Obama's Press Conference Feb. 15, 2011

Update: Obama essentially said his budget is a starting point and that there needs to be an "adult conversation" on what Americans believe is important because stuff ain't free. There will be disagreements, he said. Obama made the first move with what's really a generous budget, contrary to democrat complaints. Now republicans will have to tell their base, many of whom are older Americans, that republicans want to do things such as privatize Social Security and axe Medicare and Medicaid.
Full video (transcript):

Obama's Schedule in Florida June 15

Obama in the Oval Office

Obama gets an update from Thad Allen at 10:15 am eastern.

12:10 pm, Obama will speak at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola. Live audio stream here.

1:15 pm, Obama leaves Pensacola.

3:30 pm, Obama arrives back at the White House.

8 pm eastern, Obama addresses the nation from the Oval Office. Every major TV network (abc, cbs, nbc...) will be carrying the speech. Or if you're not in front of your TV, it will be live streamed as well.

Obama Tours Beach in Louisiana Video

Watch Obama's speech in Grand Isle here.

If you missed the press conference, you can watch the full video here.
Thad Allen and LaFourche Parish President Charlotte Randolf spoke to the media yesterday after touring Fourchon Beach:

Video of Obama's Press Conference on Oil Disaster May 27

I'm with Bernie Sanders on extending a permanent ban on new drilling. Not only that, we need a conservation plan. Americans need to start making some sacrifices. We want everything, yet we don't want to give up anything, which is how we get into so much trouble. We want government to provide services, yet we don't want to be taxed. Banning new drilling will also send the message to oil companies that we're moving on, so ramp up your other lines of business. Then we need a national plan to heavily invest in new energies.

Here's the transcript. Full video:

The list of reporters Obama called on.

Obama's Press Conference on Nuclear Summit Video April 13

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Obama Holds Press Conference April 13

Tomorrow at 4:30 pm eastern, Obama will hold a press conference on the nuclear summit, which concludes on Tuesday. See the schedule for tomorrow here.

The press conference will be live streamed at WhiteHouse.gov and probably at msnbc.com or cbsnews.com.

Obama's Press Conference With Thailand's Prime Minister

Remarks by President Obama and Prime Minister Vejjajiva of Thailand After ASEAN-10 Meeting

Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore

5:16 P.M. SGT
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, good afternoon, everybody. We have just concluded the first ever meeting between a United States President and the leaders of all 10 ASEAN countries. And I'd like to thank my friends, Prime Minister Lee, for hosting, and Prime Minister Abhisit, for co-chairing this historic meeting.

As I said in Tokyo yesterday, the United States is a Pacific nation, and we enjoy deep historical ties to Southeast Asia -- one of the most important and dynamic regions of the world. As the first U.S. President to have a personal connection to the region, I reaffirmed to my ASEAN friends that the United States is committed to strengthening its engagement in Southeast Asia both with our individual allies and partners, and with ASEAN as an institution.

During our meeting, we talked about how the United States and ASEAN can work together as close partners, both within this region and throughout the world. We discussed the importance of meeting common challenges like climate change, nuclear proliferation, and working together in support of G20 efforts to promote a sustained and balanced global economic recovery. And I reaffirmed the policy that I put forward yesterday in Tokyo with regard to Burma.

We also recognized the need for expanding high-level engagement on these and other major issues. I proposed sending Energy Secretary Steven Chu to the region next year to talk with his ASEAN counterparts about clean energy, and we agreed that our trade ministers should develop new initiatives to promote trade and investment that could create jobs and improve living standards in all our nations.

And finally, I stressed my strong support for ASEAN's ambitious goal of creating a community by 2015, including its bold effort to achieve economic integration, which will contribute to a sustained and lasting prosperity within this region and throughout the world.

We know that there's much work left to be done, but we also know that continued dialogue and engagement between our nations can help us meet the common challenges of the 21st century and achieve our common goals.

So it was an honor to take part in this historic meeting. I look forward to a second leaders meeting next year. And I am so appreciative that we had such an outstanding chair during the course of this meeting. Thank you very much.

PRIME MINISTER VEJJAJIVA: As the President just said, we just had an historic meeting with the leaders of ASEAN and the United States. This has been made possible not because of -- just because of the longstanding partnership between individual countries in this region and the United States, and more than three decades of partnership between the U.S. and ASEAN -- I think also due to his personal leadership and his commitment to reinvigorate engagement with the region.

We had a discussion on an impressive range of issues, particularly with the U.S. support for the community building efforts of ASEAN, ranging from issues like our cooperation on disaster management, trade and investment and the creation of the economic community in ASEAN, as well as providing support for some of the new institutions like the Intergovernmental Human Rights Commission, which will be going to the U.S. to talk with the experts and consultations next year.

ASEAN also stands ready to be a reliable partner of the U.S. in attacking the various global and regional challenges, whether it's climate change, whether it's the Doha Round, or counterterrorism and other security issues.

So this has been a historic meeting. We are pleased with the progress that this enhanced partnership has achieved. And we look forward to similar meetings next year.

Thank you. WH

Obama and Medvedev Meet to Discuss Iran

Obama said he and Medvedev spent most of their time talking about Iran. Obama says both Russia and the U.S. are committed to reducing nuclear stockpiles.

Obama's News Conference June 23

Full video

Transcript of Obama's introductory remarks here

Obama and South Korea's Lee's Press Conference

Obama News Conference Video April 29

The highlight: Obama answers: surprised, troubled, enchanted, humbled.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Fox Will Air Lie to Me Instead of Obama's Press Conference

Well, Fox is the right wing advocate, so it makes sense. How appropriate that it's showing Lie to Me, whatever that is.

AP: The network is turning down the president's request to show his prime-time news conference on Wednesday. The news conference marks Obama's 100th day in office. Instead of the president, Fox viewers will see an episode of the Tim Roth drama "Lie to Me."

Obama and Calderon Press Conference Video

See more video of Obama in Mexico here.

Obama speaks at a dinner at the Museo Nacional de Antropologia in Mexico:

Obama Shuts Down Reporter: I Like To Know What I'm Talking About

Great press conference.
Obama reiterated themes of persistence and incremental change. But for some, change isn't happening soon enough. When CNN reporter Ed Henry, in a candy cane tie, asked why it took Obama 2 days to talk about the AIG bonuses, Obama said: I like to know what I'm talking about. It was rich. Twitterverse loved it.
Obama also gave a thoughtful answer to a Washington Times reporter on embryonic stem cells. Obama said he considers the ethics and that science isn't the final arbiter of what's right and wrong, but in this case, the vast majority agree, the right thing to do is to find cures for diseases like Parkinsons.
Oh yeah, forgot one goodie--Chuck Todd wasted a question and asked Obama why he hasn't asked Americans to sacrifice anything? To which I thought and Obama said: Americans are sacrificing, jobs, work-life balance, 401ks....

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Obama Announces Nancy Killefer for Chief Performance Officer

Update: Killefer withdraws. 
In a press conference today, Obama announces Nancy Killefer as chief performance officer. She will essentially boost the financial performance of government programs and get rid of waste. See video below
Here is her bio from Our Public Service, where she's a board member:

Nancy Killefer is a senior director in the Washington, D.C. office of McKinsey & Company, Inc. She is a leader of McKinsey’s Public Sector Practice, specializing in developing strategies and improving organizational effectiveness for a wide range of government clients.
Nancy joined McKinsey in 1979 and during her career has focused on strategy, marketing, and organizational effectiveness and efficiency issues with an emphasis on consumer-based and retail industries.
From 1997 to 2000, Nancy served as Assistant Secretary for Management, CFO, and COO at the United States Department of the Treasury. In addition to overall management responsibilities for Treasury’s 14 bureaus and 160,000 people, she led a major modernization at the Internal Revenue Service, prepared Treasury’s systems for Y2K, and reshaped management processes, including installing an asset management program across the Treasury Department.
After returning to McKinsey in 2000, she joined the IRS Oversight Board, a public-private entity akin to a corporate board that oversees its IRS. She served there from 2000 to 2005 and was its Chairperson from 2002 to 2004.
Nancy received her M.B.A. from the Sloan School of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She holds a B.A. with honors in economics from Vassar College. Prior to business school Nancy worked as an associate at Charles River Associates, a microeconomics consulting firm.

Here's an article Killefer wrote with a colleague for Business Week.
After the conference, Obama was asked about Roland Burris. The democrats may have had a change of heart and may welcome him to the senate. Obama didn't say anything new on Burris. Apparently, the democrats are still working on some sort of deal.
Here's the entire press conference, which was pretty short.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Q&A portion. Chuck Todd sounds frustrated.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Obama To Announce Chu and Browner Dec. 15

Tomorrow, at a 5 pm Eastern press conference, Obama is expected to name Steven Chu as his energy secretary, and former Environmental Protection Agency chief Carol Browner as the head of a new council that will coordinate White House policy on energy.
Scientists are elated about Chu. I'm sure they're happy that someone other than No Science Bush is moving into the White House.

Science: Steve Chu could be a groundbreaking energy secretary for the energy research efforts of President-elect Barack Obama's Administration in several ways. It's not just that Chu will be the first life-long scientist— and a Nobel prize-winning physicist at that—to run a department which spends more than $15 billion a year on physical science research, including weapons work. (Previous energy secretaries have usually been political allies of the president, which Chu isn't; a Naval Admiral and a power industry official have previously held the post.) But his selection, and new clues from Obama's transition team, could signal some big changes in the way that the United States conducts science to tackle the energy challenge.

First there's the big picture for the Department of Energy, a sprawling, $23 billion per year agency that manages twenty national laboratories and roughly a dozen nuclear waste cleanup projects. DOE spends roughly $9 billion to maintain the U.S. nuclear arsenal, roughly $10 billion on the waste sites, about only $4 billion on applied energy research, and close to $5 billion on basic physical science. Congress has historically preferred that lopsided balance. But recent fights between appropriators on Capitol Hill and a veto-threat-wielding White House over the budget (such as this skirmish) have prevented the agency from steadily doubling that basic research component—something both sides want to do. Money is tight, but Obama won't be threatening a veto over spending bills and moreover, he has promised to double the budget. So that, along with the appointment of a Nobel prize-winning physicist to run DOE, means the agency will probably do more and more science, including applied research as well as fundamental physics. Chu was one of the authors of a highly influential report from the U.S. National Academies on the link between basic science and the "Gathering Storm" that faced the U.S. if it didn't improve its technical know-how.

Also on Monday, Obama is expected to have a national security meeting with the following folks around the table: Vice President-elect Joe Biden, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Secretary of State nominee Hillary Clinton, Attorney General nominee Eric Holder, Homeland Security Secretary nominee Gov. Janet Napolitano and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen.

Daschle's Comments on His Appointment

Read about the new White House Office of Heathcare Reform.

45 million have no healthcare insurance. Here are Obama's comments at today's press conference:

Obama Answers Blagojevich Questions

Update: Video here.
After announcing Daschle and Lambrew, Obama was asked about Blago and for me, he answered all I need to know. I think Blagojevich is just a delusional whack-job who had irrational fantasies about people. Or maybe he went off his meds. Who knows, but there's something sort of mental about the guy.
Here is some of what Obama said. I typed fast so some of it may be direct quotes but much of it is paraphrased just to give you a gist. I'll post video when it's up. Here's the NYT take.

On what the governor should do:
I was appalled and disappointed by what we heard in those transcripts.
Some people view politics as a business. I got into politics because we have to reclaim politics as a public service. The public trust has been violated. The gov. can't effectively serve as the governor of Illinois.
In terms of our involvement, I had no contact with the governor's office. I didn't speak to him about these issues.
Obama said he wants to talk to all of his staff to see if anyone had contact and what was said. He'll share that over the next few days. But my office had no involvement in any kind of dealmaking. That I'm absolutely certain of.

I have not been contacted by any federal officials. I have not been interviewed by them. We weren't perceived as amenable to deal making. I won't quote back any of the things that were said about me.
Beyond that, I don't know the progression of the investigation.

How did the governor get the impression you weren't willing to play ball?
What's wrong with politics in Illinois? (USA Today says North Dakota is most corrupt) 
I can't presume to know what was in the mind of the governor. I can't even speculate on that. I can just read the transcript and shake my head.
In Illinois, there are two views of politics. Some go in for sacrifice and public service and you go in as a business -- what's in it for me?

You've got good guys -- Dick Durbin and many others who have upheld the highest ethics and standards. But you have habits and a culture that think of politics as a means of self aggrandizement.
If various allegations end up true, this is the far end of the spectrum. But there are subtle versions of bad politics that are legal but don't fulfill the spirit of service. There are times when people don't think about what's best for the public good. Our whole campaign was run on restoring politics for public good.
You can get elected by playing it straight.

Finally, a healthcare question, the only one. How do you plan to fund healthcare?
Central to my healthcare plan during the campaign was how to reduce costs so that we can put them into prevention. We wanted to make sure any plan we have starts with the premise that rising costs are unsustainable. It will bankrupt government, states.

We will have initiatives like health IT that will reduce costs. We will make cuts of programs that aren't working.
The Medicare Advantage program will likely get cut.
I haven't determined the rollback of Bush's taxcuts yet. Today we will begin to chart how this process moves forward. We will involve everyone, labor, doctors, republicans, democrats, business... Some of it will be on CSPAN. Tom is convening groups around the country.
We will move forward with an open mind to all kinds of ideas. I met too many families that are desperate because of healthcare. This has to be intimately woven into our economic recovery play. This can't be put off. This is part of the emergency.

Obama: US Can Be Leaner and Meaner

The Root gives the rundown on Obama's wide embrace of everything.

In his most wide-ranging policy interview since he was elected, Obama rambled extensively on the economy, the troubles in Southeast Asia, the U.S.-Russian relationship, the terms under which the U.S. should engage Iran and his plan to bring jazz and poetry to the White House.

In the interview, taped Saturday in Chicago and broadcast Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press, Obama said he expected the economy to get worse before it got better; that his task in fixing it will be easier than what President Roosevelt faced in the 1930s; and that despite their own strategic mistakes, he believes that U.S. auto manufacturers are the "backbone of American manufacturing" and deserve government help to survive their current problems.

Obama Announces Shinseki Video