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Mexico Struggling to Contain Swine Flu Outbreak; CDC News Conference Updating Swine Flu Status, Numbers in the U.S.; President Obama Holds Town Hall in Missouri
Aired April 29, 2009 - 10:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. It is Wednesday, April 29th, the 100th day of the Obama presidency, leading to a special night of coverage on CNN prime time.
Here are the top stories we're following for you in the CNN NEWSROOM.
The president at Fox High School in Arnold, Missouri, this hour. He will take questions about what's happened during his 100-day watch at a town hall. You will see it here live.
Federal health experts say swine flu has killed a toddler in Houston. It is the first confirmed death from the virus in the United States.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris, and you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
One hundred days in office, but President Obama is marking the milestone by getting out of the office. He holds a town hall meeting this hour in Arnold, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. We will, of course, have live coverage for you.
Jill Dougherty is in Arnold with a preview.
And Jill, you know, it seems to me we will likely hear themes in this speech this morning that will be repeated in the news conference scheduled for this evening.
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Could very well, Tony, because after all, this is the 100-day mark. And it's something that the president definitely wants to talk about.
Maybe we'll set the scene a little bit.
It's going to begin in about 20 minutes. People are already in there. And interestingly, there were a lot of people who wanted to get tickets, so they put them online, kind of like a lottery.
People signed up and they got the tickets. There should be about 1,100, 1,200 people.
And you know, he's doing what he did during the campaign. That is the town hall, something he's very comfortable with. It's really pretty much what won him the White House. But before leaving the White House, back in Washington at the White House, he met with Senator Arlen Specter, who, of course, changed parties, something the president would like to savor. But he also delivered a message of common ground.
Let's listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK H. OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I would like to think that Arlen's decision reflects the recognition that this administration is open to many different ideas and many different points of view, that we seek cooperation and common ground, and that in these 100 days, we've begun to move this nation in the right direction.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOUGHERTY: And he's going to have a local version, a Republican who came over to the Democratic side. Her name is Linda Pliming (ph). She will be, we're expecting, introducing the president.
She voted Republican for many years, ever since Carter. And then, we're told, she's a hairdresser, mother of six, and decided to volunteer for Obama. So that's obviously a message, Tony, that they would like to get out.
HARRIS: Yes. All right. Jill Dougherty, traveling with the president this morning.
Jill, appreciate it. Thank you.
And as Jill just mentioned, President Obama welcomed a new member to the Democratic Party. The president and vice president appeared with Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter. Specter announced yesterday he was defecting from the GOP and joining the Democrats. He admits his decision was driven partly by a desire to keep his Senate seat, but also by the issues.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: I don't expect that Senator Specter will agree with every decision I make and support every single one of those policies. I don't accept -- I don't expect Arlen to be a rubber stamp. I don't expect any member of Congress to be a rubber stamp.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Well, the president says Specter's decision represents the kind of independence that has characterized his career.
New poll numbers on whether President Obama has kept his promises during his first 100 days. Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider joins us with details in just a couple of minutes.
And a reminder of our prime-time coverage. The national report card on the first 100 days of the Obama administration beginning tonight at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
And turning now to the fast-spreading swine flu, confirmation this morning of the first death in the United States from the virus. CNN confirms the victim was a 22-month-old Mexican child treated in Houston, Texas. It is one of five U.S. states with confirmed cases of swine flu infection.
The acting head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Richard Besser, discussed the fatality earlier on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: It was something that we has talked about the potential to happen, and today we're hearing about a confirmed death in Texas. Can you tell us more?
DR. RICHARD BESSER, ACTING DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL: Yes. I can confirm very sad news coming out of Texas, that a child has died from the H1N1 virus. As a parent and a pediatrician, my heart goes out to the family.
As I've been saying for the past few days, flu is a very serious infection, and each virus is unique. And so it's hard to know what we're going to be seeing, but given what we've seen in Mexico, we have expected that we would see more severe infections, and we would see deaths. And we've confirmed the first death in this country in a 23- month-old child in Texas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: The CDC confirms a total of 64 swine flu infections in the United States. Our Larry King talked to Dr. Oz about the likelihood that U.S. swine flu infections could turn fatal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY KING, CNN HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": He said he fully expects to see deaths in the United States. Do you?
DR. MEHMET OZ, CARDIOTHORACIC SURGEON, AUTHOR: I do as well. It's pretty difficult to envision you could have 150 people die just across the border and have no Americans die.
It's the same virus, we think. Even if it's mutated a little bit, humans are humans and will fall periodically to an illness like the virus.
But just to put a tiny bit of calmness and serenity into this discussion -- because there's been so much consternation about this -- what's really happened is Dr. Besser and other members of our leadership have given us an early warning. What they've said is, hey, guys, you have a lot you can do to help us contain this.
That doesn't just include hand washing and some of the things we talked about last night. It also means you've got to take some proactive steps in your own health -- lifestyle changes. We know, for example, exercise, the most important way to prevent a virus; management of your sleep and the stress in your life; even eating the kinds of leafy green vegetables and foods your mother told you were good for you, together with the chicken soup we know works, these are smart, intelligent steps, even if you're exposed to the virus, to prevent yourself from getting it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: OK. Deaths and infections from swine flu steadily rising in Mexico, ground zero of the outbreak.
Let's get there live now. Our Karl Penhaul is in Mexico City.
And Karl, as Mexico still struggles with containment on this outbreak, tell us about the economic impact of this virus.
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the economic impact is huge, Tony. In a single day on Monday, we saw the Mexican stock market fall by almost four percent. We saw the peso slide against the dollar almost three percent. Mexico is an economic powerhouse in that region.
That's bad enough, but on top of that, the government has passed stringent measures, including the closure of tens of thousands of businesses across Mexico City. That includes restaurants and bars and literally any place where people would gather together in large crowds.
So that is hurting business. People that work in those establishments are no longer working there for the time being. There just isn't work to go around. A big economic impact both at the macroeconomic level and also on people's personal finances -- Tony.
HARRIS: All right. CNN's Karl Penhaul for us in Mexico City.
You know, you can learn more about the swine flu's global impact and how to protect yourself from the virus. Just go to cnnhealth.com.
And you can also follow the conversation with us on Twitter. Simply search -- let me see if I can get the language right on this Twitter -- #cnnswineflu. I think that's it.
So the economy has been issue number one for President Obama's first 100 days. We have some new poll numbers on how you're feeling about the economy and whether the president has kept his promises.
Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider live from New York.
And Bill, what are the numbers indicating to us?
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, what we've seen is a trend since the end of last year with lessening pessimism. That's the correct way to put it. We haven't seen real optimism yet, but we're seeing a diminished pessimism about the economy. Take a look at the number of Americans who say the economic conditions of the country are very poor. In December, that was about two-thirds. In March, it was just under half. Now it's 37 percent. Just over a third of Americans say economic conditions are very poor.
Does that mean more and more people are saying times are great, we're in a boom? No. That number is still very low.
What's happening is, the people who are not saying very poor are saying fairly poor. So the correct way to put it is, we're seeing less pessimism than we did at the beginning of the year.
HARRIS: Yes. OK. And Bill, at 100 days today, how does Obama's standing in the polls compare with previous presidents?
SCHNEIDER: Well, he's got -- our Poll of Polls shows that he's got a 63 percent approval rating. And as you can see here, 68 percent say the president is doing a good job keeping his important promises during the campaign.
That's pretty good. Two-thirds of Americans believe he's keeping his promises.
And what's interesting is, even if people think the economy is in very poor shape, most of them still say he's keeping his promises. That's an indication that Americans don't hold the president responsible at this point for the condition of the economy. Even the people who say things are very bad understand that it started before he became president.
HARRIS: OK. Our Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider for us.
Bill, appreciate it. Thank you.
SCHNEIDER: Sure.
HARRIS: So let's get some global perspective now on the first 100 days of the Obama administration.
We have reports from our correspondents in Afghanistan and Kenya, where Obama's father was born.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm David McKenzie in Timbaru (ph) Lane in downtown Nairobi.
Now, this place is famous for selling T-shirts from the states, and it used to have shirts full of Barack Obama's images. But now you can't find those anywhere.
It's sort of indicative of how Kenyans have dropped off a little bit in their excitement about the Obama presidency 100 days into office. But they are saying to me what they want to see from Obama is more statements about Africa. They are impressed that he has talked about piracy off the Horn of Africa, but hasn't said much else about the continent. But still, Kenyans have a tough political situation here...
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: All right. I'm going to jump into this package and get you quickly now to a press conference being held right now by the newly confirmed secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius.
Let's listen in.
KATHLEEN SEBELIUS, U.S. SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: The federal government has nearly 50 million treatment courses of the antiviral drugs Tamiflu and Relenza in the Strategic National Stockpile. The government has already begun shipping the medications and other personal supplies from the stockpile to states. States with confirmed cases are a priority as the resources are distributed.
I want to make it clear, these drugs are effective in treating patients who have acquired the 2009 H1N1 flu virus. However, the flu is always serious.
We know that each year millions of Americans are infected with influenza, 200,000 Americans on average are hospitalized every year, and tens of thousands die from influenza and complications. While we still don't know what this virus will do, we expect to see more cases, more hospitalizations, and unfortunately, we're likely to see additional deaths from the outbreak.
Currently, the FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are developing virus reference strains, the information regarding a virus that's necessary to develop a vaccine. And today there are a series of steps that HHS is taking in that vaccine development.
We've begun the process. We're in full gear. And the process is more speedy than it's ever been before.
We're committed to ensuring that these vaccines are safe. HHS and the Food & Drug Administration will monitor the manufacturing of a potential vaccine and conduct strict oversight to ensure that the vaccine is safe and effective for use.
As the vaccine manufacturing is under way, the NIH will also conduct clinical trials to make sure that the beset dosage and formulation of the vaccine is available. The work done by NIH and FDA are critical, and it will help to make sure that this process is conducted in the most effective manner possible.
We'll be working quickly, but safety is and will remain our top priority. Strict oversight measures will be in place as we work to manufacture an important vaccine.
In the interim, there are things every American can do, and while they seem relatively simple, they're incredibly effective. Wash your hands, often. Wash your hands. Cover your mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing.
And don't go to work or school if you feel ill. Don't send your child to day care. Don't send your child to school if you have flu- like symptoms. That will help contain the spread of this disease.
I would like to call on now Dr. Rich Besser, the acting director of CDC, to provide some additional update on the outbreak.
BESSER: Thank you very much, Madame Secretary.
I hope you can hear me there in Washington.
SEBELIUS: We can hear you.
BESSER: The situation continues to be one of much uncertainty. It's a situation that's changing very quickly. And our approach continues to be aggressive steps to try and minimize the impact on people's health.
What I would like to do is provide a situational update.
This morning we confirmed the first death of a child in the United States from H1N1 infection, a 23-month-old in Texas. This is quite sad news. As a parent, as a pediatrician, I am moved by this, and my heart goes out to the family in Texas who is dealing with this situation.
As we've been discussing over the past week, influenza is a quite serious disease and one in which we expect to see a spectrum of infections. We have been seeing a situation in Mexico and the United States that has appeared somewhat different. We've been hearing reports of quite severe infection coming out of Mexico, and initially seeing much less severe disease in this country.
As we continue to look for cases, we expect to see more cases in a broader spectrum. And that is what we are seeing.
We know from annual flu, from seasonal flu, that, on average, in the United States, 36,000 individuals die. And so putting into perspective this is a serious virus, it's a serious outbreak that we're dealing with, we're taking aggressive measures.
Let me tell you where we are in terms of our case counts and our updates, but remind you that these numbers change quickly. We update the CDC Web site with case counts every day at 11:00 a.m., and those are the numbers we use for reporting over the next 24-our cycle.
We're reporting 91 confirmed cases in the United States in 10 states. This is an increase from yesterday's report of five states.
We have cases reported from New York with 51; Texas with 16; California with 14; Massachusetts with 2; Michigan, 2; Arizona with 1; Nevada with 1; Indiana with 1; Kansas with 2; and Ohio with 1. But again, these numbers are almost out of date by the time I say them, given the activities going on around the country to look for cases and to investigate them.
We're seeing a broader age range among cases. The median age is 22 years, with a range of 8 to 81 years. We are seeing that 64 percent are under age 18.
There have been five hospitalizations so far, including the child who died. But we have a number of suspect cases that have been hospitalized, and we expect that number will go up.
The most recent onset for a case was April 24th. We don't know enough at this point to say more about transmission, but we are aggressively looking at transmission both here and abroad.
We continue to participate on teams here, in several states, and as part of the trinational effort in Mexico to try and understand the situation going on there. We're working closely with the World Health Organization and the Pan-American Health Organization on these investigations.
We are working around the clock on our deployment of material to support state and local efforts. At this point, there's no state that is anywhere near running into trouble in terms of their supplies of antivirals or their ability to take care of patients, but with our forward-moving approach, trying to be aggressive, we are distributing 25 percent of the stockpile supplies that are allocated for each state to those states now. And some of the states have received them, and all of the states will receive them by May 3rd.
We continue to issue guidance. And we developed this guidance in conjunction with our partners.
The guidance for pregnant women and H1N1 is on the Web. We are also posting guidance for clinicians caring for children. We have antiviral recommendations for patients in close contacts, and we have posted guidance for airline crews in identifying potentially sick passengers.
When I finish my comments, we'll be hearing an update on some of the work going on at the Food & Drug Administration to support the investigations and support control of the this outbreak, and then we'll be hearing an update on the vaccine work that is going on across the department.
I wanted to comment on issues around travel. There is a travel warning...
HARRIS: OK, there you have it, the latest comments from the acting director of the CDC, Dr. Richard Besser, on -- giving us an update on the number of confirmed cases of swine flu in the United States, 91 across 10 states now.
Our Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is with us and has been listening to this update, this briefing.
And Elizabeth, I saw you making notes on the set there. Tell me what you took particular note of it. ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, I think what we should take particular note of is now there have been people hospitalized, and of course one child dead. These numbers are going to grow.
There are probably way more than 91 people in the United States who have had swine flu. Maybe people experienced it and just never went to their doctor or never got counted. In New York, they sort of stopped counting because they had so many people with the infection.
So, again, let's go over the basic numbers -- 91 cases, 10 states, one child has died. A Mexican child who traveled to the U.S. to visit relatives died in the U.S. earlier this week. In addition to him, four other people hospitalized.
This is very different from what we heard over the weekend, when we were told that everyone was recovering without problems. Now we're hearing that five people have had to be in the hospital and that one of those died.
HARRIS: OK. The advice again, what we can do to protect ourselves? And I'll let you go through it. It starts with wash your hands.
COHEN: Right, wash your hands. I know when people hear that they think, really, is that it? Well, it's not it, but that really is the most important thing you can do to avoid any illness.
And also, the CDC said yesterday, don't travel to Mexico unless it's essential. So that's also important information to keep in mind.
It's also important, of course, to not to panic. Most of these illnesses have not caused major health problems. Most people have indeed recovered on their own, without the use of antiviral medication.
HARRIS: OK. So wash your hands, cover your mouth and nose when coughing, and don't go to work or school if you feel ill.
COHEN: Right, that's important. In fact, in Texas, when some people were found to have had swine flu virus, they recommended -- and from what I understand, these people obeyed -- recommended that they stay home and said don't go anywhere. It's called voluntary isolation.
Now, if you're sick with these kind of symptoms anyhow, even if you don't have the swine flu, you ought to be staying home.
HARRIS: Yes. And to circle back to comments made by the new secretary of Health and Human Services, Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, she mentioned the point that you mentioned, that we are likely to see more cases, more infections, and sadly more deaths.
COHEN: Yes, the CDC actually has been saying that since Sunday. Expect to see more deaths. Tony, it is just a matter of numbers. As you get more and more people who are infected and sick with this illness -- you know, we've gone from zero to 20 to 40, now 91 -- you can expect to see deaths. It is just a matter of numbers. The more people who are sick, the more people you're going to see dying.
HARRIS: Wow. All right.
Our Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen with us.
Elizabeth, as always, appreciate it. Thanks for the information.
And once again, live pictures now from Missouri, where President Obama -- let's take that picture full. There you go.
President Obama is holding a town hall meeting, reflecting on his first 100 days in office. The president in Arnold, Missouri, in just minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
HARRIS: Is the president at the microphones in Arnold, Missouri?
Let's take you there live.
OBAMA: Thank you so much. What a wonderful introduction.
It's good to be out of Washington. It's good to be back in the Midwest. Love you back.
(APPLAUSE)
Let me, first of all, ask everybody to give a huge round of applause to Linda for the great introduction and everything that she's been doing in the community. Thank you so much.
(APPLAUSE)
I've got a few other friends who are here. You may know them. I want to make sure that I acknowledge them.
One of, I think, the finest members of Congress that we have and somebody who's just been a great friend of mine, she is somebody you want in the foxhole with you when you've got a -- when you've got a tough fight. Please give a huge round of applause to Claire McCaskill.
(APPLAUSE)
We've got one of the finest new governors in the country, Jay Nixon.
(APPLAUSE)
Where'd Jay go? There he is.
An outstanding secretary of state and somebody who I think may turn out to be pretty good in Washington, if she just so decides, Robin Carnahan.
(APPLAUSE)
We've got Attorney General Chris Koster here.
(APPLAUSE)
State Treasurer Clint Zweifel.
(APPLAUSE)
A great friend, who was with me from the start, Susan Montee, your state auditor.
(APPLAUSE)
We have our outstanding host today, Mayor Ron Counts (ph) of Arnold.
(APPLAUSE)
We've got Congressman Russ Carnahan, who's voting on the budget today, but I want everybody to give him a big round of applause anyway.
(APPLAUSE)
I want to thank everybody here at Fox High School for their hospitality.
(APPLAUSE)
I want to thank your lovely -- your lovely school superintendent, who's just doing an outstanding job. Please stand up.
(APPLAUSE)
I want to thank the Warriors for the basketball jersey...
(APPLAUSE)
... which I will wear with pride, although -- yes, if I ever get to play basketball again. They've been -- they've been keeping me a little busy.
(LAUGHTER)
It is great to be back in the middle of America, where common sense often reigns.
(APPLAUSE)
And this reminds me of why I like to get out of Washington now and again. The last time I was in Missouri was just under six months ago at a high school a lot like this one. We were in Springfield. It was two days before the election, and I was making my final case to the American people. And it was just an unbelievable crowd, bigger than anything anybody had expected.
And so we're here in Missouri to -- we were here in Missouri at the end of a long journey to the White House, and so now I want to come back and speak to you at the beginning of another long journey.
Today marks 100 days since I took the oath of office to be your president...
(APPLAUSE)
... 100 days. That's a good thing.
(APPLAUSE)
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Now, back -- back in November, some folks were surprised that we showed up in Springfield at the end of our campaign. But, then again, some folks were surprised that we even started our campaign in the first place.
(LAUGHTER)
They didn't give us much of a chance; they didn't think we could do things differently; they didn't know if this country was ready to move in a new direction.
But here's the thing: My campaign wasn't born in Washington. My campaign was rooted in neighborhoods just like this one, in towns and cities all across America, rooted in folks who work hard and look after their families and seek a brighter children -- future for their children and for their communities and for their country.
It was driven by workers who were tired of seeing their jobs shipped overseas, their health care costs go up...
(APPLAUSE)
... their dreams slip out of reach. It was grounded in a sense of unity and common purpose with every single American, whether they voted for me on Election Day or voted for somebody else. It was energized by every citizen who believed that the size of our challenges had outgrown the smallness of our politics.
My campaign was possible because the American people wanted change. I ran for president because I wanted to carry those voices, your voices, with me to Washington.
(APPLAUSE)
So I just want everybody to understand you're who I'm working for every single day in the White House. I've heard your stories. I know you sent me to Washington because you believed in the promise of a better day. And I don't want to let you down.
You believed that after an era of selfishness and greed that we could reclaim a sense of responsibility on Wall Street and in Washington as well as on Main Street. You believed that instead of huge inequalities and an economy that's built on a bubble we could restore a sense of fairness to our economy and build a new foundation for lasting growth and prosperity.
You believed that a time of war we could stand strong against our enemies and stand firmly for our ideals and show a new face of American leadership to the world. That's the change you believed in. That's the trust you placed in me. It's something I will never forget, the fact that you made this possible.
So, today, on my 100th day in office, I've come back to report to you, the American people, that we have begun to pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off, and we've begun the work of remaking America.
(APPLAUSE)
We're working to remake America.
(APPLAUSE)
Now, we've got a lot of work to do because on our first day in office, we found challenges of unprecedented size and scope. Our economy was in the midst of the most serious downturn since the Great Depression. Banks had stopped lending. The housing market was crippled. The deficit was at $1.3 trillion. And meanwhile, families continued to struggle with health care costs, too many of our kids couldn't get the education they needed. The nation remains trapped by our dangerous dependence on foreign oil.
Now, these challenges could not be met with half measures. They couldn't be met with the same, old formulas. They couldn't be confronted in isolation. They demanded action that was bold and sustained. They demand action that is bold and sustained. They call on us to clear away the wreckage of a painful recession but also, at the same time, lay the building blocks for a new prosperity. And that's the work that we've begun over these first 100 days.
To jumpstart job creation, get our economy moving again, we passed the most ambitious economic recovery plan in our nation's history. And already, we're beginning to see this change take hold.
In Jefferson City, over 2500 jobs will be created on Missouri's largest wind farm so that American workers are harnessing clean, American energy.
(APPLAUSE)
Across the state, roughly 20,000 transportation jobs will be supported by the Recovery Act so that Missourians rebuilding your roads, your bridges, your rails. To restore fairness to our economy, we've taken several steps with Congress to strengthen the middle class. We cut taxes for 95 percent of American households through a tax cut that will put $120 billion directly into your pockets.
(APPLAUSE)
We finally assigned a law long overdue that will protect equal pay for equal work for American women.
(APPLAUSE)
We extended health care to millions of children across this country.
(APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: We launched -- we launched a housing plan that's already contributed to a spike in the number of homeowners who are refinancing their mortgages, which is the equivalent of another tax cut for them.
And if you haven't refinanced, you might want to take a look and see if it's possible, because that can save people a lot of money.
We've taken steps to unfreeze the market for auto loans, and student loans, and small-business loans. And we're acting with the full force of the federal government to ensure that our banks have the capital and the confidence to lend money to the families and business owners who keep this economy running.
Now, even as we cleared away the wreckage, I've also said that we can't go back to an economy that's built on a pile of sand, on inflated home prices and maxed out -- maxed out credit cards, on overleveraged banks and outdated regulations that allow the recklessness of just a few people to threaten the prosperity of all of us.
That's why I introduced a budget and other measures that build on the recovery act to lay a new foundation for growth, a foundation that's built on five pillars that will strengthen our economy and help us compete in the 21st century.
Number one, new investments in education that will equip our workers with the right skills and training. Number two, new investments in renewable energy that will create millions of jobs and new industries.
Number three, new investments in health care that will cut costs for families and businesses. Number four, new savings that will bring down our deficit. And, number five, new rules for Wall Street that reward drive and innovation.
Now...
(APPLAUSE)
Now, I've got to say that -- that some of the people in Washington have been surprised. They said, "Boy, he's so ambitious. He's been trying to do so much."
Now, maybe they're not accustomed to this, but there's no mystery to what we've done. The priorities that we've acted upon were the things that we said we'd do during the campaign.
(APPLAUSE)
I mean, it's not -- it's not like anybody should be surprised. The policies we proposed were plans we talking about for two years, in places like this all across the country with ordinary Americans. The changes that we've made are the changes we promised. That's what you should expect from a president.
You may not always agree with me, but if you take a look at what I said I was going to do when I was running for office and you now look at what we are in the middle of doing, we're doing what we said we'd do. So...
(APPLAUSE)
Now -- now, after 100 days, I'm pleased with the progress we've made, but I'm not satisfied. I'm confident in the future, but I'm not content with the present, not when there are workers who are still out of -- out of jobs, families who still can't pay their bills, not when there are too many Americans who can't afford their health care, so many of our children being left behind, our nation's not leading the world in developing 21st-century energy.
I'm not satisfied, and I know you aren't either.
The crisis that we're confronting was many years in the making. It will take us time to overcome it. We've come a long way. We can see the light on the horizon, but we've got a much longer journey ahead.
And one of the encouraging things for me is the fact that the American people know this. You know that our progress has to be measured in the results that we achieve over many months and years, not the minute-by-minute talk in the media.
And you know that progress comes from hard choices and hard work, not miracles. I'm not a miracle worker. We've got a lot of tough choices, and hard decisions, and hard work ahead of us.
The 100th day might be a good time to reflect on where we are, but it's more important to where we're going that -- that we focus on the future, because we can't rest until our economy is growing and we've built that new foundation for our prosperity.
We can't rest until we reform those outdated rules and regulations that allowed this crisis to happen in the first place. And that's why I've called for tough, new, common-sense rules of the road that punish abuse and reward drive and innovation in the financial sector.
I expect a bill to arrive on my desk for signature before this year is out. We are going to make sure this kind of crisis does not happen again.
(APPLAUSE)
We can't rest until we have schools to prepare our children for the challenges of the 21st century, and we've already made historic investments in education and college affordability. I was talking to your superintendent about all the wonderful things that she's going to be able to do with some of the money that came of the recovery package.
We're going to continue to help our schools meet high standards and close achievement gaps. And we're going to reward teachers for performance and give them new pathways for advancement. And we will seek the goal of...
(APPLAUSE)
... once again -- we are going to seek the goal of, once again, having the highest proportion of college graduates in the world. We're going to do it by 2020.
(APPLAUSE)
We can't rest until we harness the renewable energy that can create millions of new jobs in new industries. You know, the recovery act will double the supply of renewable energy, but the only way to truly spark an energy transformation is through a gradual market-based cap on carbon pollution so that energy -- clean energy -- is the profitable kind of energy. And we can do that any way that creates jobs. That's how we can grow our economy, enhance our security, and protect our planet at the same time.
I don't think we can rest until we have a 21st century health care system that makes sense.
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One that cuts costs for families and businesses across America.
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That's why we invested in preventive care. We invested in electronic records. That's why my budget makes a down payment on reform that will finally make quality health care affordable for every American. And I look forward to working with both parties in Congress to make this reform a reality in the months to come.
And we can't rest until we restore the fiscal discipline that will keep us from leaving our children with a mountain of debt. And working with people like Claire McCaskill, we have already put forward a budget that will cut the deficit in half by the end of my first term. We've launched a procurement reform effort that will greatly reduce no-bid contracts and will save $40 billion.
We're going through the budget line by line, page by page. We've already identified more than 100 programs that reduce or eliminate because they don't work. And I personal asked the leadership in Congress to pass into law rules that fall the simple principle: You pay for what you spend so that government acts the same way any responsible family does.
If you want a tax cut, you've got to pay for it.
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If you want to new program, you've got to pay for it.
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Tell the American people the truth. How are you going to pay for it?
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And finally, we can't rest until America is secure and our leadership is restored. And that's why I've begun to end the war in Iraq through a responsible transition to Iraqi control.
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It is their country. They need to take control.
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That's why we have a new strategy to disrupt and dismantle and defeat Al Qaida in Afghanistan and Pakistan. That's why we've renewed our diplomacy to reduce the spread of nuclear weapons, to speak directly to our adversaries, and strengthen relations in the hemisphere.
And that's why we have rejected the false choice between our security and our ideals. That's why I ordered the closing of the detention center at Guantanamo.
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That's why I've prohibited the use of torture.
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Because America is stronger than any enemy, and we always have been, precisely because we do what's right not just when it's easy but when it's hard. That's what sets us apart.
And we're living through extraordinary times. We didn't ask for all the challenges that we face, but we're determined to answer the call to meet them. That's the spirit I see everywhere I go. That's the spirit we need to sustain because the answer to our problems will, ultimately, be found in the character of the American people.
We need soldiers and diplomats, scientists, teachers, workers, entrepreneurs. We need your service. We need your active citizen ship. And that's why I recently assigned a bill that will create hundreds of thousands of opportunities for the American people to serve. That's why I will continue to ask for your help and your ideas and your support to make the changes that we need.
I want to warn you there will be setbacks. It will take time. But I promise you I will always tell you the truth about the challenges that we face and the steps that we are taking to meet them. I will continue to measure my progress by the progress that you see in your own lives.
And I believe that, years from now, we are going to be able to look back at this time as the moment when the American people once again came together to reclaim their future. That's what this is about.
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So thank you, everybody. Thank you. Thank you.
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All right. Thank you. Thank you. All right, thank you very much. All right, this is the fun part. Everybody, sit back down.
I'm going to -- I'm going to take questions. There are no rules. Nobody's been prescreened. And we're not going to be able to get through all of the questions that people want to ask, so if you can raise your hand, I will -- will try to call on you. We're going to go girl, boy, girl, boy, so nobody thinks I'm -- I'm biased.
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I'll try to just go around the gym, and we'll -- we'll get to as many as we can. If you can stand up, introduce yourself when the question's been asked, and we should have some microphones in the audience, right? Where -- where are our microphone people? Raise up your mikes. OK, so we've got a few here. So wait for the microphone so everybody can hear your question.
All right, this gentleman right here. Right there. Yes, you. I guess we're going boy, girl.
I -- you can go ahead and hand him the mike. Thanks.
QUESTION: Yes. My name is Ray Pasha (ph). I'm a retired auto worker from General Motors. And I was just curious, with all the -- what's going on in the news and with the contracts and everything, where would -- where is this all eventually going to leave the retirees, the pensions, and our health care? I mean, we also are considered middle class...
OBAMA: Keep the mike near your...
QUESTION: Oh, I'm sorry. We're also considered middle class, and it seems like they keep constantly wanting to take it away from the auto worker and prosecuting us, instead of the corporate that brought us to this.
OBAMA: Good. Well, it's a good question. Let me talk about -- well, let me talk about what's happening with autos, because, obviously, this is a big concern for everybody.
I believe that the U.S. should have a strong auto industry. I -- I believe that.
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My -- you know, one of the things -- one of the transitions I want to make -- I want us to get back to making things, not just shuffling paper around, and -- and -- and that -- and so -- and so the auto industry is a major part of that.
Now, what is also true is that the decisions that were made over decades put the U.S. auto industry in a bad spot. You know, we used to build the cars that consumers wanted and, at a certain point, those weren't the cars that were being designed.
Now, in fairness to the auto industry, a lot of the cars that are coming out of Detroit now have gotten really good. They are on par with foreign imports.
But the problem is, is that, because of a lot of those bad decisions, catching up, even though there's some very good products out there, overall, the companies were in really bad shape.
Now, the Bush administration had already given several billions of dollars worth of aid. And G.M. and Chrysler were told, "Come up with a plan." When they presented the plan to us, my responsibility to taxpayers is to look at those plans in a realistic way and figure, are these plans going to work in order to put these auto companies on a firm, solid footing where they can operate without government subsidies and succeed and compete in the marketplace?
Because we've got the best workers. We just need the best plans, right?
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And, unfortunately, the plan that they presented just weren't realistic. I mean, we did a pretty thoroughgoing analysis of this thing, and you couldn't -- what they were doing wasn't painting a picture of how they could be viable over the long term, without being wards of the state. And, frankly, there's no way that we were going to get taxpayers to just -- every few months, just give a few more billion dollars because there are a lot of other industries that would love to have those kinds of subsidies.
So we are now at the point where Chrysler is supposed to report back to us in the next day or two about their plans for a potential merger with Fiat. And the Fiat management has actually done a good job transforming their industry. We're hoping that you can get a merger where the taxpayers will put in some money to sweeten the deal but, ultimately, the goal is we get out of the business of building cars, and Chrysler goes and starts creating the cars that consumers want.
And one of the potential advantages of a merger is new technologies where Chrysler starts making fuel-efficient, clean-energy cars that will meet the needs of the future market.
We don't know yet whether the deal is going to get done. I will tell you that the workers at Chrysler have made enormous sacrifices, enormous sacrifices to try to keep the company going. One of the key questions now is: Are the bondholders, the lenders, the money people, are they willing to make sacrifices as well? We don't know yet. So there's still a series of negotiations that are taking place.
I can tell you that no matter what happens, we want to provide certain protections to retirees for their health care and their pensions. That will also be expensive for taxpayers. But my attitude is we got here not because our workers didn't do a great job trying to build a great product. It was because management decisions betrayed workers.
There are going to be some long-term adjustments that have to be made, though, both for Chrysler and GM. GM, by the way, has 30 more days because their restructuring is more thorough going than what was required with Chrysler. But I can guarantee you I will -- I look at this from the perspective of how can I create a strong, viable, competitive auto industry that is giving workers an opportunity to build a great product, take pride in that product, and continue to support their families and build communities that are strong.
That's my entire orientation. And how do I do that in a way that doesn't waste taxpayer money because, as I said, people in other industries would love help as well. And I've got to be fair to people who aren't in the auto industry. If we're going to do it, it's got to be because we think that we've got a long-term plan that actually makes sense. I think we can get there, but we've still got a little more work to do.
All right.
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The young lady up there in the pink? Right there. There we go.
QUESTION: Hi. My name is Brenda Huntsman (ph). I'm a school counselor in the Fox (ph) C-6 (ph) District.
President Obama, what do you feel is the biggest challenge facing our educational system today, and how do you plan on meeting those challenges?
OBAMA: OK. Excellent question.
I believe that we've got a multitude of challenges. So I -- rather than just isolate on one, let me talk about several.
Our children are coming out of high school, in some cases, they're not even graduating high school. But even if they graduate from high school, ranked lower on math, science scores than many other advanced industrialized countries. Nations like China and India are starting to turn out more engineers, more scientists.
You know, if we aren't able to compete technologically, we're not going to be able to compete because this is a knowledge-based economy. I mean, we can -- we can have some people who are really willing to work hard, but if the technology is coming from overseas and all we're competing for is just our labor, then over time, those countries will get richer, our countries will get poorer.
So we've got to upgrade across the board, not just in -- in -- in poor, underprivileged schools, but across the board we've got to upgrade the performance levels of our young people.
Now, in order to do that, the single biggest ingredient is the quality of our teachers, single most important -- single most important factor...
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Single most important factor in the classroom is the quality of the person standing at the front of the classroom. And that's why our recovery package put a lot of emphasis on teacher training, teacher recruitment, teacher retention, professional development.
And I've got a terrific young secretary of education, Arne Duncan, who is -- and he just -- he is so passionate, but he's tough, and he -- he wants to -- to push school districts to really do what it takes to give teachers the support that they need.
Now, that involves a whole range of things. It means that how -- how we train and recruit teachers in the first place, how do we match them up with master teachers so that they learn best practices? How do we make sure that, if they're coming in and they don't have all the professional background they need in something -- a subject area like science -- that we give them the training they need? And, you know, how do we recruit people who might be great teachers but didn't go through the conventional channels?
If there's a chemist out there somewhere who wants to teach, we should be able to get them into the classroom in an expedited way because, you know, he or she is bringing skills that we need.
I -- I just gave an award to the teacher of the year, who was a police officer, a cop, had gone to the -- had become a captain in the New York City Police Department, and then decided that he wanted to pursue his lifelong love of learning, and went back to teach, and asked -- asked for the toughest-to-teach kids. Well, we want to encourage people like that who -- who have a passion for teaching.
Now, I also want to increase teacher pay so that a lot more people want to go into teaching.
(APPLAUSE) The deal I've got to strike with teachers, though -- I might not get as much applause on this -- is, I would like to work with teachers and the teachers unions -- because I'm a -- I'm a -- I'm a union guy, but -- but I do believe...
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But I do believe that it's important for the unions to work flexibly with school districts in a consensual fashion to find ways so that, you know, if you've got a really excellent teacher, after 15, 20 years, they can get paid a little bit more, right, for if they're doing a really good job.
And -- now the flip side -- I'm telling you, I'm getting to the point where I'm not going to get applause -- if you've got a bad teacher who can't, after given all the support and the training that they need, is just not performing up to snuff, we've got to find that person a new job. So...
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Just -- just a couple more comments on education generally. A lot of schools still aren't using technology as well as they could in the classroom, and I -- one of the things we're trying to do with the -- the recovery act is to help schools, you know, get broadband, get computers, but then also train people to use it properly. I think we can do more with technology.
Once kids get out of high school, making college affordable is absolutely critical.
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We have to redesign the -- the -- the college experience so that not everybody is going to go to school for four years right in a row when they're 18. Some people are going to work for two years, then go back to school for two years once they figure out something they're interested in, go back to work. Maybe five years down the road, they need to retrain.
