the Northeast. President Obama last month joked about how things are different in Washington compared to Chicago. He conveyed Chicago residents don’t let snow shut things down. The President’s comments snow delay comments became one of the stories of the day.
EMBARGOED UNTIL 6:00 AM ET, SATURDAY, February 28, 2009
WEEKLY ADDRESS: President Barack Obama Calls for Passage of Budget to Change the Way Washington Works
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama used his weekly address to call for the passage of his budget for 2009. This budget will cut taxes for working Americans and invest in clean energy, healthcare, and education, while slashing the deficit by two trillion over the next decade. During the campaign, President Obama promised to make Washington work for the American people, instead of the special interests and lobbyists. This budget is part of that change.
The full audio of the address is HERE. The video can also be viewed online at www.whitehouse.gov.
Remarks of Senator Barack Obama
Weekly Address
Saturday, February 28th, 2009
Washington, DC
Two years ago, we set out on a journey to change the way that Washington works.
We sought a government that served not the interests of powerful lobbyists or the wealthiest few, but the middle-class Americans I met every day in every community along the campaign trail - responsible men and women who are working harder than ever, worrying about their jobs, and struggling to raise their families. In so many town halls and backyards, they spoke of their hopes for a government that finally confronts the challenges that their families face every day; a government that treats their tax dollars as responsibly as they treat their own hard-earned paychecks.
That is the change I promised as a candidate for president. It is the change the American people voted for in November. And it is the change represented by the budget I sent to Congress this week.
During the campaign, I promised a fair and balanced tax code that would cut taxes for 95% of working Americans, roll back the tax breaks for those making over $250,000 a year, and end the tax breaks for corporations that ship our jobs overseas. This budget does that.
I promised an economy run on clean, renewable energy that will create new American jobs, new American industries, and free us from the dangerous grip of foreign oil. This budget puts us on that path, through a market-based cap on carbon pollution that will make renewable energy the profitable kind of energy; through investments in wind power and solar power; advanced biofuels, clean coal, and more fuel-efficient American cars and American trucks.
I promised to bring down the crushing cost of health care - a cost that bankrupts one American every thirty seconds, forces small businesses to close their doors, and saddles our government with more debt. This budget keeps that promise, with a historic commitment to reform that will lead to lower costs and quality, affordable health care for every American.
I promised an education system that will prepare every American to compete, so Americans can win in a global economy. This budget will help us meet that goal, with new incentives for teacher performance and pathways for advancement; new tax credits that will make college more affordable for all who want to go; and new support to ensure that those who do go finish their degree.
This budget also reflects the stark reality of what we’ve inherited - a trillion dollar deficit, a financial crisis, and a costly recession. Given this reality, we’ll have to be more vigilant than ever in eliminating the programs we don’t need in order to make room for the investments we do need. I promised to do this by going through the federal budget page by page, and line by line. That is a process we have already begun, and I am pleased to say that we’ve already identified two trillion dollars worth of deficit-reductions over the next decade. We’ve also restored a sense of honesty and transparency to our budget, which is why this one accounts for spending that was hidden or left out under the old rules.
I realize that passing this budget won’t be easy. Because it represents real and dramatic change, it also represents a threat to the status quo in Washington. I know that the insurance industry won’t like the idea that they’ll have to bid competitively to continue offering Medicare coverage, but that’s how we’ll help preserve and protect Medicare and lower health care costs for American families. I know that banks and big student lenders won’t like the idea that we’re ending their huge taxpayer subsidies, but that’s how we’ll save taxpayers nearly $50 billion and make college more affordable. I know that oil and gas companies won’t like us ending nearly $30 billion in tax breaks, but that’s how we’ll help fund a renewable energy economy that will create new jobs and new industries. In other words, I know these steps won’t sit well with the special interests and lobbyists who are invested in the old way of doing business, and I know they’re gearing up for a fight as we speak. My message to them is this:
So am I.
The system we have now might work for the powerful and well-connected interests that have run Washington for far too long, but I don’t. I work for the American people. I didn’t come here to do the same thing we’ve been doing or to take small steps forward, I came to provide the sweeping change that this country demanded when it went to the polls in November. That is the change this budget starts to make, and that is the change I’ll be fighting for in the weeks ahead - change that will grow our economy, expand our middle-class, and keep the American Dream alive for all those men and women who have believed in this journey from the day it began.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 25 (UPI) — Stevie Wonder, touted by U.S. President Obama as the singer-songwriter who made the “soundtrack of my youth,” was given the Gershwin Award at the White House. Obama, who presented Wonder the Library of Congress’s second annual award for lifetime achievement Wednesday night, even credited the 22-time Grammy award-winning recording artist with facilitating his romance with first lady Michelle Obama. “I think it’s fair to say that had I not been a Stevie Wonder fan, Michelle might not have dated me. We might not have married,” the president said. “The fact that we agreed on Stevie was part of the essence of our courtship.” The first lady, who said she grew up listening to Wonder’s music with her grandfather, seconded that emotion and drew “awhs” from the crowd when she pointed out his “You and I” was their wedding song. She also lauded the staying power of Wonder’s songs, noting that 40 years later groups such as the Jonas Brothers cover them, “thrilling a new generation of young girls, including our own.” Wonder, 58, was serenaded by a clutch of artists who played some of his catalogue of hits. Wonder sang “Signed Sealed Delivered.” Wonder drew laughs when he joked he was “so excited to know that I was a part of” their romance. “I needn’t say more,” he said, though later he joked again that “You know, maybe I’ll be a part of creating some more of those babies,” triggering a roar of laughter and applause from the audience. Wonder accepted the award for his mother, saying if she were there “She’d say, ‘Let me give him a peach cobbler.’”
Remarks of President Barack Obama - As Prepared for Delivery
Address to Joint Session of Congress
Tuesday, February 24th, 2009
Madame Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress, and the First Lady of the United States:
I’ve come here tonight not only to address the distinguished men and women in this great chamber, but to speak frankly and directly to the men and women who sent us here.
I know that for many Americans watching right now, the state of our economy is a concern that rises above all others. And rightly so. If you haven’t been personally affected by this recession, you probably know someone who has - a friend; a neighbor; a member of your family. You don’t need to hear another list of statistics to know that our economy is in crisis, because you live it every day. It’s the worry you wake up with and the source of sleepless nights. It’s the job you thought you’d retire from but now have lost; the business you built your dreams upon that’s now hanging by a thread; the college acceptance letter your child had to put back in the envelope. The impact of this recession is real, and it is everywhere.
But while our economy may be weakened and our confidence shaken; though we are living through difficult and uncertain times, tonight I want every American to know this:
We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before.
The weight of this crisis will not determine the destiny of this nation. The answers to our problems don’t lie beyond our reach. They exist in our laboratories and universities; in our fields and our factories; in the imaginations of our entrepreneurs and the pride of the hardest-working people on Earth. Those qualities that have made America the greatest force of progress and prosperity in human history we still possess in ample measure. What is required now is for this country to pull together, confront boldly the challenges we face, and take responsibility for our future once more.
Now, if we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll admit that for too long, we have not always met these responsibilities - as a government or as a people. I say this not to lay blame or look backwards, but because it is only by understanding how we arrived at this moment that we’ll be able to lift ourselves out of this predicament.
The fact is, our economy did not fall into decline overnight. Nor did all of our problems begin when the housing market collapsed or the stock market sank. We have known for decades that our survival depends on finding new sources of energy. Yet we import more oil today than ever before. The cost of health care eats up more and more of our savings each year, yet we keep delaying reform. Our children will compete for jobs in a global economy that too many of our schools do not prepare them for. And though all these challenges went unsolved, we still managed to spend more money and pile up more debt, both as individuals and through our government, than ever before.
In other words, we have lived through an era where too often, short-term gains were prized over long-term prosperity; where we failed to look beyond the next payment, the next quarter, or the next election. A surplus became an excuse to transfer wealth to the wealthy instead of an opportunity to invest in our future. Regulations were gutted for the sake of a quick profit at the expense of a healthy market. People bought homes they knew they couldn’t afford from banks and lenders who pushed those bad loans anyway. And all the while, critical debates and difficult decisions were put off for some other time on some other day.
Well that day of reckoning has arrived, and the time to take charge of our future is here.
Now is the time to act boldly and wisely - to not only revive this economy, but to build a new foundation for lasting prosperity. Now is the time to jumpstart job creation, re-start lending, and invest in areas like energy, health care, and education that will grow our economy, even as we make hard choices to bring our deficit down. That is what my economic agenda is designed to do, and that’s what I’d like to talk to you about tonight.
It’s an agenda that begins with jobs.
As soon as I took office, I asked this Congress to send me a recovery plan by President’s Day that would put people back to work and put money in their pockets. Not because I believe in bigger government - I don’t. Not because I’m not mindful of the massive debt we’ve inherited - I am. I called for action because the failure to do so would have cost more jobs and caused more hardships. In fact, a failure to act would have worsened our long-term deficit by assuring weak economic growth for years. That’s why I pushed for quick action. And tonight, I am grateful that this Congress delivered, and pleased to say that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is now law.
Over the next two years, this plan will save or create 3.5 million jobs. More than 90% of these jobs will be in the private sector - jobs rebuilding our roads and bridges; constructing wind turbines and solar panels; laying broadband and expanding mass transit.
Because of this plan, there are teachers who can now keep their jobs and educate our kids. Health care professionals can continue caring for our sick. There are 57 police officers who are still on the streets of Minneapolis tonight because this plan prevented the layoffs their department was about to make.
Because of this plan, 95% of the working households in America will receive a tax cut - a tax cut that you will see in your paychecks beginning on April 1st.
Because of this plan, families who are struggling to pay tuition costs will receive a $2,500 tax credit for all four years of college. And Americans who have lost their jobs in this recession will be able to receive extended unemployment benefits and continued health care coverage to help them weather this storm.
I know there are some in this chamber and watching at home who are skeptical of whether this plan will work. I understand that skepticism. Here in Washington, we’ve all seen how quickly good intentions can turn into broken promises and wasteful spending. And with a plan of this scale comes enormous responsibility to get it right.
That is why I have asked Vice President Biden to lead a tough, unprecedented oversight effort - because nobody messes with Joe. I have told each member of my Cabinet as well as mayors and governors across the country that they will be held accountable by me and the American people for every dollar they spend. I have appointed a proven and aggressive Inspector General to ferret out any and all cases of waste and fraud. And we have created a new website called recovery.gov so that every American can find out how and where their money is being spent.
So the recovery plan we passed is the first step in getting our economy back on track. But it is just the first step. Because even if we manage this plan flawlessly, there will be no real recovery unless we clean up the credit crisis that has severely weakened our financial system.
I want to speak plainly and candidly about this issue tonight, because every American should know that it directly affects you and your family’s well-being. You should also know that the money you’ve deposited in banks across the country is safe; your insurance is secure; and you can rely on the continued operation of our financial system. That is not the source of concern.
The concern is that if we do not re-start lending in this country, our recovery will be choked off before it even begins.
You see, the flow of credit is the lifeblood of our economy. The ability to get a loan is how you finance the purchase of everything from a home to a car to a college education; how stores stock their shelves, farms buy equipment, and businesses make payroll.
But credit has stopped flowing the way it should. Too many bad loans from the housing crisis have made their way onto the books of too many banks. With so much debt and so little confidence, these banks are now fearful of lending out any more money to households, to businesses, or to each other. When there is no lending, families can’t afford to buy homes or cars. So businesses are forced to make layoffs. Our economy suffers even more, and credit dries up even further.
That is why this administration is moving swiftly and aggressively to break this destructive cycle, restore confidence, and re-start lending.
We will do so in several ways. First, we are creating a new lending fund that represents the largest effort ever to help provide auto loans, college loans, and small business loans to the consumers and entrepreneurs who keep this economy running.
Second, we have launched a housing plan that will help responsible families facing the threat of foreclosure lower their monthly payments and re-finance their mortgages. It’s a plan that won’t help speculators or that neighbor down the street who bought a house he could never hope to afford, but it will help millions of Americans who are struggling with declining home values - Americans who will now be able to take advantage of the lower interest rates that this plan has already helped bring about. In fact, the average family who re-finances today can save nearly $2000 per year on their mortgage.
Third, we will act with the full force of the federal government to ensure that the major banks that Americans depend on have enough confidence and enough money to lend even in more difficult times. And when we learn that a major bank has serious problems, we will hold accountable those responsible, force the necessary adjustments, provide the support to clean up their balance sheets, and assure the continuity of a strong, viable institution that can serve our people and our economy.
I understand that on any given day, Wall Street may be more comforted by an approach that gives banks bailouts with no strings attached, and that holds nobody accountable for their reckless decisions. But such an approach won’t solve the problem. And our goal is to quicken the day when we re-start lending to the American people and American business and end this crisis once and for all.
I intend to hold these banks fully accountable for the assistance they receive, and this time, they will have to clearly demonstrate how taxpayer dollars result in more lending for the American taxpayer. This time, CEOs won’t be able to use taxpayer money to pad their paychecks or buy fancy drapes or disappear on a private jet. Those days are over.
Still, this plan will require significant resources from the federal government - and yes, probably more than we’ve already set aside. But while the cost of action will be great, I can assure you that the cost of inaction will be far greater, for it could result in an economy that sputters along for not months or years, but perhaps a decade. That would be worse for our deficit, worse for business, worse for you, and worse for the next generation. And I refuse to let that happen.
I understand that when the last administration asked this Congress to provide assistance for struggling banks, Democrats and Republicans alike were infuriated by the mismanagement and results that followed. So were the American taxpayers. So was I.
So I know how unpopular it is to be seen as helping banks right now, especially when everyone is suffering in part from their bad decisions. I promise you - I get it.
But I also know that in a time of crisis, we cannot afford to govern out of anger, or yield to the politics of the moment. My job - our job - is to solve the problem. Our job is to govern with a sense of responsibility. I will not spend a single penny for the purpose of rewarding a single Wall Street executive, but I will do whatever it takes to help the small business that can’t pay its workers or the family that has saved and still can’t get a mortgage.
That’s what this is about. It’s not about helping banks - it’s about helping people. Because when credit is available again, that young family can finally buy a new home. And then some company will hire workers to build it. And then those workers will have money to spend, and if they can get a loan too, maybe they’ll finally buy that car, or open their own business. Investors will return to the market, and American families will see their retirement secured once more. Slowly, but surely, confidence will return, and our economy will recover.
So I ask this Congress to join me in doing whatever proves necessary. Because we cannot consign our nation to an open-ended recession. And to ensure that a crisis of this magnitude never happens again, I ask Congress to move quickly on legislation that will finally reform our outdated regulatory system. It is time to put in place tough, new common-sense rules of the road so that our financial market rewards drive and innovation, and punishes short-cuts and abuse.
The recovery plan and the financial stability plan are the immediate steps we’re taking to revive our economy in the short-term. But the only way to fully restore America’s economic strength is to make the long-term investments that will lead to new jobs, new industries, and a renewed ability to compete with the rest of the world. The only way this century will be another American century is if we confront at last the price of our dependence on oil and the high cost of health care; the schools that aren’t preparing our children and the mountain of debt they stand to inherit. That is our responsibility.
In the next few days, I will submit a budget to Congress. So often, we have come to view these documents as simply numbers on a page or laundry lists of programs. I see this document differently. I see it as a vision for America - as a blueprint for our future.
My budget does not attempt to solve every problem or address every issue. It reflects the stark reality of what we’ve inherited - a trillion dollar deficit, a financial crisis, and a costly recession.
Given these realities, everyone in this chamber - Democrats and Republicans - will have to sacrifice some worthy priorities for which there are no dollars. And that includes me.
But that does not mean we can afford to ignore our long-term challenges. I reject the view that says our problems will simply take care of themselves; that says government has no role in laying the foundation for our common prosperity.
For history tells a different story. History reminds us that at every moment of economic upheaval and transformation, this nation has responded with bold action and big ideas. In the midst of civil war, we laid railroad tracks from one coast to another that spurred commerce and industry. From the turmoil of the Industrial Revolution came a system of public high schools that prepared our citizens for a new age. In the wake of war and depression, the GI Bill sent a generation to college and created the largest middle-class in history. And a twilight struggle for freedom led to a nation of highways, an American on the moon, and an explosion of technology that still shapes our world.
In each case, government didn’t supplant private enterprise; it catalyzed private enterprise. It created the conditions for thousands of entrepreneurs and new businesses to adapt and to thrive.
We are a nation that has seen promise amid peril, and claimed opportunity from ordeal. Now we must be that nation again. That is why, even as it cuts back on the programs we don’t need, the budget I submit will invest in the three areas that are absolutely critical to our economic future: energy, health care, and education.
It begins with energy.
We know the country that harnesses the power of clean, renewable energy will lead the 21st century. And yet, it is China that has launched the largest effort in history to make their economy energy efficient. We invented solar technology, but we’ve fallen behind countries like Germany and Japan in producing it. New plug-in hybrids roll off our assembly lines, but they will run on batteries made in Korea.
Well I do not accept a future where the jobs and industries of tomorrow take root beyond our borders - and I know you don’t either. It is time for America to lead again.
Thanks to our recovery plan, we will double this nation’s supply of renewable energy in the next three years. We have also made the largest investment in basic research funding in American history - an investment that will spur not only new discoveries in energy, but breakthroughs in medicine, science, and technology.
We will soon lay down thousands of miles of power lines that can carry new energy to cities and towns across this country. And we will put Americans to work making our homes and buildings more efficient so that we can save billions of dollars on our energy bills.
But to truly transform our economy, protect our security, and save our planet from the ravages of climate change, we need to ultimately make clean, renewable energy the profitable kind of energy. So I ask this Congress to send me legislation that places a market-based cap on carbon pollution and drives the production of more renewable energy in America. And to support that innovation, we will invest fifteen billion dollars a year to develop technologies like wind power and solar power; advanced biofuels, clean coal, and more fuel-efficient cars and trucks built right here in America.
As for our auto industry, everyone recognizes that years of bad decision-making and a global recession have pushed our automakers to the brink. We should not, and will not, protect them from their own bad practices. But we are committed to the goal of a re-tooled, re-imagined auto industry that can compete and win. Millions of jobs depend on it. Scores of communities depend on it. And I believe the nation that invented the automobile cannot walk away from it.
None of this will come without cost, nor will it be easy. But this is America. We don’t do what’s easy. We do what is necessary to move this country forward.
For that same reason, we must also address the crushing cost of health care.
This is a cost that now causes a bankruptcy in America every thirty seconds. By the end of the year, it could cause 1.5 million Americans to lose their homes. In the last eight years, premiums have grown four times faster than wages. And in each of these years, one million more Americans have lost their health insurance. It is one of the major reasons why small businesses close their doors and corporations ship jobs overseas. And it’s one of the largest and fastest-growing parts of our budget.
Given these facts, we can no longer afford to put health care reform on hold.
Already, we have done more to advance the cause of health care reform in the last thirty days than we have in the last decade. When it was days old, this Congress passed a law to provide and protect health insurance for eleven million American children whose parents work full-time. Our recovery plan will invest in electronic health records and new technology that will reduce errors, bring down costs, ensure privacy, and save lives. It will launch a new effort to conquer a disease that has touched the life of nearly every American by seeking a cure for cancer in our time. And it makes the largest investment ever in preventive care, because that is one of the best ways to keep our people healthy and our costs under control.
This budget builds on these reforms. It includes an historic commitment to comprehensive health care reform - a down-payment on the principle that we must have quality, affordable health care for every American. It’s a commitment that’s paid for in part by efficiencies in our system that are long overdue. And it’s a step we must take if we hope to bring down our deficit in the years to come.
Now, there will be many different opinions and ideas about how to achieve reform, and that is why I’m bringing together businesses and workers, doctors and health care providers, Democrats and Republicans to begin work on this issue next week.
I suffer no illusions that this will be an easy process. It will be hard. But I also know that nearly a century after Teddy Roosevelt first called for reform, the cost of our health care has weighed down our economy and the conscience of our nation long enough. So let there be no doubt: health care reform cannot wait, it must not wait, and it will not wait another year.
The third challenge we must address is the urgent need to expand the promise of education in America.
In a global economy where the most valuable skill you can sell is your knowledge, a good education is no longer just a pathway to opportunity - it is a pre-requisite.
Right now, three-quarters of the fastest-growing occupations require more than a high school diploma. And yet, just over half of our citizens have that level of education. We have one of the highest high school dropout rates of any industrialized nation. And half of the students who begin college never finish.
This is a prescription for economic decline, because we know the countries that out-teach us today will out-compete us tomorrow. That is why it will be the goal of this administration to ensure that every child has access to a complete and competitive education - from the day they are born to the day they begin a career.
Already, we have made an historic investment in education through the economic recovery plan. We have dramatically expanded early childhood education and will continue to improve its quality, because we know that the most formative learning comes in those first years of life. We have made college affordable for nearly seven million more students. And we have provided the resources necessary to prevent painful cuts and teacher layoffs that would set back our children’s progress.
But we know that our schools don’t just need more resources. They need more reform. That is why this budget creates new incentives for teacher performance; pathways for advancement, and rewards for success. We’ll invest in innovative programs that are already helping schools meet high standards and close achievement gaps. And we will expand our commitment to charter schools.
It is our responsibility as lawmakers and educators to make this system work. But it is the responsibility of every citizen to participate in it. And so tonight, I ask every American to commit to at least one year or more of higher education or career training. This can be community college or a four-year school; vocational training or an apprenticeship. But whatever the training may be, every American will need to get more than a high school diploma. And dropping out of high school is no longer an option. It’s not just quitting on yourself, it’s quitting on your country - and this country needs and values the talents of every American. That is why we will provide the support necessary for you to complete college and meet a new goal: by 2020, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.
I know that the price of tuition is higher than ever, which is why if you are willing to volunteer in your neighborhood or give back to your community or serve your country, we will make sure that you can afford a higher education. And to encourage a renewed spirit of national service for this and future generations, I ask this Congress to send me the bipartisan legislation that bears the name of Senator Orrin Hatch as well as an American who has never stopped asking what he can do for his country - Senator Edward Kennedy.
These education policies will open the doors of opportunity for our children. But it is up to us to ensure they walk through them. In the end, there is no program or policy that can substitute for a mother or father who will attend those parent/teacher conferences, or help with homework after dinner, or turn off the TV, put away the video games, and read to their child. I speak to you not just as a President, but as a father when I say that responsibility for our children’s education must begin at home.
There is, of course, another responsibility we have to our children. And that is the responsibility to ensure that we do not pass on to them a debt they cannot pay. With the deficit we inherited, the cost of the crisis we face, and the long-term challenges we must meet, it has never been more important to ensure that as our economy recovers, we do what it takes to bring this deficit down.
I’m proud that we passed the recovery plan free of earmarks, and I want to pass a budget next year that ensures that each dollar we spend reflects only our most important national priorities.
Yesterday, I held a fiscal summit where I pledged to cut the deficit in half by the end of my first term in office. My administration has also begun to go line by line through the federal budget in order to eliminate wasteful and ineffective programs. As you can imagine, this is a process that will take some time. But we’re starting with the biggest lines. We have already identified two trillion dollars in savings over the next decade.
In this budget, we will end education programs that don’t work and end direct payments to large agribusinesses that don’t need them. We’ll eliminate the no-bid contracts that have wasted billions in Iraq, and reform our defense budget so that we’re not paying for Cold War-era weapons systems we don’t use. We will root out the waste, fraud, and abuse in our Medicare program that doesn’t make our seniors any healthier, and we will restore a sense of fairness and balance to our tax code by finally ending the tax breaks for corporations that ship our jobs overseas.
In order to save our children from a future of debt, we will also end the tax breaks for the wealthiest 2% of Americans. But let me perfectly clear, because I know you’ll hear the same old claims that rolling back these tax breaks means a massive tax increase on the American people: if your family earns less than $250,000 a year, you will not see your taxes increased a single dime. I repeat: not one single dime. In fact, the recovery plan provides a tax cut - that’s right, a tax cut - for 95% of working families. And these checks are on the way.
To preserve our long-term fiscal health, we must also address the growing costs in Medicare and Social Security. Comprehensive health care reform is the best way to strengthen Medicare for years to come. And we must also begin a conversation on how to do the same for Social Security, while creating tax-free universal savings accounts for all Americans.
Finally, because we’re also suffering from a deficit of trust, I am committed to restoring a sense of honesty and accountability to our budget. That is why this budget looks ahead ten years and accounts for spending that was left out under the old rules - and for the first time, that includes the full cost of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. For seven years, we have been a nation at war. No longer will we hide its price.
We are now carefully reviewing our policies in both wars, and I will soon announce a way forward in Iraq that leaves Iraq to its people and responsibly ends this war.
And with our friends and allies, we will forge a new and comprehensive strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan to defeat al Qaeda and combat extremism. Because I will not allow terrorists to plot against the American people from safe havens half a world away.
As we meet here tonight, our men and women in uniform stand watch abroad and more are readying to deploy. To each and every one of them, and to the families who bear the quiet burden of their absence, Americans are united in sending one message: we honor your service, we are inspired by your sacrifice, and you have our unyielding support. To relieve the strain on our forces, my budget increases the number of our soldiers and Marines. And to keep our sacred trust with those who serve, we will raise their pay, and give our veterans the expanded health care and benefits that they have earned.
To overcome extremism, we must also be vigilant in upholding the values our troops defend - because there is no force in the world more powerful than the example of America. That is why I have ordered the closing of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, and will seek swift and certain justice for captured terrorists - because living our values doesn’t make us weaker, it makes us safer and it makes us stronger. And that is why I can stand here tonight and say without exception or equivocation that the United States of America does not torture.
In words and deeds, we are showing the world that a new era of engagement has begun. For we know that America cannot meet the threats of this century alone, but the world cannot meet them without America. We cannot shun the negotiating table, nor ignore the foes or forces that could do us harm. We are instead called to move forward with the sense of confidence and candor that serious times demand.
To seek progress toward a secure and lasting peace between Israel and her neighbors, we have appointed an envoy to sustain our effort. To meet the challenges of the 21st century - from terrorism to nuclear proliferation; from pandemic disease to cyber threats to crushing poverty - we will strengthen old alliances, forge new ones, and use all elements of our national power.
And to respond to an economic crisis that is global in scope, we are working with the nations of the G-20 to restore confidence in our financial system, avoid the possibility of escalating protectionism, and spur demand for American goods in markets across the globe. For the world depends on us to have a strong economy, just as our economy depends on the strength of the world’s.
As we stand at this crossroads of history, the eyes of all people in all nations are once again upon us - watching to see what we do with this moment; waiting for us to lead.
Those of us gathered here tonight have been called to govern in extraordinary times. It is a tremendous burden, but also a great privilege - one that has been entrusted to few generations of Americans. For in our hands lies the ability to shape our world for good or for ill.
I know that it is easy to lose sight of this truth - to become cynical and doubtful; consumed with the petty and the trivial.
But in my life, I have also learned that hope is found in unlikely places; that inspiration often comes not from those with the most power or celebrity, but from the dreams and aspirations of Americans who are anything but ordinary.
I think about Leonard Abess, the bank president from Miami who reportedly cashed out of his company, took a $60 million bonus, and gave it out to all 399 people who worked for him, plus another 72 who used to work for him. He didn’t tell anyone, but when the local newspaper found out, he simply said, ”I knew some of these people since I was 7 years old. I didn’t feel right getting the money myself.”
I think about Greensburg, Kansas, a town that was completely destroyed by a tornado, but is being rebuilt by its residents as a global example of how clean energy can power an entire community - how it can bring jobs and businesses to a place where piles of bricks and rubble once lay. “The tragedy was terrible,” said one of the men who helped them rebuild. “But the folks here know that it also provided an incredible opportunity.”
And I think about Ty’Sheoma Bethea, the young girl from that school I visited in Dillon, South Carolina - a place where the ceilings leak, the paint peels off the walls, and they have to stop teaching six times a day because the train barrels by their classroom. She has been told that her school is hopeless, but the other day after class she went to the public library and typed up a letter to the people sitting in this room. She even asked her principal for the money to buy a stamp. The letter asks us for help, and says, “We are just students trying to become lawyers, doctors, congressmen like yourself and one day president, so we can make a change to not just the state of South Carolina but also the world. We are not quitters.”
We are not quitters.
These words and these stories tell us something about the spirit of the people who sent us here. They tell us that even in the most trying times, amid the most difficult circumstances, there is a generosity, a resilience, a decency, and a determination that perseveres; a willingness to take responsibility for our future and for posterity.
Their resolve must be our inspiration. Their concerns must be our cause. And we must show them and all our people that we are equal to the task before us.
I know that we haven’t agreed on every issue thus far, and there are surely times in the future when we will part ways. But I also know that every American who is sitting here tonight loves this country and wants it to succeed. That must be the starting point for every debate we have in the coming months, and where we return after those debates are done. That is the foundation on which the American people expect us to build common ground.
And if we do - if we come together and lift this nation from the depths of this crisis; if we put our people back to work and restart the engine of our prosperity; if we confront without fear the challenges of our time and summon that enduring spirit of an America that does not quit, then someday years from now our children can tell their children that this was the time when we performed, in the words that are carved into this very chamber, “something worthy to be remembered.” Thank you, God Bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America.
The nation’s governors welcomed money from President Obama’s economic stimulus plan, but said it was only a down payment on improving dire fiscal conditions in their states. Most also played down criticism of the plan by a handful of Republicans, who have said they may reject some of the stimulus funds. Leaders of most of the 50 states and U.S. territories were attending the three-day winter meeting of the National Governors Association in Washington. The meeting focused on the need for infrastructure improvement, which is expected to absorb much of the stimulus funding directed to states. Several of the governors were escaping drama in their own states, including California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican who signed the state’s overdue budget last week after a bruising battle with lawmakers over how to plug the state’s mammoth $41 billion budget hole.
President Obama held his first formal event at the White House with entertainment by Earth Wind and Fire. Seated next to Mrs. Obama at dinner, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Also, at the table Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley. Seated at President Obama’s table, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell as well as other dignitaries. Rendell, the head of the National Governors Association gave the response to the dinner guests after the President’s toast. President Obama said during the toast, “Nobody, I think understands what is happening in the country, the struggles, the hopes, the hardships and the dreams of the American people as well as the nation’s governors. You are where the rubber hits the road. Obama also said, “Our goal and aim is to make sure that we are making life easier and not harder for you.”
Earlier this week, I signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act - the most sweeping economic recovery plan in history. Because of this plan, three and a half million Americans will now go to work doing the work that America needs done.
I am grateful to the Congress, governors and mayors across the country and to all of you, whose support made this critical step possible.
Because of what we did together, there will now be shovels in the ground, cranes in the air, and workers rebuilding our crumbling roads and bridges, and repairing our faulty levees and dams.
Because of what we did, companies - large and small - that produce renewable energy can now apply for loan guarantees and tax credits and find ways to grow, instead of laying people off; and families can lower their energy bills by weatherizing their homes.
Because of what we did, our children can now graduate from 21st century schools and millions more can do what was unaffordable just last week - and get their college degree.
Because of what we did, lives will be saved and health costs will be cut with new computerized medical records.
Because of what we did, there will now be police on the beat, firefighters on the job, and teachers preparing lesson plans who thought they would not be able to continue pursuing their critical missions. And ensure that all of this is done with an unprecedented level of transparency and accountability, I have assigned a team of managers to make sure that precious tax dollars are invested wisely and well.
Because of what we did, 95% of all working families will get a tax cut - in keeping with a promise I made on the campaign. And I’m pleased to announce that this morning, the Treasury Department began directing employers to reduce the amount of taxes withheld from paychecks - meaning that by April 1st, a typical family will begin taking home at least $65 more every month. Never before in our history has a tax cut taken effect faster or gone to so many hardworking Americans.
But as important as it was that I was able to sign this plan into law, it is only a first step on the road to economic recovery. And we cannot fail to complete the journey. That will require stemming the spread of foreclosures and falling home values, and doing all we can to help responsible homeowners stay in their homes, which is exactly what the housing plan I announced last week will help us do.
It will require stabilizing and repairing our banking system, and getting credit flowing again to families and businesses. It will require reforming the broken regulatory system that made this crisis possible and recognizing that it’s only by setting and enforcing 21st century rules of the road that we can build a thriving economy.
And it will require doing all we can to get exploding deficits under control as our economy begins to recover. That work begins on Monday, when I will convene a fiscal summit of independent experts and unions, advocacy groups and members of Congress to discuss how we can cut the trillion-dollar deficit that we’ve inherited. On Tuesday, I will speak to the nation about our urgent national priorities, and on Thursday, I’ll release a budget that’s sober in its assessments, honest in its accounting, and lays out in detail my strategy for investing in what we need, cutting what we don’t, and restoring fiscal discipline.
No single piece of this broad economic recovery can, by itself, meet the demands that have been placed on us. We can’t help people find work or pay their bills unless we unlock credit for families and businesses. We can’t solve our housing crisis unless we help people find work so they can make payments on their homes. We can’t produce shared prosperity without firm rules of the road and we can’t generate sustained growth without getting our deficits under control. In short, we cannot successfully address any of our problems without addressing them all. And that is exactly what the strategy we are pursuing is designed to do.
None of this will be easy. The road ahead will be long and full of hazards. But I’m confident that we, as a people, have the strength and wisdom to carry out this strategy and overcome this crisis. And if we do, our economy - and our country - will be better and stronger for it.
While I was at the White House today, I befriended April Ryan from American Urban Radio Networks. She was the one sitting in front of me who wouldn’t let Robert Gibbs get away without a follow-up.
After the briefing, I saw April posing for a photo with a gathering of other journalists (also pictured is another new friend, Politico’s Nia-Malika Henderson). Ebony Magazine releases its Power 150 in May, and the African American contingent of the White House Press Corps is on the list. Ebony ’s Harriett Cole, who is producing the feature, was not at liberty to tell me where on the list they fell. I vote for a pretty high spot, because often, the people asking the questions can make more of a difference than those answering them.
Here’s my own no-frills version of the shot. You’ll have to wait until May to see the frilly one.
President Barack Obama warned the nation’s mayors on Friday that he will “call them out” if they waste the money from his massive economic stimulus plan.
“The American people are watching,” Obama told a gathering of mayors at the White House. “They need this plan to work. They expect to see the money that they’ve earned - they’ve worked so hard to earn - spent in its intended purposes without waste, without inefficiency, without fraud.”
In the days since the White House and Congress came to terms on the $787 billion economic package, the political focus has shifted to how it will work. Obama has staked his reputation not just on the promise of 3.5 million jobs saved or created, but also on a pledge to let the public see where the money goes.
His budget chief this week released a 25,000-word document that details exactly how Cabinet and executive agencies, states and local organizations must report spending. It is a system meant to streamline reports so they can be displayed on the administration’s new Web site, Recovery.gov.
Beyond issues of accountability, the overwhelming attitude of the mayors was gratitude to President Obama for the funds to help their localities.
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
AND THE VICE PRESIDENT
AT MEETING WITH NATION’S MAYORS
East Room
10:36 A.M. EST
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you all for being here today, and welcome back to the White House. (Applause.) Mr. Mayor, my mayor in the city of Wilmington, Jim Baker — when I got elected, he assumed that he got an office in the West Wing. (Laughter.) But he has a telephone number that is accessible — hi, Jim, how are you?
Thank you all for being here. It’s great to be with so many — so many leaders who are literally, to use that shopworn phrase, on the front lines where the economy lives and dies, and where people are struggling, and you have to deal with it every day.
You know, in a long career in politics, there’s one overwhelming reason why I never ran for mayor, Richie, it’s too hard. (Laughter.) They have got your phone number, and they know where you live, and they come and they use it.
Well, President Obama and I are turning that around. We want you to know you can have our phone number, and you know where we live. (Applause.) And we expect you to use it. Already, we’ve met with you and the Conference of Mayors over half a dozen times.
Too often in the past, America’s cities have been neglected, and our mayors haven’t had — haven’t been able to be heard on the questions of national policy. That’s a story you all understand and know very well. But we know how important cities are — 65 percent of our nation’s population, as you all know, live in our cities. Our cities are the home of seven out of ten American jobs. And when you’re talking about the “knowledge economy jobs,” the number rises to eight and ten — eight out of ten. Cities are vital to our economy, essential to our recovery, and haven’t been paid much attention to.
Our economy can never reach, in our view, its full potential if we have people who are living blocks away, but worlds away from the bustling downtowns full of opportunity. Our poor transportation systems don’t provide mobility people need to get to the job. Or they aren’t enough police or firefighters in communities to keep the communities safe.
And that’s why the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act President Obama signed this week I think includes unprecedented investment in American cities. (Applause.) Simply stated, that’s the commitment made in this law. Now, the hard part in one sense, is up to us. We got to make this work. We got to make it work for our people. We got to make it work for our cities. We got to make work for all our people.
The American people have trusted their government with an unprecedented — unprecedented level of funding to address the economic emergency we face. In return, we have to prove to them that their dollars are making a difference in their communities. We’ve already set up a website — recovery.com [sic] — which will show where and how the money is being spent. The public can actually go on a web site and see how we’re spending this money.
President Obama has been insistent during his campaign, and from the time we won, on accountability and transparency. All of you know, if we don’t meet that minimum threshold, the likelihood of the public trusting us to do this kind of thing is going to evaporate very rapidly. Transparency is vital, and effectiveness is paramount. These investments are a huge opportunity — a huge opportunity to create jobs today, and strengthen our economy for tomorrow.
We’ve designed this bill to save and create — save or create over 3 million new jobs. And we’d like to see it do even better than that. And that’s where your efforts come in. You are — you’re the ones who know the areas that give us the greatest return on our investment — you know it better than we do. You’re the ones who know — you’re the ones who know which projects will crystallize private investment and even greater growth in your cities. And the world is watching — the world is watching to see how well this is going to work. And we need your help — we need your help in making it work, and work quickly and effectively.
As of today, we’re one month into this administration — although I said to the President in the past, it feels like a little longer than that. But we are one month into this administration. And think what the President has already done — already signed into laws, there’s a Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. We’ve expanded state health insurance — Children’s Health Insurance Program to cover an additional 4 million children. We put forward — excuse me — we put forward a plan to reduce preventable home foreclosures. We’ve won passage of the largest economic recovery effort since World War II — in a month — in a month. (Applause.)
So the results of the President’s leadership and your help are already there and clear for everybody to see. But it’s been a great privilege to also see how much this President has done behind the scenes to make this happen. I’ve been here for eight Presidents — for eight Presidents — you can tell by my look. (Laughter.) Well, I want to tell you something: The hard choices the President has made, the patient outreach he’s done, the firm resolve he’s shown — the results of this work I think speak for themselves. But I’m pleased to speak about the man who made these results happen.
There is so much more to do — so much more. But already, President Obama has put our nation on the path toward greater recovery — not only greater recovery, but greater decency, greater fairness, greater opportunity, along with economic recovery. For years, many of us have hoped for such accomplishments. And in just one month, an incredible new President has made this a reality.
So please join me in welcoming the President of the United States of America, Barack Obama. (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, everybody. Thank you. Please have a seat. Thank you so much. Whenever I have the opportunity to meet with mayors, I think about how I got my start doing what you do each day: working with folks at the local level and doing our best to make a real impact on the lives of ordinary Americans. And that’s just another reason why I’m so happy to welcome all of you here today.
I want to offer — take a little personal prerogative here and welcome my own hometown mayor — my friend, Rich Daley. (Applause.) His steady leadership has proven again and again that the American city can be a place of boundless opportunity and a source of solutions to our public problems; he has made a deep and lasting difference in the quality of life for millions of Chicagoans. I’m surprised he’s still talking to me because I stole Arne Duncan from him — (laughter) — but I am confident that he will continue to make great strides.
I see friends from all over the place; some old friends — not old in years, but people who I’ve known a long time. My other hometown mayor, Mufi, it’s great to see you all the way from Honolulu. I’ve got Mayor Riley and others who are in attendance; Shirley Franklin doing great work; and Mayor Villaraigosa and Mayor Dellums from — we’ve got the California contingent. So I’m grateful to all of you.
And I think all of you understand that we meet at such an urgent time. Last night, I signed an executive order establishing the White House Office of Urban Affairs. (Applause.) I’ve chosen Adolfo Carrión to be its first director. Adolfo wrote a real success story in the Bronx as borough president, and now he’s going to be working with all of you to write our next success stories in cities across the country.
He’s going to be responsible for coordinating all federal urban programs, and I’ve asked him to set up an advisory council with mayors and other urban leaders so that we can develop a new metropolitan strategy based on the lessons you’ve learned. Now, rebuilding our economies and renewing our cities is going to require a true partnership between mayors and the White House, and that partnership has to begin right now.
Those of you who have traveled great distances to be here come from different parties and philosophies. You govern very different cities, they’re made up of different citizenries with different demographic makeups. But today, in the face of our common challenges, you’re all hearing the same stories. I know because I’m getting letters from constituents all across the country, in many of your cities.
But you’re on the front lines in our communities. You know what happens when folks get laid off, or they lose their homes or their health care, and they turn to the mayor’s office for help. And just as your services stretch, your classrooms get crowded, and your streets grow less safe, your budgets shrink. You can’t deficit spend, so you face impossible choices: raising taxes; cutting essential services; laying off teachers, firefighters, police officers.
And that’s why the recovery plan we put into action this week is so important. It’s a plan that will save or create 3.5 million jobs over the next two years; will help those hardest hit by our economic crisis; it will aid state and local governments in hopes you can avoid those excruciating choices.
It provides greater unemployment insurance for nearly 18 million Americans, and protects health care for 7 million who lost their health care along with their jobs. It includes the most progressive tax cuts in our history, spurring job creation and putting money into the pockets of 95 percent of all hardworking families. It invests in what works for our cities by funding programs like the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant and the COPS program, which boost public safety and bring down crime. It rewards responsibility, making sure that if you work hard, you won’t have to raise a child below the poverty line.
But what makes this recovery plan so important isn’t just the jobs it will create or the immediate help it provides; it’s that we are putting Americans to work doing the work America needs done in critical areas that have been neglected for too long. (Applause.) So this plan does more to lay a new foundation for our cities’ growth and opportunity than anything Washington has done in generations — and it will bring real and lasting change for generations to come.
Because we know we can’t build our economic future on the transportation and information networks of the past, we’re remaking our cities with the largest new investment in our nation’s infrastructure since Eisenhower built an Interstate Highway System in the 1950s. Ray LaHood is going to be busy because we’re putting 400,000 men and women to work rebuilding our crumbling roads and our bridges, repairing our faulty dams and levees, replacing our aging water and sewer pipes, and rolling out broadband lines to nearly every community in America. (Applause.) We’re going to unleash the potential of all our regions by connecting them with world-class transit systems and high-speed rail, making our metropolitan areas more livable and sustainable in the process.
Because we know education is the single best bet we can make to change the odds of our children and our cities, we are making the largest investment in education in our nation’s history. It will prevent harmful education cuts and save jobs of tens of thousands of teachers — 14,000 just in New York City. And it will make a historic investment in early childhood education and upgrade classrooms and libraries and labs across America, so that millions of our children are prepared to compete in the 21st century.
Because we know that spiraling health care costs are crushing families and businesses alike, and straining budgets across government, we’re taking the most meaningful steps in years to modernize our health care system. We’re going to computerize America’s medical records while maintaining rigorous privacy standards, saving billions of dollars and countless lives. We’ll focus on prevention, keeping millions of Americans from having to set in the doctor’s office in the first place. Taken together with the earlier enactment this month of long-delayed laws to extend health care to millions more children of working families, we’ve done more in 30 days to advance the cause of health care reform than this country has done in a decade. (Applause.)
And because we know we can’t power America’s future on energy that’s controlled by foreign dictators, we’re making an investment that within three years will double the renewable energy output it’s taken us 35 years to reach. (Applause.) We’ll provide tax credits and loan guarantees to companies that create this energy, allowing them to expand rather than lay people off. We’ll fund the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant you conceived, saving our cities and our consumers money. (Applause.) We’ll build a bigger, better, smarter electricity grid that delivers clean energy from communities that produce it to the cities that need it.
So these are the steps we’re taking to help you turn this crisis into opportunity and bring our cities into the future. Now, Washington can’t solve all the problems facing our cities — and I know you don’t expect us to. Instead of waiting for Washington, many of you have already made our cities laboratories of change, coming up with innovative new ways to solve the problems of our time.
One of the great pleasures of running for President was having a chance to see great work on renewable energy in Des Moines or, you know, seeing what kinds of wonderful companies are being created in Seattle, and hearing about some of the urban planning strategies that are taking place in Charleston. So all of you have already taken the ball and run with it, even when you weren’t getting help from here. But it won’t be bad to get some help because — (applause.)
You know, instead of debating the existence of climate change, mayors like Greg Nickels in Seattle are leading efforts to make cities greener and more efficient. Instead of just talking about health care, mayors like Gavin Newsom in San Francisco have been ensuring that those in need receive it. Instead of wringing your hands over poverty, you’ve got Antonio in Los Angeles making relentless efforts to alleviate it.
You shouldn’t have to succeed, though, despite Washington; you should be succeeding with a hand from Washington, and that’s what you’re going to get now. (Applause.)
Now, what is required in return, what I will need from all of you, is unprecedented responsibility and accountability on all of our parts. The American people are watching. They need this plan to work. They expect to see the money that they’ve earned, that they’ve worked so hard to earn, spent in its intended purposes without waste, without inefficiency, without fraud.
And that’s why I’m assigning a team of managers to ensure that every dollar is spent wisely. And that’s why we’ve created recovery.gov — so that every American can go online to see how their money is spent, and hold their federal, state, and local officials to the highest standards they expect.
So I want to be clear about this: We cannot tolerate business as usual — not in Washington, not in our state capitols, not in America’s cities and towns. We will use the new tools that the recovery act gives us to watch the taxpayers’ money with more rigor and transparency than ever. (Applause.) If a federal agency proposes a project that will waste that money, I will not hesitate to call them out on it and put a stop to it.
And I want everybody here to be on notice that if a local government does the same, I will call them out on it and use the full power of my office and our administration to stop it. We have asked for the unprecedented trust of the American people to deal boldly with the greatest economic crisis we’ve seen in decades and the privilege of investing unprecedented amounts of their hard-earned money to address this crisis. And with that comes unprecedented obligations to spend that money wisely — free from politics and free from personal agendas.
On this, I will not compromise or tolerate any shortcuts. The American people are looking to us, each of you, as well as myself and Joe and others in our administration, for leadership, and it’s up to us to reward their faith.
Now, this plan doesn’t mark the end of what we’ll do together. It marks the beginning. My administration has outlined plans to stabilize, repair and reform our banking system, to get credit flowing to families and businesses, to stem the spread of foreclosures and keep families in their homes. Together, we will tackle the urban challenges of our time and foster diverse, creative and imaginative economies that bring opportunity to every corner of our cities.
We’ll do all this because despite the different backgrounds of the mayors in this room, we all share the same vision for our cities — vibrant places that provide our children with every chance to learn and to grow, that allow our businesses and workers the best opportunity to innovate and succeed, that let our older Americans live out their best years in the midst of all that metropolitan life can offer.
I know this change is possible. I know because I saw it in all those years ago in neighborhoods on the South Side of Chicago, where ordinary Americans came together and worked alongside the mayor’s office to forge a better future. I know because I’ve seen it in cities across this country, where many of you that I had a chance to meet with, I saw how you focused on fresh ideas over stale ideology, and you moved your cities forward. And I know it because I see it in the faces of Americans everywhere who are ready to roll up their sleeves and join in the work of remaking this nation.
So now it falls to us to seize the possibilities of this moment and convert peril into promise; see to it that our cities and our people emerge from this moment stronger than they were before. Starting today, that’s what you and I are going to do — together. And I’m absolutely confident that our people will benefit and people will look back and say that this was a turning point; this was a moment where, in the midst of great crisis, leadership was shown and we created a new platform for success for all Americans in the future.
Thank you so much, everybody. Appreciate it. (Applause.)
“Senator Gregg reached out to the President and offered his name for Secretary of Commerce. He was very clear throughout the interviewing process that despite past disagreements about policies, he would support, embrace, and move forward with the President’s agenda. Once it became clear after his nomination that Senator Gregg was not going to be supporting some of President Obama’s key economic priorities, it became necessary for Senator Gregg and the Obama administration to part ways. We regret that he has had a change of heart”.
Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton, left, and Hillary Clinton
spokesman Phil Singer at White House Correspondents Dinner last April.
Some are surprised to learn of Burton’s racial background. (Credit: CNN)
Some Surprised by Background of Deputy Press Aide
When a list of members of the White House press office appeared to show that no African American professionals worked there, a press assistant fielded a call asking if that were indeed the case. She said yes, not realizing that one of her own bosses, White House deputy press secretary Bill Burton, has a black father and white mother.
“I am biracial, that’s right,” Burton, 31, told Journal-isms on Tuesday. “Though I find it interesting that you ask only if I ‘consider’ myself biracial and not if I am.”
Burton’s ethnicity, a surprise to many who have worked with or covered him through the long Obama campaign and into the White House, has surfaced only sporadically as a subject in a meteoric career that includes service as communications director for the 2004 presidential campaign of Rep. Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., for that of John Kerry, also in 2004, as national press secretary for Sen. Barack Obama, and now as deputy White House press secretary. His race is usually ignored.
“I had NO idea and I used to see him everyday,” one African American Obama campaign worker said. “I’m as good as any of us in ‘detecting’ the mixed among us and I had no clue. He looks totally white!”
The same White House press assistant assured a caller last week that Burton was not African American and said she was sure because she had known him for some time.
Burton’s ethnicity became a subject of more than idle curiosity after Press Secretary Robert Gibbs released a list last week of the press-office staff, as this column reported then.
Even accounting for Burton, some were concerned. “I got an e-mail Tuesday listing all of the various press folks and contact information, and hardly any African-Americans or Hispanics were listed,” commentator Roland Martinsaid on CNN. “Granted, the deputy press secretary is African-American and the director of broadcast media is Hispanic. That’s not sufficient.
“Unfortunately, this shouldn’t come as a shock, because the campaign press staff of then-Sen. Barack Obama was just as weak on diversity.”
Martin repeated his position in his Creators Syndicate newspaper column.
He noted that staff members often rise to the key posts of press secretaries for entire departments and for the White House itself, and that Obama had articulated a commitment to diversity. White House staffers also decide which reporters are admitted to news conferences and which are called upon. Though there continues to be outreach to journalists of color in other venues - Obama gave an interview just this week to Black Enterprise magazine - it took six post-election news conferences before a black or Hispanic reporter had access to the microphone for questions.
It should be noted that the White House press office is not the only part of its communications team, and that aides assigned specifically to the “specialty media” - black and Latino news outlets, for example - are assigned to the “media relations” office.
Corey A. Ealons, who deals with African American media, told Journal-isms, “I continue to make the point that this is one operation with a wealth of diversity in its makeup” as it attempts to put forward Obama’s message.
As deputy press secretary, Burton is one of the key shapers of that message. Some will remember him on the campaign trail doing battle with Fox News’ Meghan Kelly after Fox played up comments that Obama had a “socialist” message, or perhaps when he announced that the Obamas had indeed left the Chicago church of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
According to a 2008 story by Tom Buckham in Burton’s hometown Buffalo News, “Burton traces his political awakening to the times his father, Troy, who was active in the machinists union at the since-closed Pohlman Foundry Co. on the East Side, took him along to Buffalo School Board meetings.
“The two ‘always talked about politics,’ but attending those sessions ‘took it from theoretical to actionable,’ he said.
“The political bug bit in earnest after his time at the University of Minnesota, where he majored in English, Burton said. To earn money for school, he worked in community relations at Minneapolis headquarters of what is now Target Corp. . . .
“There, he came to the attention of Rep. Bill Luther, D-Minn., who hired him right after graduation.
“Burton arrived in Washington, D.C., in 1999 as one of the youngest press secretaries, if not the youngest, on Capitol Hill.
Troy Burton now lives in Niles, Ohio, and Bill Burton’s Polish-American mother, Deborah Ballard, still lives in Buffalo.
In 2007, Burton marriedLaura Capps, who worked in the White House during Bill Clinton’s presidency and was Kerry’s press secretary in Iowa in 2003. Burton was her counterpart in the Gephardt campaign.
“It will be a long-distance marriage,” the Times wrote then. “For how long? ‘Until we move into the White House,’ Mr. Burton said.”
