The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
January 19, 2012

Remarks by the President at a Campaign Event

Main Reception Area
Daniel Restaurant
New York, New York

5:18 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you!  Thank you so much.  Thank you, everybody.  (Applause.)  Thank you, everybody.  Please have a seat.

It is wonderful to be back in New York, and it is wonderful to be among so many wonderful friends.  As I look around the room, I’ve got people who’ve supported me when nobody could pronounce my name -- (laughter) -- and I was running for the United States Senate.  In fact, I’ve got a couple people here who supported me when I was running for the State Senate.  (Applause.)  My Chicago contingent here.  (Laughter.)   

I want to thank all the organizers who helped pull this together.  I also want to give a special shout-out to one of the finest mayors that this city has ever had, Ed Koch, who's here.  (Applause.)  We are grateful to him. 

We’re going to spend most of our time in a conversation.  I don't want to give a long speech -- partly because I have three more events tonight.  (Laughter.)  But the main reason is I want to save most of the time for a conversation and a dialogue between us.

But let me just, first of all, say that we’re obviously living in historic times.  When I first came into office, we were going through the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, and so, understandably, a lot of my time and most of the country’s attention was consumed by, how do we get America back on its feet. 

But we were also in the midst of two wars.  We were also coming out of a period in which America’s leadership around the world had declined.  And what we’ve been able to do I think over the last three years is to not only avert a Great Depression, not only save an auto industry, not only get the economy moving in the right direction -- although we’ve still got a long way to go -- but we were also able to end a war that had distracted us from our most ardent enemies; we were able to decimate al Qaeda; we were able to beef up what we were doing in Afghanistan in a way that now allows us to take a transition and start bringing our troops home there, and turn over the security needs of the Afghan people to Afghan security forces.

But what we were also able to do I think is to restore a sense of America as the sole, indispensable power -- a country that, whether it’s responding to an earthquake or a tsunami, or it’s dealing with a dictator that is about to ruthlessly butcher his people, we aren’t out there alone.  We’re able to mobilize around a set of values and a set of principles, and ensure that the international rules of the road are followed.

And it’s because of that extraordinary work that my Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, has been able to do, that our entire national security team has been able to execute, that America is stronger now than it was three years ago.  But what’s also true is the world is going through the kinds of changes that we haven’t seen in a generation.  And obviously nowhere is that more true than in the Middle East. 

Now, I’m sure we’re going to have a chance to take some questions on these issues, but I want to just make a couple of key points.

Since I’ve been in office, we have unequivocally said that Israel’s security is non-negotiable, and that we will do everything that’s necessary to make sure that Israel is able to thrive and prosper as a secure Jewish state.  Part of that has been to make sure that we’ve got the strongest military cooperation that we’ve ever had between our two nations.  That’s not my opinion, by the way, that’s the Israeli government’s opinion. 

Part of it is by making sure that as the Arab Spring swept through the region, that we are pushing hard on countries like Egypt to make sure that they continue to abide by the peace treaties that have served both countries well.

Part of it is mobilizing an unprecedented campaign of sanctions and pressure on Iran, and stating unequivocally that we’re not going to tolerate a nuclear weapon in the hands of this Iranian regime.  And we’ve been able to organize folks like China and Russia that previously would have never gone along with something like this.  And it’s been so effective that even the Iranians have had to acknowledge that their economy is in a shambles. 

When I came into office, Iran was united and the world was divided.  And now what we have is a united international community that is saying to Iran, you’ve got to change your ways. 

Now, this doesn't mean that we’re where we need to be.  The Arab Spring can still go in a whole multitude of directions, and this is going to be a very delicate time for us to make sure that the legitimate aspirations of ordinary people for democracy and economic opportunity doesn’t get channeled by demagogues in ways that are dangerous for America’s security interests or Israel’s security interests. 

We still have situations like Syria where people are being slaughtered.  And, obviously, that has huge ramifications for the region.  Iran still has not made the right choice in terms of taking a path that would allow it to rejoin the community of nations and set aside its nuclear ambitions.  And, obviously, we still have not made the kind of progress that I would have liked to have seen when it comes to peace between Israel and the Palestinians -- a peace, by the way, that I believe is not just good for the Palestinians, but is profoundly in the strategic interest of Israel.  (Applause.)

So we’ve still got a lot of work to do.  And my main message tonight is going to be I’m going to need you in order for us to finish that work.  We’re not going to be able to succeed in fully transitioning from a time in which the United States was isolated and at war and disregarded around the world to one in which we have restored a sense of balance and vision and purpose to world affairs unless we can continue on the effective path that we’re on. 

And, obviously, the American people are still keenly interested in making sure that the economy is working.  And that’s going to dominate the debate.  And although I believe that we’ve got a great story to tell on that front, although I can tick off statistics about how we’ve had 22 straight months of private sector job growth and that we’re starting to see companies actually bringing jobs back to the United States because of our renewed competitive posture, and I can talk about the investments that we’re making in basic research and science to make sure that we maintain our innovative edge, and I can talk about all the things we’ve done in government to make it more efficient and leaner so that it can more effectively serve the American people -- despite all those stories that we’ve got to tell, unemployment is still too high and a lot of people are still hurting, and the housing market is still weak, and state and local governments are still trying to figure out how to balance their books.

So in that environment, this is still going to be a tough race, regardless of who they nominate.  And the most important thing that we can do on the foreign policy front is make sure that we’ve got an America in which everybody has got a fair shot, everybody is doing their fair share, everybody is playing by the same rules, and we once again create a sense of opportunity and optimism here in the United States.  Because when that happens, then America looks outward and it realizes the critical role that it plays in world affairs.  And when folks are struggling, we turn inward, and sometimes we don’t realize how important it is for us to be involved in some of these critical issues. 

This is a group, obviously, that spends a lot of time thinking both about domestic issues and international issues.  And my main message to you is I intend to win, but I’m going to need your help doing it.  (Applause.)

And over the next 10 months, when we are having as clear a contrast between the parties and as profound a debate as we’ve seen in a very long time about the direction that America needs to take, I hope you know that the values you cherish, what you stand for, what you believe in, are the things I cherish and I believe in and I’m willing to fight for. 

And if you have that confidence in me -- because I certainly have that confidence in you -- then I’m absolutely positive that not only will we win the election but, more importantly, we’re going to be able to continue this path that we started in 2008. 

Thank you very much, everybody.  Thank you.  (Applause.)

END
5:29 P.M. EST

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
January 19, 2012

Remarks by the President Unveiling a Strategy to Help Boost Travel and Tourism

Walt Disney World Resort
Orlando, Florida

12:40 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, everybody!  (Applause.)  I am glad to be at Disney World!  (Applause.)  The Magic Kingdom.  This is outstanding.

Well, let me begin by thanking Ruben for that extraordinary introduction.  And he was too bashful -- maybe he’s not supposed to do this.  I will do it.  His restaurant is called Zaza [Yaya’s].  (Applause.)  New Cuban diners.  So everybody check it out.  And I told him, he was -- on the way out, he was wondering, I don’t know, I don’t do this a lot.  He’s a natural.  (Laughter.)  We’re going to have to run him for something.  (Laughter.) 

But thank you so much for taking the time.  It is great to be here.  It is rare that I get to do something that Sasha and Malia envy me for.  (Laughter.)  That doesn’t happen very often.  Maybe for once they’ll actually ask me at dinner how my day went.  (Laughter.)

And I confess, I am excited to see Mickey.  It’s always nice to meet a world leader who has bigger ears than me.  (Laughter.) 

I want to acknowledge the presence of one of Florida’s outstanding mayors, the mayor of Orlando -- Buddy Dyer is in the house.  (Applause.)  We’ve got two outstanding members of my Cabinet -- Interior Secretary Ken Salazar -- (applause) -- and Commerce Secretary John Bryson.  (Applause.)  Because they’re focused on what brings us here today, and that’s creating jobs and boosting tourism. 

You just heard what a huge difference tourism makes for small businesses like Ruben’s.  Every year, tens of millions of tourists all over the world come to visit America.  Makes sense.  You got the greatest country on Earth -- people want to come.  As folks in Orlando know, that’s good for our economy.  It means people are renting cars and they’re staying in hotels and they’re eating at restaurants and they’re checking out the sights.  It means people are doing business here in the United States.  In 2010, nearly 60 million international visitors helped the tourism industry generate over $134 billion.  Tourism is the number-one service that we export.  Number one.  And that means jobs. 

More money spent by more tourists means more businesses can hire more workers.  This is a pretty simple formula.  And that’s why we’re all here today -- to tell the world that America is open for business.  We want to welcome you, and to take concrete steps to boost America’s tourism industry so that we can keep growing our economy and creating more jobs here in Florida and all across the country.

Now, here’s the good news:  We’ve got the best product to sell.  I mean, look at where we are.  We’ve got the most entertaining destinations in the world.  This is the land of extraordinary natural wonders -– from the Rocky Mountains to the Grand Canyon; from Yellowstone to Yosemite. 

This is the land where we do big things, and so have incredible landmarks, like the Golden Gate Bridge and the Empire State Building; the Hoover Dam; the Gateway Arch.  This is the land of iconic cities and all their sights –- from Independence Hall in Philadelphia to Faneuil Hall in Boston; from the Space Needle in Seattle to the skyline of my hometown in Chicago.  It’s a nice skyline, for those of you who have never been there.  (Laughter.)  All right, a couple of Chicagoans back there.  (Laughter.)

But I’m here today because I want more tourists here tomorrow.  I want America to be the top tourist destination in the world.  (Applause.)  The top tourist destination in the world.  (Applause.)  And this is something that we’ve been focused on for some time.

Two years ago, I signed a bill into law called the Travel Promotion Act.  It had broad support of both Democrats and Republicans.  And as you know, that doesn’t always happen.  (Laughter.)  And it set up a new nonprofit organization called Brand USA.  Its job is to pitch America as a travel destination for the rest of the world to come to visit. 

You guys see advertising for other countries, other destinations, here in the United States, right?  Well, we’ve got to do the same thing, so that when people are thinking about where they want to travel, where they want to spend their vacation, we want them to come here.  And so that’s already in place, but we’ve got to do more.

So today, I directed my administration to send me a new national tourism strategy focused on creating jobs.  And some of America’s most successful business leaders –- some who are here today –- have signed up to help.  We’re going to see how we can make it easier for foreign tourists to find basic information about visiting America.  And we’re going to see how we can attract more tourists to our national parks.  We want people visiting not just Epcot Center, but the Everglades, too.  The more folks who visit America, the more Americans we get back to work.  It’s that simple.   

Now, just as we do a better job of marketing our tourist destinations, we’ve also got to make it easier for tourists to make the visit.  There’s a good reason why it’s not easy for anybody to get a visa to come to America.  Obviously, our national security is a top priority.  We will always protect our borders and our shores and our tourist destinations from people who want to do us harm.  And unfortunately, such people exist, and that’s not going to change. 

But we also want to get more international tourists coming to America.  And there’s no reason why we can’t do both.  We can make sure that we’re doing a good job keeping America secure while at the same time maintaining the openness that’s always been the hallmark of America and making sure that we’re welcoming travelers from all around the world.

So one step we’re taking is the expansion of something called the Global Entry Program.  It’s a program that protects our borders and makes life easier for frequent travelers to and from the United States.  Now, getting into the program requires an extensive background check.  But once you’re in, once you’ve proven yourself to be a solid individual who is coming here for business or recreation purposes, instead of going through long lines at immigration, we can scan your passport, your fingerprints, and you’re on your way. 

So it’s a great example of how we’re using new technology to maintain national security and boost tourism at the same time.  And we’re now going to make it available to almost all international travelers coming to the United States.  If they’re willing to submit themselves to the background checks necessary, we can make sure that we’re facilitating their easy travel into the United States.  (Applause.)

There are some additional steps, though, that we can take.  Right now, there are 36 countries around the world whose citizens can visit America without getting a tourist visa.  After they go online they get pre-cleared by Homeland Security, and there’s only one thing they have to do and that’s book a flight.  And that’s been a great boost for tourism.  Over 60 percent of our visitors don’t require a visa, and in most cases that’s because of this program.

Today, I’m directing my administration to see if we can add more countries to it.  (Applause.)  We want more folks to have an easier time coming to the United States.

And let’s also realize that in the years ahead, more and more tourists are going to come from countries not currently in this program -- countries with rapidly growing economies, huge populations, and emerging middle classes; countries like China and India, and especially important here in Florida, Brazil, a huge population that loves to come to Florida.  (Applause.)  But we make it too hard for them.  More and more of their people can now afford to visit America who couldn’t come before, and in fact, over the next four years, the tourists traveling from those countries we expect to more than double.

But we want them coming right here.  We want them spending money here, in Orlando, in Florida, in the United States of America, which will boost our businesses and our economy. 

So today, I’m directing the State Department to accelerate our ability to process visas by 40 percent in China and in Brazil this year.  We’re not talking about five years from now or 10 years from now -- this year.  (Applause.) 

We’ve already made incredible progress in this area.  We’ve better staffed our embassies and our consulates.  We’ve streamlined services with better technology.  Waiting times for a visa are down.  But applications keep on going up -- they are skyrocketing.  People want to come here.  And China and Brazil are the two countries which have some of the biggest backlogs.  And these are two of the countries with some of the fastest-growing middle classes that want to visit and have disposable income -- money that they want to spend at our parks and our monuments and at businesses like Ruben’s.

So that’s what this is all about:  telling the world that America is open for business; making it as safe and as simple as possible to visit; helping our businesses all across the country grow and create jobs; helping those businesses compete and win.

Ultimately, that’s how we’re going to rebuild an economy where hard work pays off, where responsibility is rewarded, and where anybody can make it if they try.  That’s what America is all about.  That’s part of the reason why people want to come here, because they know our history.  They know what the American Dream has been all about.  And a place like Disneyland represents that quintessentially American spirit.  This image is something that’s recognized all around the world, and this weather -- (laughter) -- is something that people appreciate all around the world, including the northern parts of this country.  (Laughter.)  

So we want everybody to come.  All who are watching, Disney World and Florida are open for business, but we want people all around the world to know the same.  And we are going to do everything we can to make sure that we’re continuing to boost tourism for decades to come. 
    
Thank you very much, everybody.  God bless you.  God bless the United States of America.

END                    
12:53 P.M. EST

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
January 17, 2012

Remarks by the President and First Lady Honoring the 2011 World Champion St. Louis Cardinals

East Room

3:33 P.M. EST

        MRS. OBAMA:  Please be seated.  Hello, everyone.

        AUDIENCE:  Happy birthday!

        MRS. OBAMA:  Oh, thank you!

        THE PRESIDENT:  It’s her birthday!

        MRS. OBAMA:  It’s my birthday.

        THE PRESIDENT:  It’s her birthday today.

        MRS. OBAMA:  Thank you.  And this is a great way to spend -- no, you don’t have to sing, that’s very sweet of you.  My husband is not used to me being at these events, because I usually don’t come, but I had to be here and welcome you all to the White House.

        And I want to thank you all for being here as we celebrate another world championship for the St. Louis Cardinals.  (Applause.)  

        And that is not easy to say as a Cubs fan.  (Laughter.)  But I have to say, you all make it a lot easier to say with all of the good work that you do in the community, especially everything that you all do for military families -- and that is why I’m here.  (Applause.)  And I got to see that firsthand when Jill Biden and I visited Game One of the World Series, which was very cool, which Major League Baseball dedicated to our nation’s military families.  And that was just amazing.  I mean, you all threw out all the stops.  It was a powerful experience for all of us, and we’re grateful.  It truly captured the strength, service and sacrifice of our troops, veterans and their families.  As an example, we have two special guests with us here today -- Marine Lance Corporal James Sperry and Hannah.  Hey, Hannah!  Would you guys stand up?  (Applause.)

        I had the pleasure of hanging out with these guys in the box, and Hannah stayed awake for most of the game.  (Laughter.)  She ate a lot of hot dogs.  She had a great time.  And it was a wonderful experience.  And I just have to tell you that Lance Corporal Sperry is a perfect illustration of what our troops and wounded warriors display every day throughout this country.  He’s a veteran of Iraq, and he sustained multiple wounds from a rocket-propelled grenade, and he still feels the effects today.  But since he’s returned home, that hasn’t stopped him.  And that’s what we see.  It hasn’t stopped him from being a first responder during last spring’s devastating tornadoes in Joplin, Missouri; it hasn’t stopped him from being a mentor to other wounded warriors; and it certainly hasn’t stopped him from being a phenomenal dad to a very beautiful, brave little girl -- who I really like a lot.  (Laughter and applause.)

        So I want to give a special thank you to the Cardinals for saving a couple of seats for these guys on the plane, and they’ve been able to be here today, and hopefully everybody treated you well here.  And I want to thank the Cardinals and Major League Baseball as a whole for supporting the “Joining Forces” initiative.  Together, we’re showing that it doesn’t matter who you are -- whether you’re a Cardinal or a Cub fan, or even a White Sox guy -- (laughter) -- we all can find a way to give something back to our troops and families who’ve given us so much.  

        So with that, I want to thank you and congratulate you, and introduce your proud President, Commander-in-Chief, and sports-fan-in-chief, my husband, Barack Obama.  (Applause.)

        THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.  Thank you, everybody.  (Applause.)  Thank you.  It is wonderful to be here.  It is wonderful to be joined by my wife.  It is her birthday today.  When we first married, it was a little controversial that she was 20 years younger than me, but -- (laughter) -- now it seems to have worked out okay.  (Laughter.)  

        MRS. OBAMA:  I’m 48.  (Laughter.)

        THE PRESIDENT:  And I want to join her in congratulating the World Champion St. Louis Cardinals.  (Applause.)  I won’t lie, I’m a little disappointed I had to leave my White Sox jacket in the closet for another year.  (Laughter.)  But this is a special team, both because of what they do for our military and their families, but also what they did on the field last season.  And I know we’ve got Mayor Slay from St. Louis and some members of Congress who agree with me.  I see the delegation here; they’re beaming.  (Laughter.)  They are quite pleased.  

        Now, when we talk about baseball, we’re talking about a sport, obviously, with a long history.  Over 200,000 games have been played since Major League Baseball began.  Seventeen thousand players have gone through the league.  So this is a sport that has seen it all.  

        But every once in a while, something happens that we have never seen before -- something unique.  And that’s why it is my pleasure to stand here with the greatest comeback team in the history of baseball.  (Applause.)

        Last August, with just 31 games to play in the regular season, the Cardinals were 10 and a half games out of the playoff race.  At one point, they had a less than 4 percent mathematical chance of making the playoffs.  In Las Vegas, they were 500-to-1 longshots to win the World Series.  And when Chris Carpenter pulled the team together for a meeting, his message was simple:  Let’s not embarrass ourselves.  (Laughter.)  But through skills and guts, and I think the team would agree just a little bit of luck -- just a touch -- this team made the playoffs.  And even though they trailed in each of the series that followed, they somehow had the spirit and the determination and the resolve to survive.

        Of course, the most memorable moment was Game Six of the World Series.  I’ve got to say, that has to be one of the best baseball games of all time.  Unbelievable game.  (Applause.)  I will tell you guys, I had a bunch of early-morning stuff the next day, and you kept me up.  (Laughter.)  It was painful waking up the next morning.  But what an incredible game.  Five times, the Cardinals found themselves trailing; twice, they were down to the last strike.  Then Mr. Freese here hits the first walk-off homer of his entire career, to send it into Game Seven.  Then the Cardinals put the Rangers away for good.

        This team essentially played two months of elimination games, both to get into the playoffs, and then to win it all.  But in Tony La Russa’s words, “Sometimes you can’t be afraid to make a mistake.  Sometimes you just roll the dice and you let it go.”  That’s what the former teammate of these folks, Albert Pujols, did, when he joined Babe Ruth and Reggie Jackson as the only player to hit three home runs in a World Series game.  That’s what the outstanding ace, Chris Carpenter, did when he pitched the lights out against the Phillies, and then came back to put the nail in the coffin against the Rangers.  That’s what David Freese did in Game Six -- not bad for a kid who grew up dreaming of playing for the Cardinals.  And even though he can’t be here today, that’s what Tony La Russa did, winning his third title and then stepping down with the third most wins of any manager in history.

        I will point out that he began as a White Sock, so -- (laughter.)

        MRS. OBAMA:  Let it go.  (Laughter.)

        THE PRESIDENT:  Everyone on this team follows the Cardinals’ way:  They play all 27 outs; they never quit; they carry on the legacy of so many great Cardinals that have come before them.

        Last year, I was honored to present Stan “The Man” Musial with one of the highest honors a President can bestow, the Medal of Freedom.  And you could see Stan coming from about a mile away, because he was wearing that bright red blazer.  There’s no question he will always be a Cardinal at heart.  And now this team is part of that long line of heroes.

        So I want to congratulate not only the players, the owners, all the managers and team officials, but also the fans, for a historic year.  And I also want to thank them for visiting Walter Reed this morning, spending some time with our wounded warriors over there.  That’s what this organization is all about; it represents baseball at its best.  And I wish them all the best this season.  

        Congratulations.  (Applause.)  Fantastic.  Tell me what I got here.  Tell me what I got.

        MR. DEWITT:  Thank you for those warm remarks and nice hospitality here.  We’ve got a couple of gifts for you and Mrs. Obama.

        THE PRESIDENT:  There you go.

        MR. DEWITT:  A World Series jersey with your name on the back, number 44.

        THE PRESIDENT:  That’s nice right there.  (Laughter.)  There we go.

        MR. DEWITT:  One for each.  One for each.  (Applause.)  And a bat for each.  And a World Series bat.

        THE PRESIDENT:  Okay.  I’m a little bit worried about giving my wife a bat, though.  (Laughter.)  If I mess up --

        MRS. OBAMA:  I’ll take my bat.  (Laughter and applause.)

END 3:43 P.M. EST

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
January 17, 2012

Remarks by President Obama and His Majesty King Abdullah of Jordan

Oval Office

3:07 P.M. EST

PRESIDENT OBAMA:  Good afternoon, everybody.  It is a great pleasure for me to once again welcome His Majesty King Abdullah of Jordan, as well as his delegation. 

We have very few countries around the world that are better friends and better partners than the Jordanians.  The fact that they are in such a difficult neighborhood makes the relationship between our two countries that much more important.

And so I want to publicly express my appreciation for His Majesty’s leadership not only in forging a strong bilateral relationship, but also all the multilateral efforts that he is engaged in to encourage peace and prosperity during what has been an extraordinary time. 

The last time we met, the face of the region was very different.  Since that time, you’ve seen new governments emerging in Egypt, in Libya; transitions taking place and a new government in Tunisia; transitions taking place in Yemen; and now obviously great volatility in Syria.  Throughout this period we consulted closely with the Jordanians, and we value the advice and the thoughtful leadership that His Majesty provides.

We spent a great deal of time discussing a number of key subjects.  We talked about the importance of us continuing to consult closely together to encourage the Palestinians and the Israelis to come back to the table and negotiate in a serious fashion a peaceful way forward.  And the Jordanians have taken great leadership on this issue, and we very much appreciate their direction on this issue.

We discussed as well the extraordinary efforts that have been made by His Majesty, as well as the Prime Minister, in guiding political reform inside of Jordan.  I think His Majesty has been ahead of the curve in trying to respond to the legitimate concerns and aspirations, both politically and economically, of the Jordanian population. And so we have said that we want to be as helpful as we can in encouraging this ongoing reform process that’s taking place.

We also talked about a number of regional issues, including Iraq and Iran, but uppermost on our minds right now is the issue of Syria.  His Majesty was the first Arab leader to publicly call on President Assad to step down, in the face of the terrible brutality we’ve been seeing inside of Syria. 

I want to thank him for his willingness to stand up.  As a consequence, Jordan has been part of an overall Arab League effort to encourage this sort of peaceful transition inside of Syria that is needed. 

Unfortunately, we’re continuing to see unacceptable levels of violence inside that country, and so we will continue to consult very closely with Jordan to create the kind of international pressure and environment that encourages the current Syrian regime to step aside so that a more democratic process of transition can take place inside of Syria.

Finally, Jordan, just like the rest of the world, has been grappling with a very difficult economic environment, and we are proud to have been able to provide some timely assistance in areas like food security this week.  I think wheat from the United States will be arriving that will help to make sure that there’s bread in Jordan. 

But there’s more work to do.  And so through a wide range of bilateral efforts, including the Millennium Challenge grant and other mechanisms, what we’re trying to do is encourage entrepreneurship, market-based reforms, small business and medium-sized businesses developing and prospering inside of Jordan.  And we pledge to continue to work in strong partnership with His Majesty to make sure that all the people of Jordan have the kind of opportunity that they deserve.

So, generally speaking, our bilateral relationship could not be stronger.  And I want to thank, once again, His Majesty for being not only a leader in the region but also being a great friend of the United States.

Thank you.

HIS MAJESTY KING ABDULLAH:  Mr. President, thank you very much.  It’s obviously a great honor for me and my delegation to be back here in Washington.  We so much appreciate the historical support that we always get from our friends in the United States to Jordan’s challenges.  And again, our personal friendship, which is very, very strong, has allowed us to look at the challenges that the Israelis and Palestinians face, as you just mentioned. 

Although this is still in the very early stages, we have to keep our fingers crossed and hope that we can bring the Israelis and Palestinians out of the impasse that we’re facing.  We’re in coordination on a regular basis with the President, as well as with his administration.

We’re very, very grateful to the economic support that you’re showing Jordan in this very difficult time.  As we move into political reform, obviously the economy and the situation that challenges the livelihood of Jordanians is very, very important as we move forward.  But we are very, very optimistic.  We had the opportunity to talk about the full impact with the President this afternoon.

So, again, sir, wonderful to be back.  We will be in close consultation with you on all these issues.  And thank you for your kind words and your wonderful support to our country.

PRESIDENT OBAMA:  Good.  Thank you very much, everybody.

END
3:15 P.M. EST

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
January 17, 2012

Opening and Closing Remarks by the President to the Council on Jobs and Competitiveness

State Dining Room

11:13 A.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT:  Please, have a seat, everybody.  For those of you who I have not seen since before the break, Happy New Year. 

I am extraordinarily grateful for all the work that you have done.  I want to start off by thanking Jeff for his continued outstanding leadership of this Jobs Council.  I think that the plan is for me to maybe just open up with a few remarks and then we’ve got a whole bunch of presentations, so I don’t want to take too much time.  Is that all right with you, Mr. Chairman?

MR. IMMELT:  That’s great.

THE PRESIDENT:  One of the things that’s been striking about this Jobs Council is how focused and how hard-working everybody has been around this table.  This has not been a show council.  This has been a work council.  And because of the extraordinary commitments that each and every one of you have made, we have generated I think as good a set of proposals as we have seen coming out of the private sector to help to guide and steer our economic agenda and our approach to jobs and growth over the next couple of years.

In each of the earlier meetings, we discussed the key role that we all play in accelerating growth and improving America’s competitiveness, and that the economic recovery has to be driven by the private sector.  We have moved aggressively to implement your recommendations.  As I think you’ve heard, of your 35 executive action recommendations, we’ve taken action on 33 of them; we’ve completed the implementation of 16 of them.  And I’ll highlight a couple of examples.

Building on some of the Job Council’s National Investment Initiative recommendations, last week the Vice President and I hosted a forum on the increasing trend of insourcing -- companies choosing to invest in the United States.  And Intel and DuPont participated, along with several dozen other companies.  We discussed tangible ways that we can encourage domestic investment, and I announced a number of new initiatives and new tax proposals to provide further incentives for companies to increase investment in the United States, including expanding on SelectUSA, one of the recommendations in your last report.  And we actually had a company there that had benefitted from the services of SelectUSA, and it confirmed the power and capacity of one-stop shops and a coordinated approach from the federal government for somebody who is interested in investment here in the United States.

I’ve personally emphasized to the White House team and to the Cabinet the importance of aggressively implementing the recommendations of this Job Council.  I have been tracking implementation of your recommendations.  And we’ve seen substantial progress across the board.

Let me highlight a couple other areas where your ideas and focus have had significant impact.  First, on permitting:  This is something that I know that Matt and others really emphasized.  As we all agreed, we needed to make a big investment in this country in infrastructure to assure our competitiveness.  We also agreed that we can’t be bogged down by red tape and bureaucracy if we’re actually going to get every bang for the buck.  Building on administration efforts to streamline permitting, I issued an executive order to expedite review of job-creating infrastructure projects, and to track their progress on a new public dashboard.  All 14 projects are on track.  Most importantly, we’re using these projects to learn lessons that we can scale across a whole range of projects throughout the federal government moving forward.  And I want you to know that, as a result of your input, we’re going to establish a permitting project manager effort overseen by OMB, to establish performance metrics, track progress against goals, and adapt best practices across agencies.  So, you see, Mark can cross this off -- check this off his list.  (Laughter.)  I know he was coming here -- he was going to make sure that happened; it’s happening.

A second example:  On regulatory review -- and we’re going to have an opportunity for Jeff and Cass to expand on what we’ve been doing in this area -- but I tasked federal agencies to cut inefficient or excessively burdensome regulations, and issued an executive order to independent agencies to look back at their regulations for inefficiencies and excessive burdens.  Currently, we’re estimating savings of $10 billion over 10 years by implementing just a fraction of the reforms that have already been proposed and identified.  Cass is going to provide you with a fuller update in a moment, but the preliminary results are exciting -- and this includes, by the way, the independent agencies.  So, for example, the FCC, prompted by our request but also due to some excellent work by Julius Genachowski, they’ve already eliminated 190 rules -- 190.  And that gives you some sense of the scale of the work that can be done as a consequence of some of your recommendations.

I announced last Friday that I’m going to ask Congress to give me authority to reorganize the government, to make it work better for the American people while eliminating duplication and waste and inefficiencies.  Much of this was embodied in some of the recommendations that you had in particular areas. 

My legislative proposal would create a consolidation authority that would for the first time require that any reorganization proposal reduce the size of government and cut costs.  So this is not just a matter of moving boxes around.  The question is, can you actually achieve better integration, better streamlining, better efficiency, and ultimately better consumer service and better payoff for taxpayers.

The first proposal we identified was to consolidate the six agencies focusing primarily on business and trade into a new department with a single mission:  to spur job create and expand the U.S. economy. 

And this new department would consolidate the core business and trade functions of six agencies.  It would be focused solely on helping entrepreneurs and businesses of all size to grow and to compete and to hire, while also cutting costs and provide better customer service.

So I make these points just to say that not only have you guys exceeded all expectations in providing specific, thoughtful recommendations.  Hopefully, we’ve at least met your expectations in follow-through and implementation; what we haven’t seen is a bunch of white paper sitting on a shelf somewhere collecting dust.  We have tried to take very seriously everything that you proposed, and to try to integrate it into not only legislative proposals but also the executive proposals out there.

So I read your first-year report.  I was pleased to see that there’s consistency and shared urgency about America playing to win.  Education, innovation, streamlining regulations, energy, manufacturing -- all these are critical issues, and they’re all interwoven and they impact each other.

I recognize a lot of these issues are difficult.  They’ve proven challenging for decades.  The good news is on each of these fronts we’ve made progress this year.  I feel confident in being able to say that every one of the agencies in this government has been focused on how do they improve, get smarter, get better, get faster, become more focused on delivering good value to the end user.  And I believe that we’ve made genuine progress on all these fronts.  We would not have made this progress without this Jobs Council.  And I think it will pay off in terms of solidifying this recovery and allowing us to move forward in a way where it actually translates into jobs, which has obviously been our principal and primary focus:  making sure that we’re creating a fair shot for every American who wants to work hard and get out there and succeed in this economy.

So with that, Jeff, I just want to say thank you for being able to provide such outstanding leadership for this effort.  And with that, I’m looking forward to hearing all the good work that’s already been done.

MR. IMMELT:  Thanks, Mr. President. 

* * * * *

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I just, again, want to thank all of you for the seriousness and effort that you’ve put into this Jobs Council.  We’re going to continue to gather recommendations from you and are going to continue to try to implement them as quickly as we can.

Those where we think there’s an issue, we’ll get back to you, and there will be an iterative process where we’ll be in discussions in terms of how we can achieve some of the goals that have been set. 

I want you to know that obviously this year is an election year, and so getting Congress focused on some of these issues may be difficult.  But we have been struck by the degree of capacity we have administratively to at least chip away at some of these problems.  Oftentimes, it’s hard to get the kind of comprehensive solutions that you want without legislative involvement.  But those small, incremental steps, they add up, and we’re going to continue to make sure that we push that as hard as possible.

I did notice that we didn’t have time to talk about manufacturing, although Jeff, I know that you and Rich Trumka and others have spent a good deal of time on it.  In some ways that’s all right because essentially that whole insourcing conversation was really a manufacturing conversation.  And I was incredibly impressed with the potential at least for us to start getting manufacturing back in the United States in selective industries -- understanding that if you’ve got -- if you’ve got products that involve high volume, lots of labor, unskilled labor, that it’s going to be difficult to move those back.

On the other hand, where you have skilled labor, our competitive advantages are accelerating.  And we’re going to really be pushing hard on that front along with issues like basic research, et cetera, partly because my understanding -- and John and others, I think you guys helped -- Steve Jobs and others -- helped educate me on the fact that if all our manufacturing facilities move offshore that it’s actually hard over time to keep our R&D here because so much of this ends up being a matter of seeing how something works in an applied fashion and tinkering with it and going back at it.

MR. IMMELT:  We’ve set a goal here, Mr. President, to try to get back four points of global market share and value added in manufacturing.  We think we can do that.  People like Paul and I that travel the world, I think we see the U.S. more competitive today than we have in the last 20 or 25 years, so that’s -- I think that’s another great initiative here.

THE PRESIDENT:  It’s a good news story.  It merges directly with our export initiative and the great work that people like Fred and Ron and others are doing.  So we’re going to keep on pushing that.  You’ll see that is a significant focus in our State of the Union as well.

So thank you, everybody.  Great work.  Appreciate it.

MR. IMMELT:  Thanks, Mr. President.  (Applause.)

END
12:35 P.M. EST

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
January 16, 2012

Remarks by the President at a Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Service Event

Browne Education Campus
Washington, D.C.

9:57 A.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, good morning, everybody! 

AUDIENCE:  Good morning!

THE PRESIDENT:  Oh, this looks like an outstanding group, I can already tell.  I’m not going to make a long speech, because we’re here to do some work.  But mainly what I want to do is just to say thank you to all of you for participating.  I know there are a lot of organizations that are represented here today.  We are so glad to be at this outstanding school where we’re going to be doing a whole bunch of stuff to make it -- make the facilities even better than they already are.

But this is the third year now that Michelle and Malia and usually Sasha is here -- she couldn’t make it today -- that we provide or engage in some sort of service on Dr. King’s birthday.  And there’s no better way to celebrate Dr. King than to do something on behalf of others. 

I know there’s been a lot of controversy lately about the quote on the memorial and they’re changing it and making some modifications, but if you look at that speech talking about Dr. King as a drum major, what he really said was that all of us can be a drum major for service, all of us can be a drum major for justice.  There’s nobody who can’t serve.  Nobody who can’t help somebody else.  And whether you’re seven or six or whether you’re 76, then you can find opportunities to make an enormous difference in your community.  And at a time when the country has been going through some difficult economic times, for us to be able to come together as a community, people from all different walks of life, and make sure that we’re giving back, that’s ultimately what makes us the strongest, most extraordinary country on Earth, is because we pull together when times are good, but also when times are hard.  And you guys all represent that.

So on behalf of our family, we want to say thank you.  I’m sure Dr. King, were he here, he’d want to say thank you.  And I look forward to spending some time next to you guys.  Hopefully I have some good instructors here so that I don’t mess anything up.  So if you’re putting a paintbrush in my hands, make sure that I’ve got some very clear lines, and I’ll try to stay within them. 

All right?  Thank you, everybody.  God bless you.  Thank you.  (Applause.)

END
10:00 A.M. EST

The White House

Office of the First Lady

For Immediate Release
January 13, 2012

Remarks by the First Lady at iCarly Screening Event in Alexandria, VA

Hayfield Secondary School
Alexandria, Virginia

11:58 A.M. EST

MRS. OBAMA:  Oh, wasn’t that exciting?  (Applause.)  You know what, I had so much fun taping that episode with the iCarly cast.  They are amazing.  It was so much fun.  I forgot my lines and they didn’t even tease me.  It was really good.  Let’s give -- well, Jerry did.  Why don’t we give the cast a big round of applause?  (Applause.)

AUDIENCE:  Gibby!  Gibby!

MRS. OBAMA:  Gibby!  Gibby!  Gibby!  Gibby! Gibby!  (Applause.) 

Now, the only way we could have done this was to have the help and support of Nickelodeon.  They have just been amazing, because the cast, in addition to coming here, they’ve been touring the entire country -- going to military bases, meeting with other military kids -- because they know how important all of you are.

I want to know how many, by a show of hands or claps, how many kids here have parents in the military?  (Applause.)  Terrific. 

Well, this episode was for all of you, because we have cast members who are also military kids as well.  Show of hands -- who are our military kids?  (Applause.)  See?  Both Noah and Jerry grew up as military kids, just like you.  And what we do know is that kids like you make the same kind of sacrifices that your families do.  Many of you have moved from school to school.  You’ve been in several schools.  I know how hard it is to stay strong and focused when your mom and dad is serving.

So we did this episode because we want the whole country to know how proud we are of all of you, and much we appreciate you as our little heroes.  So we want you to stay strong.  Okay?  Be proud of what you do, because we are so proud of you.  And we know sometimes it can be hard, but know that you have the entire country that stands behind you guys.  Okay?  (Applause.) 

All right, so we’re going to have a little more fun.  You’re going to get to ask us some questions.  All right?  (Applause.)  So DJ Boogie, we turn it back over --

DJ BOOGIE:  All right, so they’re going to get you guys ready for the questions, and I’ve got a couple of questions for some military kids out here.  How about that?

MRS. OBAMA:  That sounds good.

DJ BOOGIE:  All right.  So we have Ethan (ph).  Stand up, Ethan.  All right, this is Ethan.  (Applause.)  How old are you, Ethan?

ETHAN:  I’m 12. 

DJ BOOGIE:  You’re 12.  And you come here?

ETHAN:  What?

DJ BOOGIE:  You come here for school?

ETHAN:  Yes.  Well, Hayfield Elementary. 

DJ BOOGIE:  That’s awesome.  Now, do you have parents in the military?

ETHAN:  Yes.  Both of them are in the Navy.

DJ BOOGIE:  And are they stationed here, or are they overseas?

ETHAN:  They are both stationed here.

DJ BOOGIE:  They’re both stationed here.  Now, what do you to pass the time here at school?

ETHAN:  Well, I -- sometimes I read at recess, go out with some of the other kids onto the blacktop and mess around there.

DJ BOOGIE:  That’s awesome.  Well, listen, we’re really proud of you.  We’re proud of your parents and we’re proud of you.  That’s awesome, Ethan.  Good job.  (Applause.) 

All right.  And we got my buddy over here.  What’s your name?

ANTONIO:  Antonio.

DJ BOOGIE:  Antonio.  Stand on up, Antonio.  You a student here at Hayfield?

ANTONIO:  Yes, sir.

DJ BOOGIE:  All right.  Now, tell us a little bit about your military family.

ANTONIO:  My dad is a command sergeant major.  He’s in Afghanistan right now.  And my mom, she was in the Army for 11 years.  She retired as a staff sergeant.

DJ BOOGIE:  And now, obviously you miss your father -- he’s overseas.  What do you do to pass your time while you’re here at school?

ANTONIO:  I mean, I have to be the bigger man to take the place for the household, because I got to watch my little sister and make sure my mom stays happy.  So --

AUDIENCE:  Aww --

DJ BOOGIE:  That’s a great thing.  You’re an amazing person.  (Applause.)

MRS. OBAMA:  DJ Boogie, let me ask --

DJ BOOGIE:  An amazing person.

MRS. OBAMA:  Let me ask you another question.  How many schools have you been to?  And what grade are you in, and how many schools have you been to since you’ve been in school?

ANTONIO:  I’m in 8th grade.

MRS. OBAMA:  Eighth grade?

ANTONIO:  And I’ve been to about five or six different schools.

MRS. OBAMA:  He’s been to five or six different schools.  And that’s true for most military kids.  Right?  So you’re doing all of this -- transferring to new schools every few years.  Right? 

And that’s something that we want the other kids who aren’t military kids to know, is that when you find a kid who is a military kid, who has come in new, it’s important for you all to do like iCarly’s friends did and step up and know the kind of struggles and challenges that they’re facing.  Because it’s not easy changing schools every few years and keeping your grades up, and knowing that your dad is away serving in another part of the world. 

I mean, you can imagine how tough that can be.  So we need all of you to step up as well, and all the kids all over the country, to find out who the military kids are in your schools.  And make sure you make them feel welcome. 

All right, can we do that?  Can we get that commitment from you guys here?

DJ BOOGIE:  Definitely.  Right, guys?  (Applause.)  Now, we’re really proud of you.  We’re really proud of you, okay? 

And now I have some questions for you guys up here, all right?  Are you guys ready?  The first question is coming -- and all of these questions are from you guys out here at school, okay? 

And the first question is for Mrs. Obama and it comes from Jared Lewie (ph).  Where is Jared Lewie?  Jared Lewie.  There you are, Jared Lewie. 

Jared Lewie wants to ask:  If you could have a superpower, what would it be and why?

MRS. OBAMA:  Ooh, good one.  You know what, I’ve always wanted to fly.  (Applause.)  You know?  When I was young I used to always have dreams about flying.  Has anyone had a dream about flying?  (Applause.)  Yes!  You just float over everywhere.  You could go anywhere.  You could go on a dime, and you feel so free.  Yes, I’d fly.

CAST MEMBER:  I love that he was concerned that you’re not powerful enough.  (Laughter.)  He’s like, how could you be more powerful?

MRS. OBAMA:  I could fly. 

CAST MEMBER:  Just wondering.

DJ BOOGIE:  That’s definitely it, flying.  All right, so we have another question.  It looks like this one is for Jennette.  It’s from Jayon Corton (ph).  Jayon Corton, where you at?  Jayon Corton, where you at?  Over there, also.

Is Sam really that strong?

JENNETTE:  Yeah!  Who asked that?

DJ BOOGIE:  Is Sam really that strong?

JENNETTE:  Of course.  Come on, I can flip over anybody.  I can beat up anyone.

DJ BOOGIE:  We got the bruises to prove it.

JENNETTE:  Look at these pythons, kids.  Look at these.  (Laughter.)

DJ BOOGIE:  That’s awesome.  All right, we have another question.  This is, again, for Mrs. Obama, from Haley Cole (ph).  Where is Haley Cole?  (Applause.)  Haley Cole, where you at, Haley?  Are you up top?  All right, see you, Haley. 

This is:  What are your efforts on school lunches, and could you change hours?

MRS. OBAMA:  Ooh, all right.

DJ BOOGIE:  I think Mr. Tremaine will have something to say about this.

MRS. OBAMA:  We’ll make sure that all the principals are listening to this.  But my husband and the Congress passed a legislation to make sure we could put more nutritious foods into the schools.  So you should be seeing more vegetables, more fruit, more healthy foods.

AUDIENCE:  Booo --

MRS. OBAMA:  Yes, it’s going to be more healthy.  They’ll still be --

DJ BOOGIE:  Uh-oh.  They’re turning.

MRS. OBAMA:  I know, they’re turning.  It happens.  But this is for you all, because we want you to be the next leaders out there.  And let me tell you that something I know the cast will tell you, that it’s hard to do what you do if you’re not healthy and you’re not eating right, and you’re not putting good foods in your body, you’re not getting exercise.  And so we care very much that you start learning those habits early.  And schools are going to be stepping up.

But I would encourage you that if you want even more action, sit your principals down.  Get your parents involved.  Find out what’s going on in your school and what you would like to change, because you can also make changes right here with a little work and cooperation from the people around you.

So thanks for asking.  And eat your vegetables.  (Laughter.)

DJ BOOGIE:  All right.  This next question is for Noah Munck, aka Gibby.  (Applause.)

It’s from Maria Barrios Bonita (ph).  Maria Barrios Bonita, where you at?  Maria Barrios Bonita. 

All right, Maria Barrios Bonita wants to know:  Since you have a TV show, how do you go to school?

NOAH:  How do you go to school?  Well, I am homeschooled.  I do all my school online.  It’s a little bit tough to go to real school, as the whole cast knows, because we’re constantly working, constantly traveling.  So I mean, it’s just -- it’s easier to get it all done at home and online. 

DJ BOOGIE:  All right, there you go.  (Applause.)  Any -- you do your studying, right?

NOAH:  Oh, yes.  Definitely.  Study.

DJ BOOGIE:  And you eat your vegetables.

NOAH:  I eat my vegetables constantly.  All you kids, study, eat your vegetables.  It’s very important.

DJ BOOGIE:  There it is.  We’ve got another question from Mrs. Obama from Jaylin Mullings (ph).  Where is Jaylin Mullings?  Jaylin Mullings?

And this question is:  What is your favorite room in the White House?

MRS. OBAMA:  Oh, my favorite, absolute favorite room is the Yellow Oval Room.  And if you’ve seen the White House, if you’ve come to the back where the South Lawn is, you see this balcony.  It’s called the Truman Balcony on the second floor, and that’s where we live.  We live on the top two floors of the White House.  And the Truman Balcony connects to the Yellow Oval Room.  It’s a beautiful room.  That’s where we put our family’s Christmas tree. 

And when I have other First Ladies who come and visit, we have tea in that room.  It’s really bright and sunny and airy.  And it’s one of the few places the President can walk outside on that balcony and be by himself if he needs to.  So it’s kind of a cool, personal space -- the Yellow Oval Room.

JERRY:  Is that where the plasma screen is?  (Laughter.)

MRS. OBAMA:  No plasma screen.

JERRY:  Is that where he watches Monday Night football, in the Oval room?

MRS. OBAMA:  You know, it’s close.  It’s close.

JERRY:  It’s nearby.

MRS. OBAMA:  It’s the Treaty Room.  That’s where that goes on.  (Laughter.)  But it does happen.

DJ BOOGIE:  All right.  We’ve got another question for the cast.  All right, another question for the cast.  This is from Seth Williams (ph).  Where is Seth Williams at?  (Applause.)  Wow.

CAST MEMBER:  Seth is the most popular kid in school!

DJ BOOGIE:  Seth Williams is very, very popular --Seth.  All right, Seth Williams wants to know -- and this goes for the entire cast -- are any of your parents in, or has been in the military?  And please explain.

NOAH:  My dad was a Marine.  My dad -- once a Marine, always a Marine.  My dad served in the Marines.  And yes, so my dad and then Jerry’s dad was in the Navy growing up.

JERRY:  Yes, my dad was -- well, I was stationed in San Diego at Miramar where they filmed Top Gun.  (Laughter.)

NOAH:  Yes, my dad was stationed at Pendleton. 

JERRY:  Pretty sweet!  Me and Tom Cruise were hanging as kids.  That didn’t happen.  (Laughter.)

MRS. OBAMA:  What was it like for your guys? 

NOAH:  For me, I was not yet born.  But, I mean, just to have the pride of the --

MRS. OBAMA:  It’s close.

DJ BOOGIE:  It was very dark.  (Laughter.)

NOAH:  It was very dark.  (Laughter.) But, no --

DJ BOOGIE:  There were lots of clouds.

NOAH:  I love walking around telling people, you know, my dad is a Marine.  To have that pride that he served our nation, I think it’s really cool to have that in your family.

JERRY:  Yes, and his dad is with us a lot, and you could really tell that --

NOAH:  Yes, he travels around.

JERRY:  You could really tell that Noah is a really good kid and it reflects Noah’s parents.  They’re really nice people, and he’s very proud of all of that.

NOAH:  Yes, definitely.

DJ BOOGIE:  All right.  So we’ve got another question for Mrs. Obama, and this is coming from Christina Zarolhol (ph).  Christina Zarolhol.  (Applause.)  There you are Christina. 

CHISTINA:  Hey.

DJ BOOGIE:  There you are, Christina.  Hey, wave to us over there.  Hey, Christina, how’s it going?

And Mrs. Obama, what shows do you like to watch with your family?

MRS. OBAMA:  Well, iCarly, of course.  Yes!  (Applause.)  Can’t wait for the new episodes to come.  But we watch all kinds of things.  I mean -- but we try not to have too much TV time during the week.  But we’re big fans of iCarly, we certainly are.  And I even get upset when I’m watching a re-run.  So I’ll be glad when the new episodes come out.  Right? 

CAST MEMBER:  Sorry!

MRS. OBAMA:  You know, sometimes you just want new shows.  (Laughter.)

CAST MEMBER:  We will try to --

MRS. OBAMA:  More, more, more.  (Laughter.)

DJ BOOGIE:  All right.  So we got another question for the cast.  We’re going to throw this one down to Nathan and Miranda here.  It is from -- (applause) -- Sydney Bardack (ph).  Sydney Bardack.  Where is Sydney Bardack? 

Sydney Bardack wants to know:  What is your favorite thing to do off set?  Off set.

NATHAN:  Well, I got to say, between the guys on iCarly, video gaming runs in our blood.  (Applause.)  We try -- we do try to limit our time, but I won’t lie, there’s an Xbox in our green room on set.  We have been known to do a little bit of rock band in between scenes.

Besides that, I love reading.  I love photography.  I took photography in high school, so that’s definitely one of my big interests.  And I also love airsoft, which is sort of like paintball.  Do you guys know what paintball is?  (Applause.)  Dang, there’s a lot of paintballers in there.  Basically, you go out and it’s little plastic BB guns, and you go out -- and you wear a face mask, obviously.  You protect your face.  But you go out and you go and shoot your friends.  It’s a great time.  (Laughter.)

DJ BOOGIE:  Miranda, how about you?  Miranda, off set, what do you like to do?

MIRANDA:  Favorite things to do?  Well, Nathan got me into video games.  But I also really like bike riding, going to the movies, hanging out with these guys.

MRS. OBAMA:  And you sing.  You were with us -- you sing.  You have a beautiful voice.

MIRANDA:  Thanks.

MRS. OBAMA:  You were with us last Christmas. 

MIRANDA:  Yes, I got to -- that was so exciting getting to meet you guys and everything. 

AUDIENCE:  Sing!

MIRANDA:  Do you guys want to sing a little of the theme song with me?

DJ BOOGIE:  Yes, do you guys want to do a little of the theme song with her?  (Applause.)  That’s what Miranda said.

MIRANDA:  Do you guys want to do it with me? 

MRS. OBAMA:  They know all of it.

CAST MEMBER:  Yes, they know all of it out there.  They know all of it.

MIRANDA:  Everybody join.

DJ BOOGIE:  And I actually have it right here if you guys want to sing along the theme song.

CAST MEMBER:  Sing with us!

CAST MEMBER:  Yes, you guys have to sing it with us.

MIRANDA:  Yes, will you guys sing it with us?

(Mrs. Obama and cast members sing iCarly theme song.)

DJ BOOGIE:  All right.

MIRANDA:  Thank you, guys.  (Applause.)

DJ BOOGIE:  One last question.  One last question.  And now, I know that the First Lady is with you guys, but what was it like to work with the First Lady?  It’s okay, you can tell us. 

JERRY:  Here we go.

DJ BOOGIE:  She’s sitting right next to you, Jerry.

JERRY:  It’s all coming out now.

DJ BOOGIE:  Tell the truth.

JERRY:  She arrives and she goes -- like that to me.  (Laughter.)  And the she goes two for flinching, and then hits me twice in the arm.  (Laughter.)  I was like, what is happening?  And the Secret Service were like, deal with it, buddy.  (Laughter.)  We get it all the time.  (Laughter.)  I couldn’t believe it.  I was shocked.

NOAH:  He’s a complete liar. 

JERRY:  Oh, see?  See? 

DJ BOOGIE:  What was your take on it, Nathan?

NATHAN:  Well, I got to say, we were all definitely nervous when we found out that the First Lady was going to be doing an episode with us.  But we were definitely kind of on edge waiting for her to arrive, but once she finally got there she just set everybody at ease so quickly, and she was --

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  We love you, Nathan!

NATHAN:  Oh, I love you, too, person in crowd!  (Laughter and applause.)  I love you, too.

But -- okay, settle down.  But she was awesome, and she got a ton of lines, but she did really, really well.  And, I mean, you messed up like maybe once or twice in the whole thing.

MIRANDA:  You’re a good actress.

JERRY:  She nailed it.

NATHAN:  We were like blowing our lines everywhere, and you were the professional on set.

DJ BOOGIE:  Wow.  So she out-acted you guys, huh?  So the First Lady out-acted you guys.

NATHAN:  Basically.

MRS. OBAMA:  No way, no way.

JENNETTE:  -- out-danced.

NOAH:  Definitely, like Jennette said, out-danced.  Tell them about that.

DJ BOOGIE:  Go ahead, Jennette.  What was your experience?

JENNETTE:  Working with Mrs. Obama was so -- (applause) -- when we all found out that Mrs. Obama was going to be guest starring on the show, I don’t think any of us really believed it.  And then the day came and we were all kind of hyperventilating and our internal organs were shutting down because we were so nervous.  And then she came to the set and called each of us by our first names and gave us a big hug, and was just so nice and so professional.  And I think we all had a blast.  And, I mean, it was just unforgettable.  It was one of the best days on set, and one of the best days of our lives.  (Applause.)

CAST MEMBER:  It’s one of the biggest episodes that Nickelodeon has ever done.  So thank you, Mrs. Obama, for that.

JENNETTE:  Thank you so much.

MRS. OBAMA:  It was so much fun.  You know what, you should know that these guys are as nice and as real as they seem on TV.  He’s hilarious and these guys are amazing.  You all are terrific.  Thank you for welcoming me into your crew, and thanks again to Nickelodeon for making this happen.

DJ BOOGIE:  Awesome.  And they did it for you guys out there, the military family and Joining Forces.  So thank you, guys.

MRS. OBAMA:  Thank you, guys.

DJ BOOGIE:  That concludes our show everyone.  (Applause.)  That concludes our show.  Big round of applause for the First Lady and the cast of iCarly!  (Applause.)

END
12:17 P.M. EST

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
January 13, 2012

Remarks by the President on Government Reform

East Room

THE PRESIDENT:  Good morning, everybody.  Please have a seat.

Welcome to the White House.  I see all sorts of small business people here, and I am thrilled to have you here.  As small business owners, you know as well as anybody that if we’re going to rebuild an economy that lasts -- an economy that creates good, middle-class jobs -- then we’re all going to have to up our game.

The other day, I met with business leaders who are doing their part by insourcing -- by bringing jobs back to the United States.  And I told them that if you are willing to keep asking yourselves what you can do to bring jobs back, then I’ll make sure that you’ve got a government that helps you succeed.

And that’s why we’re here today.  I ran for office pledging to make our government leaner and smarter and more consumer-friendly.  And from the moment I got here, I saw up close what many of you know to be true:  The government we have is not the government that we need. 

We live in a 21st century economy, but we’ve still got a government organized for the 20th century.  Our economy has fundamentally changed -- as has the world -- but our government, our agencies, have not.  The needs of our citizens have fundamentally changed but their government has not.  Instead, it's often grown more complicated and sometimes more confusing. 

Give you a few examples.  There are five different entities dealing with housing.  There are more than a dozen agencies dealing with food safety.  My favorite example -- which I mentioned in last year’s State of the Union address -- as it turns out, the Interior Department is in charge of salmon in fresh water, but the Commerce Department handles them in saltwater.  (Laughter.)  If you’re wondering what the genesis of this was, apparently, it had something to do with President Nixon being unhappy with his Interior Secretary for criticizing him about the Vietnam War.  And so he decided not to put NOAA in what would have been a more sensible place.

No business or nonprofit leader would allow this kind of duplication or unnecessary complexity in their operations.  You wouldn’t do it when you’re thinking about your businesses.  So why is it okay for our government?  It’s not.  It has to change.

Now, what we’ve tried to do over the first three years of my administration is to do a whole range of steps administratively to start making processes, procedures, agencies more consumer-friendly.  But we need to do more, and we need authority to do more. 

So today, I’m calling on Congress to reinstate the authority that past presidents have had to streamline and reform the Executive Branch.  This is the same sort of authority that every business owner has to make sure that his or her company keeps pace with the times.  And let me be clear:  I will only use this authority for reforms that result in more efficiency, better service and a leaner government.

Now, a little bit of history here.  Congress first granted this authority to presidents in the midst of the Great Depression, so that they could swiftly reorganize the Executive Branch to respond to the changing needs of the American people and the immediate challenges of the Depression.  For the next 52 years, presidents were able to streamline or consolidate the Executive Branch by submitting a proposal to Congress that was guaranteed a simple up or down vote.

In 1984, while Ronald Reagan was President, Congress stopped granting that authority.

And when this process was left to follow the usual congressional pace and procedures, not surprisingly, it bogged down.  So congressional committees fought to protect their turf, and lobbyists fought to keep things the way they were because they were the only ones who could navigate the confusion.  And because it’s always easier to add than to subtract in Washington, inertia prevented any real reform from happening.  Layers kept getting added on and added on and added on.  The Department of Homeland Security was created to consolidate intelligence and security agencies, but Congress didn’t consolidate on its side.  So now the Department of Homeland Security reports to over 100 different congressional panels. That’s a lot of paperwork.  That’s a lot of reports to prepare.  That’s not adding value, it’s not making us safer to file a whole bunch of reports all the time.

It has been a generation since a President had the authority to propose streamlining the government in a way that allowed for real change to take place.  Imagine all the things that have happened since 1984.  1984 didn’t have -- we didn’t have the Internet, just to take one example.  A generation of Americans has come of age.  Landlines have turned into smartphones.  The Cold War has given way to globalization.  So much has happened -- and yet the government we have today is largely the government we had back then.  And we deserve better.

Go talk to the skilled professionals in government who are serving their country -- and by the way, you won’t meet harder-working folks than some of the folks in these federal agencies; devote countless hours to trying to make sure that they’re serving the American people.  But they will tell you their efforts are constantly undermined by an outdated bureaucratic maze.  And of course, if you go talk to ordinary Americans, including some of the small business leaders here today, they’ll tell you that to deal with government on a regular basis is not always the highlight of their day.  (Laughter.) 

Over the past three years, as I said, we’ve tried to take some steps to fix the problem -- to bring our government into this century and, in doing so, to root out waste.  So just to take some examples.  We made sure that government sends checks to the right people in the right amount, which should be obvious, but we’ve been able to prevent $20 billion in waste over the last two years, just by making sure that checks are sent properly and we’re reducing error.

We cut government contracting for the first time in more than a decade.  We cut a whole range of overlapping programs.  We have tried to yank the federal government into the 21st century when it comes to technology and making everything we do a little more Web-friendly.  And by the way, that also helps in terms of accountability and transparency, because the public can get on WhiteHouse.gov or the various other websites and they can see what’s happening and track where money goes.

So we’ve done a lot, but we’ve got to do more.  We need to think bigger.  So today, I’m outlining changes we could make if Congress gives the green light to allow us to modernize and streamline.  These changes would help small business owners like you.  It would also help medium and large businesses.  And as a consequence, they would help create more jobs, sell more products overseas, grow our economy faster, improve our quality of life. 

Right now, there are six departments and agencies focused primarily on business and trade in the federal government.  Six.  Commerce Department, Small Business Administration, the U.S. Trade Representative’s office.  In this case, six is not better than one.  Sometimes more is better; this is not one of those cases, because it produces redundancy and inefficiency.  With the authority that I’m requesting today, we could consolidate them all into one department, with one website, one phone number, one mission:  helping American businesses succeed.  That’s a big idea.  (Applause.)

We’ve put a lot of thought into this.  Over the past year, we spoke with folks across the government and across the country.  And most importantly, we spoke with businesses -- including hundreds of small businesses -- to hear what works and what doesn’t when you deal with the government.  What’s frustrating, what’s actually value added.  And frankly, in those conversations, we found some unsatisfied customers.  A lot of times what we heard was, you know what, the individual who I’m working with was really helpful to me, but the process itself is too confusing.  Most of the complaints weren’t about an unresponsive federal worker; they were about a system that was too much of a maze. 

So take a look at this slide.  I don’t usually use props in my speeches -- (laughter) -- but I thought this was useful.  This is the system that small business owners face.  This is what they have to deal with if they want even the most basic answers to the most basic questions like how to export to a new country or whether they qualify for a loan.  And by the way, this is actually simplified because there are some color codes.  (Laughter.)  The business owners don’t get the blue and the purple -- and it’s all just -- there’s a whole host of websites, all kinds of toll-free numbers, all sorts of customer service centers.  But each are offering different assistance.  It’s a mess.  This should be easy for small business owners.  They want to concentrate on making products, creating services, selling to customers.  We’re supposed to make it easier for them.  And we can.  There are some tools that we can put in place that every day are helping small business owners all across the country, but we’re wasting too much time getting that help out.  And if Congress would reinstate the authority that previous presidents have had, we would be able to fix this.

We’d have one department where entrepreneurs can go from the day they come up with an idea and need a patent, to the day they start building a product and need financing for a warehouse, to the day they’re ready to export and need help breaking into new markets overseas.  One website, easy to use, clear.  One department where all our trade agencies would work together to ensure businesses and workers can better export by better enforcing our trade agreements.  One department dedicated to helping our businesses sell their products to the 95 percent of global consumers who live beyond our shores.

So with this authority, we could help businesses grow, save businesses time, save taxpayer dollars. 

And this is just one example of what we could do.  The contrast between this and this sums up what we could do on the business side, but these kinds of inefficiencies exist across government. 

And there’s a real opportunity right now for us to fundamentally rethink, reform and remake our government so that it can meet the demands of our time, so that it’s worthy of the American people, and so that it works.

This should not be a partisan issue.  Congress needs to reinstate this authority that has in the past been given to Democratic and Republican presidents for decades.  In the meantime, as long as folks are looking for work and small businesses are looking for customers, I’m going to keep doing everything I can with my current authority to help.

So, to take one example, as of today, I am elevating the Small Business Administration to a Cabinet-level agency.  (Applause.)  Karen Mills, who’s here today and who’s been doing an outstanding job leading that agency, is going to make sure that small business owners have their own seat at the table in our Cabinet meetings.

In the coming weeks, we’re also going to unveil a new website -- Business USA.  And this site will be a one-stop shop for small businesses and exporters, and it will consolidate information that right now is spread across all these various sites so that it’s all in one place and it’s easy to search.

So with or without Congress, I’m going to keep at it.  But it would be a lot easier if Congress helped.  (Laughter.)  This is an area that should receive bipartisan support, because making our government more responsive and strategic and leaner, it shouldn’t be a partisan issue.

We can do this better.  We can provide taxpayers better value.  So much of the argument out there all the time is up in 40,000 feet, these abstract arguments about who’s conservative or who’s liberal.  Most Americans, and certainly most small business owners, you guys are just trying to figure out, how do we make things work?  How do we apply common sense?  And that’s what this is about.

So I’m going to keep fighting every day to rebuild this economy so that hard work pays off, responsibility is rewarded, and we’ve got a government that is helping to create the foundation for the incredible energy and entrepreneurship that all of you represent.  And I’m going to keep fighting to make sure that middle-class families regain the security that they’ve lost over the last decade.  I’ve said before, I believe this is a make-or-break moment for families who are trying to get in the middle class, folks who are trying to maintain their security, folks who are trying to start businesses.  There’s enormous potential out there.  The trendlines in our global economy are moving in our direction, towards innovation and openness and transparency. 

But we’ve got to take advantage of it.  And you need a strong ally in an effective, lean government.  That’s what this authority can do.

Thank you very much, everybody.  Thank you.  (Applause.)

END               
11:41 A.M. EST

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
January 12, 2012

Remarks by the President at a Campaign Event

Private Residence
Chicago, Illinois

7:30 P.M. CST

THE PRESIDENT:  It is wonderful to be back home!  (Applause.)  It is great to see so many friends that I haven't seen in too long -- and some folks who visited me in my new residence.  But let me begin by just thanking Fred for opening up this extraordinary home to us.  (Applause.)  And thank everybody else who helped put this together.  I particularly want to thank Sonia and Eric for all that they did -- (Applause.)

I want to acknowledge some outstanding public servants who are here -- my former seat mate in Springfield, the Attorney General of Illinois -- (applause.)  My former teacher of the ways of the Senate and one of the finest public servants that we know -- Dick Durbin.  (Applause.)  The outstanding governor of Illinois, Pat Quinn, is in the house.  (Applause.)  And finally, we have sort of a carpetbagger here -- (laughter) -- I just love her so whenever I have an excuse to see her I'm happy, and she is a fellow Midwesterner, the Senator from Missouri -- Claire McCaskill.  (Applause.) 

So I'm going to make my opening remarks very, very brief because, Fred and I were talking, particularly a crowd like this that knows me, I want to spend as much time as possible answering questions. 

I was talking about a meeting I had this morning with companies from all across the country, some of them very large corporations -- Intel and Siemens; some medium-sized companies and some very small companies.  The common theme was that they were all insourcing.  They were bringing jobs back to America.  Many of them had located plants in China, located plants in Mexico, and because of the extraordinary growth in productivity in the United States over the last several years, because wages are going up pretty rapidly in places like China, because of energy costs and transportation costs and a whole range of other factors, we're getting to this point where when you account for everything, that America is fully competitive in manufacturing and more than competitive in services with any other country in the world.  Those are a good news story. 

But I asked them, what is it that's going to make the biggest difference in accelerating this trend so you start seeing more and more companies decide let's move back into the United States -- let's move our plants back?  And some of them mentioned education.  They said the single most important reason for us to move back here is because they're more highly skilled workers here, and as long as we're investing in K through 12 and our community colleges, and have enough engineers and scientists, then that's going to be a reason for us to locate here.

And a number of them said the fact that we've got the most innovative research taking place in the United States, that's what's going to make a difference.  And another one said, well, logistically -- I think this was maybe Otis Elevators -- he said it's kind of hard to move elevators around -- (laughter) -- and so making sure we've got the best infrastructure in the world is going to be what is the determining factor in whether or not we locate a plant here in the United States.

And as I listened to each one of these companies I was reminded that everything we've done over the last three years -- but more importantly, everything we have to do over the next five years -- has to be designed to making sure that this economy is once again one that is built on a solid foundation, one that is not done with bubbles, one that is not based on simply shuffling paper, but one that's based on making things and selling things and one in which everybody -- business, workers, communities -- all feel invested in each other. 

And that's what we've been trying to do over the last three years as we've dug ourselves out of the worst recession since the Great Depression.  That's why it's been so important for us to invest in education like never before, and that's why it's been so important for us to make sure -- with the help of folks like Claire and Dick -- that we continue to invest in research.  That's why we pushed so hard to make sure that we're rebuilding not just our roads and our bridges but also high-speed rail lines and a faster Internet all across the country.

And I make this point because as important as 2008 was, I actually think 2012 is more important, because what we're seeing developing, what we're seeing over the last two years but I think what we're going to see this year in a pretty decisive way is a decision about contrasting visions about where the country should go. 

You've got one theory that says if we slash our education, our research and our infrastructure budgets, and weaken our social safety net, and make sure that unions aren’t out there operating, and we essentially eliminate EPA -- and I'm not exaggerating -- there are candidates and members of Congress who've called for that -- that somehow we're going to be able to win this competition in the 21st century.  And that's one vision, and it is being starkly stated.

And I have a different vision.  Most of the people in this room have a fundamentally different vision about how this country was formed.  Our vision is based on the notion that everybody deserves a fair shot, everybody has to do their fair share, and everybody has got to play by the same set of rules and America succeeds best when we're all in it together, we're all rising together.  And that big, inclusive, generous, bold, ambitious vision of America is what's at stake, is what we're fighting for.

But I guess in these initial remarks what I just want to say is that many of you got involved in my campaign back in 2008, many of you got involved in my Senate campaign back in 2004, some of you got involved in my state Senate campaign back in -- (laughter) -- I don't remember when that was.  (Laughter.)  I think that the reason we were successful was not because I was a flawless candidate or I ran a flawless campaign, but it was because together we were able to give voice to this shared vision of what America should be.  And I want you to know that I have kept faith with that vision all these years and that's not wavered. 

And whether it's making a decision about getting all of our troops out of Iraq, or it was making a decision about ending "don't ask, don't tell," or it was making a decision about expanding Pell grants so more people have access to college, or it's trying to present a balanced approach to deficit reduction, what animates me continues to be the same vision that you guys helped me realize way back when.

This will be my last campaign.  A friend of many of us, Ab Mikva, used to say that being friends with a politician is like permanently having a child in college.  (Laughter.)  Every year there's another tuition check.  (Laughter.)  But I'm finally graduating.  (Laughter.)  And I'm confident that as difficult as these last three years have been, as challenging as they've been -- not so much for me but for Americans all across the country who lost their jobs or have seen their home values decline or been worrying about their retirement and their 401Ks -- I absolutely believe that the American people still have confidence and faith in this country and there's a core decency and strength and resilience to be tapped, and that most of the time the better angels of our nature win out.  I think that's what's going to happen this time as well.  But we're going to have to work hard to get it done.  (Applause.)

END                   
7:44 P.M. CST

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
January 12, 2012

Remarks by the President at a Campaign Event

Private Residence
Chicago, Illinois

9:00 P.M. CST

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, everybody!  (Applause.)  Oh, it is good to be home.  And it is -- you are right, Stuart, I see so many familiar faces.  But first of all, obviously, I’ve got to thank the Taylor family for their wonderful hospitality.  (Applause.)  To all the folks who helped make this evening possible, I appreciate you.  I just see all my neighbors.  (Applause.)  Is somebody mowing the grass in front of my house?  (Laughter.)  I’m going to go over there and check.  (Laughter.)  Because I don’t want you guys talking about me.  “He’s a good President, but nobody’s mowing the lawn.”  (Laughter.)  “Bringing down property values.”  (Laughter.)

A couple of people I want to acknowledge who are here.  Oops, that’s the wrong one.  (Laughter.)  Hold on a second, because these folks -- there we go.  First of all, somebody who has been a great friend of mine, one of the finest public servants in the land, our senior senator Dick Durbin is in the house.  (Applause.)  Dick is around here somewhere.  Somebody who I knew before she got into politics as an extraordinary advocate for youth, continues to do great work -- Heather Steans is here.  (Applause.) 

We’ve got Alderman Willie Cochran is here.  Where’s Alderman?  (Applause.)  He’s over there.  Hey, Willie.  And then I’ve got another alderman who used to work for me -- (laughter) -- and in my first state senate campaign was basically my only staff person.  (Laughter.)  And now he is a big shot, but I will always remember the fact that he was there back when nobody could pronounce my name -- Will Burns is in the house.  (Applause.)  Where’s Will?  There he is.  Will Burns.  It’s good to see you.

And then all of you are here.  (Laughter.)  And I’m looking around, I see folks who first hired me for -- as a summer associate.  Between Eden and Tom, they can take -- and John -- they can take responsibility for me meeting Michelle.  (Applause.)  If it had not been for them, it would not have happened.

I’ve got Allison and folks who stole me from Sidley, so you can blame them if -- (laughter) -- but I’ve got folks here who watched our kids grow up, who we played basketball together, we worked out together, we saw each other at various functions and events.  And friends who, if it weren’t for you, could have never gone on this extraordinary journey that I’ve gone on.

And it’s interesting, Michelle and I, we’re always reflecting on the nature of the work at the White House and -- woops.  That’s okay.  You all right?  Hope that didn’t break.  And we could not be more privileged to be able to serve the American people, and couldn’t be more grateful for the opportunity they’ve given us.  And every day is just this remarkable adventure.  But I will tell you, we’re not shy about saying the one thing we miss is we don’t get to see our friends as much.  And as I look around this room, it’s a reminder that you guys do have our backs, have continued to have our backs, and we’re grateful for you and couldn’t be more appreciative of everything that you’ve done.

Now, I mentioned at a previous event, a friend of mine and a friend of some of yours, Ab Mikva, once said that having a friend who’s a politician is like permanently having a child in college.  (Laughter and applause.)  And basically every few months a tuition check comes, and you keep on thinking, haven’t they graduated yet?  (Laughter.)  Golly.  I’m still working -- (laughter) -- I want to remodel the kitchen and basement. 

Here’s the good news, is we’re about to graduate.  (Applause.)  This is -- this will be the last campaign.  (Laughter.)  And you know, when you think about what’s at stake, I hope you end up feeling that there hasn’t been a more important investment to make than the one that needs to be made this year, not just in terms of money but in terms of time and energy and effort and enthusiasm. 

Back in 2008, when we first got started, I think we all had a shared vision, a common vision, of a country that came together to try to solve problems that had been put off for decades, whether it was fixing a health care system that was broken, making sure that our education system was functioning for this extraordinarily competitive 21st century, making sure that our foreign policy reflected the best of our values, dealing with energy in a way that was smart and intelligent and not only improved our economy but also helped our environment and made sure that we could leave a planet for the next generation, an America that was inclusive and made sure that everybody had a chance to succeed.

And that vision that we had, there were specific policies attached to it, but what it really came down to was this belief in an America where everybody gets a fair shot, everybody does their fair share, everybody is playing by the same set of rules, that all of us are invested in hard work and responsibility, and we’re all in it together.  That we don’t have a country in which some people are consigned to poverty because of circumstances, that if they’re willing to work hard, they can do it, and we all have a responsibility to make that happen.

That’s what 2008 was about, and that’s what the excitement was about, and that was the essence of the “hope, change” message, was this belief that in America, it’s just different from other countries in the sense that it’s diverse and everybody has a stake. 

And we didn’t know at the time that we were going to go through the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.  We didn’t know that we were going to go through this extraordinary financial crisis.  And so a lot of the last three years had been just dealing with emergencies.

And they’ve been dealt with.  And sometimes it wasn’t popular.  Sometimes it was risky.  But we’ve now had an auto industry that has come surging back.  We have seen private sector job growth for 22 months in a row.  We are seeing the return of manufacturing to America; for two years in a row now, some of the strongest manufacturing growth in a decade.

And so there’s reason to believe that we’re now getting past the worst of what was a very difficult situation. 

But what was important to me over these last three years was that we also didn’t lose sight of the things that had gotten me into this race in the first place, that we still worked on some of those long-term challenges.

And so we fought for health care.  Because unless we could honestly say that nobody in this country is going bankrupt because they get sick, unless we could say that if you’re working hard and you’re carrying out your responsibilities, you shouldn’t have to worry about whether an insurance company drops you, or whether as a young person getting started off in life, that you’re going to have some assurance that you’ve got health care coverage, that we’re not living up to that vision that got us -- that got me into this race.  And so we got it done.

The first bill I signed -- a bill that said that we’re going to have equal pay for equal work because I want my daughters treated the same way as my sons.  (Applause.)  We got that done. 

Making sure that college was accessible.  We made sure that we took $60 billion that were going through banks as a pass-through for student loan programs, and we said, let’s use that $60 billion and expand Pell Grants and make student loans more accessible so that millions of young people have opportunity all across the country.

And if we’re going to deal seriously with energy, we’ve got to get started now, even though we still have an economic crisis -- especially because we’ve got an economic crisis.  So we doubled fuel efficiency standards on cars and on trucks.  And we made sure that we didn’t have any more regulations than were necessary to keep our air clean and our water clean, but we were going to enforce those laws to make sure that we’re leaving a planet behind for our kids and grandkids that is at least as clean as the one that we inherited. 

And we said that we’re going to have to end this war in Iraq, and we did.  (Applause.)  And we said that there are certain values that we’re not going to back off of, like making sure that if you want to serve this country that you love, you don’t have to answer for who you love.  And we ended “don’t ask, don’t tell.”  (Applause.)

And so there were just -- there were a series of things that met a lot of resistance, lot of the lobbyists opposed, that at times caused controversy.  But three years into it, we can honestly say that the vision that motivated me to run, the vision that motivated you to work so hard, that we’ve been true to that vision.

Now, we still have a lot more work to do.  We’ve got a lot more unfinished business.  I was mentioning at a previous event -- I was at -- I had a forum this morning with CEOs, some from very large companies like Intel, some from medium-sized companies, some from very small companies.  The common theme was they were all bringing jobs back from China and Mexico.  They decided to relocate back in the United States.  (Applause.)

Now they were making this not out of a charitable decision.  (Laughter.)  They were making this decision because American workers continue to be the most productive in the world, and their productivity has shot up even in the midst of this recession; that our research and our innovation remains unparalleled around the world.  And they started figuring out, you know what, it might actually be cheaper for us and more productive for us to create jobs here in the United States. 

The interesting thing, though, was -- is that when you asked them what more can we do to encourage this trend, every one of them said we still have to have a better education system; we need to make an investment in that.  (Applause.)   Every one of them said we’ve got to make sure we’ve got the best infrastructure in the world, and we’ve been falling behind.  (Applause.)  Every one of them said that we’ve got to have a smart energy policy.

Every one of them said that we’ve got to maintain our primacy in research and science and technology.  And that was gratifying, because I said, well, that’s my agenda.  (Laughter.)  That’s what I’ve been fighting for.  And that’s what this year’s debate is going to be about.  It’s going to be about not only consolidating the extraordinary achievements that we’ve been able to get done thanks to you over the last three years making sure that health care reform is implemented and financial regulatory reform is implemented and we don’t have a rollback of our environmental protections.  Those are all important things.

But what we’re also going to be debating is are we going to pursue a vision that says our only way to compete in this world is to slash spending on education and slash spending on research and development and not upgrade our infrastructure and take away worker protections and just kind of see how we do in a race to the bottom.  Or are we going to pursue a vision that says we’re going to continue to have the best scientists and universities, but we’re also going to get down into K-12 and community colleges and we’re going to train our young people, and we’re going to invest in human capital, and we’re going to have the best infrastructure.  And there’s no conflict between environment and economics because we’re going to continue to make sure that we’re at the cutting edge on advanced vehicles and electric cars. 

That vision of a future that is inclusive and forward looking, that’s what we’re fighting for.  Now, we’ve still got a difficult economy, and that’s why this is still going to be a close race.  I’ve got to tell you that if we weren’t coming out of this extraordinary recession, I think the American people would make their decision very quickly.

But we’ve gone through three tough years.  And the other side has been able to just sit on the sidelines and say no to everything, not cooperate and then simply try to point the finger and say that somehow this should have been fixed.  And I understand that -- that’s politics.  That’s how Washington generally works.  And so this is going to be a tough battle and I’m going to need all of you just as much now, more now than I needed you in 2008.

But the main message I’ve got is that if you guys are willing to invest the same kind of blood, sweat and tears as we invested in 2008, I’m confident we’re going to win.  (Applause.)  And the reason I’m confident -- the reason I’m confident is that common vision of ours is one that’s shared all across the country.  I rose to national prominence by a speech that said there is no red -- there are no red states and no blue states; it was the United States of America.  Now, sometimes people say, ah, well, you learned, didn’t you?  (Laughter.)  You go to Washington and you’ll find out.
 
But that’s Washington.  That’s not America.  And when I travel around the country -- I don’t care whether I’m going to a tiny town or a big city, I don’t care whether I’m talking to black people or white people or Latinos or Native Americans or Asian Americans.  Wherever I go, I still hear and see on display that core decency and common sense and confidence in the future and belief in community that I was talking about way back when.  Making that real, translating that into policy, getting it through Congress, signing these things into laws -- that’s tough.  It’s not easy. 

But the animating spirit?  That’s still there.  And I am just as determined as I ever was -- more determined with all that I’ve seen over the last several years -- more determined than ever to make sure that we’ve got a government that is reflective of those values.  That’s what we’re fighting for. 

And if you guys stand with me, if you guys have my back as you guys have had my back for all these years, I guarantee you that we are going to win this election.  We will deliver for the American people.  And I won’t be back here in that house for another five years.  (Laughter and applause.)

All right?  Thank you very much, everybody.  God bless you.  Thank you.  (Applause.) 

END
9:20 P.M. CST