Pool reporter Margaret Talev of McClatchy Newspapers managed to snag some details from President Obama's closed meetings with Democrats Thursday night in Williamsburg, Va. Considering most pool reports stick to what is officially "pooled" to the press, this reporter deserves today's Poolitzer Prize for going one step further.
The pool report, edited only for clarity, follows.
Travel Pool Report #5 - some detail from closed press Q&A at Kingsmill Two Democratic sources in the Kingsmill ballroom for the Q & A (neither on WH staff) provided accounts to your pooler via email afterward on condition of anonymity with understanding they would be distributed via the pool report.As they described the session, at one point Rep. Jim Langevin of Rhode Island asked POTUS if he would lift President Bush's limits on federal stem cell research funding and POTUS said, "I guarantee you that we will sign an executive order for stem cells" but that he wants to work with the House and Senate to make the order solid. "God gave us (the) power to make smart decisions , to cure diseases, to alleviate suffering," POTUS said according to one of the two sources.
Obama also called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi "a rock," which he also did in public remarks. He also praised Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and other leaders.
Rep. David Scott of Ga. Made a pitch for the president to continue funding the F-22 Raptor saying it could mean 50,000 jobs in his district. POTUS said he would make that decision with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and always consider how decisions affected security of nation.
He said he always would take into account local economies "but we also have to deal with the debt and it is unsustainable. We have to make tough decisions."
Rep. Dave Loebsack of Iowa asked POTUS for his thoughts on Afghanistan.
POTUS said his administration was "in the midst of a number of reviews" internally. He said military means alone wouldn't work, diplomatic efforts needed in Pakistan. POTUS got cheers when he said he was wary of mission creep without clear parameters and ... don't let it become a safe haven."
By AMY HARDER
President Obama signed an executive order today creating a new Economic Recovery Advisory Board made up of 15 leaders from the private sector who will advise him on his plans for economic recovery. The list includes former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman William H. Donaldson, General Electric CEO Jeffrey R. Immelt, Caterpillar CEO Jim Owens and SEIU's Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger. (Complete list available after the jump.) Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker will be the board's chair, and White House economic adviser Austan Goolsbee will be the board's staff director and chief economist.
"I'm not interested in groupthink, which is why the board reflects a broad cross-section of experience, expertise and ideology," Obama said at the press conference announcing the appointments. He added that the board is intended to allow White House policymakers to here "voices that come from beyond the echo chamber of Washington, D.C."
Some members clearly have a stake in how the stimulus bill turns out and Obama's agenda overall. Immelt's Caterpillar, for instance, was among the companies reporting sky-high job losses in January (22,000). Burger's SEIU was one of the many labor groups supporting Obama in the campaign and has been advocating hard for the Employee Free Choice Act, a bill designed to make it easier for unions to organize that has triggered intense debate between business and labor interests. The board has more conservative representation as well, including Donaldson, who served as SEC chairman under George W. Bush, and Harvard professor Martin Feldstein, who served in Ronald Reagan's administration.
A complete list of the members is available after the jump.
Continue reading Obama Reaches Out To Private Sector For Economic Advice.
By DAVID HERBERT
President Obama sought to reassure skeptics of his proposed stimulus package at a midday press conference, promising to quickly pump the funds into the economy and provide transparency through a new Web site.
Obama, who has tried, unsuccessfully thus far, to woo Republican support for the plan, said he understood concerns about the package.
"I know that some are skeptical about the size and scale of this recovery plan," he said. "I understand that skepticism, which is why this recovery plan will include unprecedented measures that will allow the American people to hold my administration accountable."
Most of the money will go right back out the door, Obama added, reiterating his pledge to spend three-quarters of the funds by the start of 2011. Critics have scrutinized that contention in recent days, following the release of a Congressional Budget Office report that says just 64 percent of the $825 billion package will be spent by the end of next year.
Obama also announced that would-be auditors will be able to track stimulus spending on the new Web site recovery.gov. (The site is more or less treating the package as a fait accompli, reading, "Check back after the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to see how and where your tax dollars are spent.")
Obama said his administration was putting up the Web site "because I firmly believe with Justice [Louis] Brandeis that sunlight is the best disinfectant, and I know that restoring transparency is not only the surest way to achieve results, but also to earn back that trust in government without which we cannot deliver the changes the American people sent us here to make."
The press conference followed a morning meeting between the president and a collection of business leaders. Among them were Steve Appleton (Micron), David Barger (JetBlue), Greg Brown (Motorola), John Bryson (Edison), David Cote (Honeywell), Debra Lee (BET), Anne Mulcahy (Xerox), Sam Palmisano (IBM), Antonio Perez (Kodak), Eric Schmidt (Google), Michael Splinter (Applied Materials), Wendell Weeks (Corning) and Ronald Williams (Aetna).
By KEVIN FRIEDL
In his fourth press conference in as many days, President-elect Obama this morning rolled out three of his top financial regulators, including his nomination of Financial Industry Regulatory Authority CEO Mary Schapiro as chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. The announcement took place in the shadow of disgraced financier Bernard Madoff's alleged Ponzi scheme, a scandal Obama referred to repeatedly in his remarks.
Speaking to reporters at the Drake Hotel in Chicago, Obama introduced Schapiro along with Gary Gensler, his nominee to chair the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and Daniel Tarullo, his choice for one of the two open spots on the Federal Reserve Board. Gensler served in the Treasury Department under Bill Clinton and, more recently, advised Hillary Rodham Clinton during her White house bid. Tarullo advised Obama on economic issues during the campaign and is the latest of several appointees to come from the Center for American Progress.
Praising his picks to oversee the country's shattered financial industry, Obama said they would help strengthen the county's regulatory apparatus, and he promised a "21st-century regulatory framework" that would foster "openness, accountability and transparency." He criticized the lack of regulation that he said had contributed to the country's current economic problems, saying the government had been "asleep at the switch."
But Obama also called for a "shift in ethics on Wall Street." "We can have the best regulators in the world, but everyone from CEOs to shareholders to investors are going to have to be asking themselves, not only is this profitable... but is it right?" he said.
When asked by one reporter whether the second half of the $700 billion bailout package should be released to help the Big Three automakers stay afloat, Obama effectively dodged the question, saying only that "Main Street can't afford" a collapse of the financial system.
Asked about his invitation of evangelical pastor Rick Warren, whose views on social issues are opposed by gay rights groups, to participate in the inauguration, Obama reached back for an old campaign chestnut about Americans needing to be able to "disagree without being disagreeable." He also reaffirmed his disagreements with Warren, calling himself "a fierce advocate for equality for gay and lesbian Americans."
The Obama transition team this morning released a statement from the president-elect responding to the loss of more than a half millions jobs last month.
"The 533,000 jobs lost last month, the worst job loss in 34 years, is more than a dramatic reflection of the growing economic crisis we face. Each of those lost jobs represents a personal crisis for a family somewhere in America. Our economy has already lost nearly 2 million jobs during this recession, which is why we need an Economic Recovery Plan that will save or create at least 2.5 million more jobs over two years while we act decisively to maintain the flows of credit on which so many American families and American businesses depend."There are no quick or easy fixes to this crisis, which has been many years in the making, and it's likely to get worse before it gets better. But now is the time to respond with urgent resolve to put people back to work and get our economy moving again. At the same time, this painful crisis also provides us with an opportunity to transform our economy to improve the lives of ordinary people by rebuilding roads and modernizing schools for our children, investing in clean energy solutions to break our dependence on imported oil, and making an early down payment on the long-term reforms that will grow and strengthen our economy for all Americans for years to come," said President-elect Obama.
Maggs goes on to cite a cautionary example from the 1931-32 transition period -- the one this current handover is most often compared to.The financial crisis has raised the possibility of an unprecedented presidential transition, in which George W. Bush and the president-elect may need to cooperate more than the participants in any past interregnum.
Historians say that presidents-elect have good reason to stay far away from lame ducks and their decisions, but if this crisis gathers new momentum, such restraint may not be an option.
Even if things don't get worse, an international summit planned for November 15 may require Bush to coordinate with the president-elect and his government-in-waiting to avoid a stalemate that could threaten the financial system, say economists and experts on the presidency.
In the precedent that is most comparable to the current situation, defeated President Hoover begged President-elect Roosevelt to join him in emergency actions to help revive the economy, which had slipped to its low point of the Great Depression.... But there is a cautionary dimension to this history. During that transition, a damaged but still-functioning banking system went into free fall.The complete story is available to subscribers here.
