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President Obama Holds Town Hall Meeting in Tampa, Florida

Aired January 28, 2010 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We know what a solution could like in the region, but here's the problem that we're confronting right now -- is that both in Israel and within the Palestinian territories, the politics are difficult, they are divided. The Israeli government came in based on the support of a lot of folks who don't want to make a lot of concessions.

I think Prime Minister Netanyahu is actually making some effort to try to move a little bit further than his coalition wants him to go. On the other hand, President Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, who, I think, genuinely wants peace, has to deal with Hamas, an organization that has not recognized Israel and has not disavowed violence.

And so, we are working to try to strengthen the ability of both parties to sit down across the table and to begin serious negotiations. And I think that it's important when we're talking about this issue to make sure that we don't just knee-jerk, use language that is inflammatory or in some fashion discourages the possibility of negotiation. We have got to recognize that both the Palestinian people and Israelis have legitimate aspirations, and they can be best served if the United States is helping them to understand each other, as opposed to demonizing each other.

All right? OK. All right.

It's a gentleman's turn. It's a gentleman's turn.

This gentleman here. I'm going to go on the other side of the room. This gentleman in the yellow tie.

BILL SEGAL, ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA, COMMISSIONER: Bill Segal, Orange county commissioner.

Welcome, Mr. President.

What's the decision, matrix going to look like for high-speed rail? How are we going to decide who gets what? And when is the announcement going to be made?

OBAMA: Well, I probably should have Mr. Biden talk about this, because he has been working diligently overseeing the Recovery Act. Let me make a general point about high-speed rail, as well as the way the infrastructure is being moved through the Recovery Act. The general point, number one, is that making an investment in infrastructure is a twofer, because it creates jobs immediately and it lays the foundation for a vibrant economy in the future. So it's one of our best investments, but it's expensive.

We have got a couple of trillion dollars worth of infrastructure repairs just on our old infrastructure, our existing infrastructure, our roads, our bridges. People remember what happened to the bridge up in Minneapolis that just buckled and collapsed.

Well, unfortunately, we have got a lot of aging infrastructure, and some of it's not as visible as bridges. Some of it's water systems, pipes underground that essentially were built back in the 1930s. In some cases, even older than that.

So, we're going to have to make a commitment to our long-term infrastructure, and one of the things that we are hoping to the do is, as we make more investments in infrastructure under my administration, that we start figuring out ways that we can take some of the politics out of infrastructure. And what I mean by that is right now, a lot of decisions are made about projects based on who has got the most powerful congressman or senator. And what we're hoping to do is, at least some of the decision-making based a little bit more on what are the engineering plans that determine this is the best project to go forward?

And one way of doing that is to create what's called an infrastructure bank, where at least a certain amount of infrastructure money, particularly for new projects, would be guided by some clear criteria, a lot of transparency, engineers and urban planners and city planners involved in the process, so that we can also get some regional planning. Because part of what happens when politics is involved in transportation is that, you know, the commissioner over here may not have the same ideas as the mayor over here, may not have the same idea as the senator over there, except they all represent a similar region, and so you get a whole lot of traffic systems that don't work and aren't efficient, and don't serve commuters very well at all.

So, that's the kind of general direction that we would like to move to.

The second point I would make is that if we are going to be making an investments in infrastructure anyway, we can't just look backwards, we've got to look forward. I mean, how many people here have been on one of these high-speed trains when you were traveling outside the country, unfortunately, for the most part?

I mean, those things are fast, they are smooth. You don't have to take off your shoes -- right? -- check to see if you're wearing the socks with no holes in them.

Why is it we don't have those?

Now, part of it is we're a very big country, we're not as densely populated as some countries in Europe and Asia. And let's face it, we just love our cars. We love our cars. We don't love gas prices, but we love our cars.

But, while -- I want to say, what about gas prices, right? I'll talk about that in a second.

Well, you know what? I'll talk about it now. Even if -- and I mentioned last night -- we have to increase production on oil, we have to increase production on natural gas, because we're not going to be able to get all our clean energy up and running quickly enough to meet all of our economic growth needs. But even if we are increasing production, we have got to get started now decreasing our use and making our economy more efficient.

And so, that is why we need to invest in infrastructure like high-speed rail that will allow us to choose the option of taking the train. And if more and more facilities like that are available, that's going to be good, as I said, for the economy of the region, and it's going to be good for individual lifestyles, because people aren't going to be stuck in traffic for two hours.

It will increase productivity. People will get to work on time a lot faster. They will be less aggravated.

Right?

Now, Joe, in terms of the high-speed rail here, do you have something specific to say?

JOSEPH BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'll make it real simple.

Think of the interstate highway system in the 50s. What you did is you picked the portions of where you could begin to build, where there was the most likely to have the heaviest traffic, so that people would be using it the most. And they just built that out.

What we did is that we picked -- the Department of Transportation picked the Orlando/Tampa route, Tampa/Orlando, because you were most ready, your plans were most advanced...

(APPLAUSE)

Biden: ... and the objective is it's not just going to be here, it's going to come around, all the way heading up going down to Miami as well. And that's why we picked California.

California, Mr. President, there is over a $2 billion investment, because they had plans, they're ready to go. And I might add, they are both Republican governors. So we didn't pick this based on politics. And I mean this sincerely.

So we're picking the places that make the most sense, have the highest density, are ready to go. And there's been $55 billion worth of requests coming from the states.

The good news about that, Mr. President, is we're also funding with some of the money planning efforts, because some of the plans aren't completed enough.

And lastly, Mr. President, we are making a big difference with a portion of this money, over $1 billion of the $8 billion, on taking railroads, for example, from Richmond to Washington that go 65 miles an hour. By getting that up to 110 miles an hour, you take a whole lot of cars off the highway, it becomes economically reasonable to do it.

So, we are taking corridors that, in fact, exist, where we could increase the mileage enough that it could make a difference on congestion. And I'll point out one thing.

I-95 -- and you all know I-95 on the other side of the state -- I-95, going all of the way up to Marway (ph) and the congested areas, costs $22 million per lane to build per mile. You can build this railroad for less than $2 million in that. So, it makes sense, it's where it works, and we're going to have to build it out.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: Good.

Let me just say, by the way -- give a compliment to Vice President Biden. He and his team have overseen the Recovery Act. You have not seen scandal break out on a huge endeavor.

You know, people complain a lot about how government works and wastes money, et cetera. The truth is, is that if you look at what -- how the recovery dollars have been spent, they have been spent the way they were promised, and there is complete transparency, so you guys can go on the White House Web site and look at every single project that has been awarded a Recovery Act grant. Every single one, and scrutinize them.

And you know who the contractors are, you know who is doing the work, you know when it's supposed to be finished. So, you can check out all of this stuff and you will be able to monitor how the high- speed rail project here is operating just by going to our Web site.

All right. It's a young lady's turn. All right.

Let me -- it's a woman's turn. So -- all right. How about -- she is jumping up and down right here.

All right, sir. But you can't blow your whistle, no. All right.

QUESTION: President Obama, my name is Rashonda Williams (ph). I'm from Kissimmee, Florida.

I don't know Ms. Chin (ph) has given you the poem that I wrote you.

OBAMA: Not yet.

QUESTION: Ask Ms. Chin (ph). She came to Center for Drug Free Living over in Orlando, and I wrote a poem for you winning the presidency. I framed it up and put it on a nice background.

But my question is -- and I told her to give it to you.

OBAMA: OK. I'll be looking for it.

QUESTION: So you ask Miss Tina (ph) for that.

My question is, my brothers are in and out of jail with the drugs, the selling of the drugs, and a lot of them can't get jobs coming out. So, the only thing they know is to go back to what they are used to, because they are felonies.

My brother is 27, he has 33 felonies. Drug felonies, mind you.

So, what I'm saying is, is there anything that could be put into motion that can get these guys coming from prison, getting in a system where they can get hired and get their self-esteem built back up so they don't have to go back out on the streets to sell drugs? Because if they don't hire them, all they are going to do is to continue to sell them drugs.

So we need some kind of company that could teach these gentlemen coming out some kind of trade that would keep them from going back out and selling these drugs.

OBAMA: OK. Well, first of all, I look forward to reading your poem.

Look, we've got a great challenge in particularly our inner city communities. But, actually, if you go to rural communities in the Midwest right now, they may be selling different drugs, but you are seeing some of the same patterns.

Joe and I were campaigning in Iowa, and you'd go into small towns where you wouldn't think there'd ever be a problem with the drug trade, and the methamphetamine trade was identical to the crack trade in the big cities. The same patterns of young people getting drawn in.

So, a couple of things have to happen to deal with this problem.

Number one, the single most important thing we can do is to make sure that our very young children are getting a healthy start in life and that their parents or parent or caregiver have the support that's necessary so that they can stay on a straight path of success in school. Because if young people -- if their minds are active and they are doing well in school, they are less likely to fall prey to either using drugs or deciding to deal in drugs.

And that's why I mentioned yesterday -- I mentioned yesterday the single best anti-poverty program around is a world class education. And that's why we are going to invest in early childhood education, that is why we are reforming and pushing states and communities to reform how education works.

And by the way, we have gotten into trouble sometimes not just from conservatives, but sometimes from liberals, because we're trying to shake up low-performing schools. People say, well, why don't you just give them more money?

And my attitude is, you know what? We can give more money to the schools, that's important, smaller class sizes, better classrooms, all those things I care deeply about, but that money will not make a dime's bit of difference if we are not also reforming how kids are learning, making sure that our teachers know their subject matter and that they know the best ways to teach, making sure that parents are staying on top of kids and instilling a sense of excellence and performance in those youth.

So, I want to make that point first, because, frankly, it would be so much easier to work with your brother if he hadn't gone to jail in the first place to get a job. Thirty-three felonies is a lot. I mean, that is a long rap sheet, which means that it is very -- I'm just being realistic. If I'm a business owner and I'm saying to myself, right now the unemployment rate is 10 percent, so there are a whole lot of folks who have never been to jail who are looking for a job, it's hard for me to say, I will choose the guy who went to jail instead of the person who never went to jail and has been laid off.

Now, having said that, what is also true -- what you say is exactly right, that if we can't break the cycle, then all we are doing is just churning folks in a revolving door through the jail system, back on the streets, back to dealing drugs, back to -- and, you know, this is part of my faith, my religious faith, but you don't have to be religious to, I think, believe in the idea of redemption, that people can get a second chance, that people can change.

So, one of the things that we have done is -- actually, Vice president Biden, myself, some Republicans, Sam Brownback, for example, of Kansas, have worked together to promote what we call the Second Chance Act, which links ex-offenders with programs that can provide them with skills, that can provide them with opportunities to get some work experience, and then can essentially certify that they are ready for the workplace, and then trying to encourage private sector companies to hire some of these ex-offenders. The program is not as well funded as I would like. We would like to see if we can do more with it.

It has to be done in partnership with state and local communities, but I do think it's something that ends up being actually wise for taxpayers, because, you know, every prisoner is costing us about $16,000, $18,000, $20,000, and every one of us are paying for it. So, if we can find programs that work, breaking that cycle, ultimately that can be a good investment for taxpayers all across the country.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: All right. All right. It's a man's turn.

I'm going to call on that big guy right there with little hair since the microphone is right next to him.

QUESTION: Thank you.

My name is Steve Gordon (ph), and I'm from Clearwater. And I manufacture and own a small company, environmental company. I manufacture the instant (ph) water-saving device that fits on any faucet worldwide.

I am frustrated because I can create 500 jobs. I've gone to the banks, I can't get a loan. And I speak for all businesses in the United States.

We are tired of dealing with banks. And I don't understand -- and this is my question for you, is that I know you care. I know you are trying. But to -- and I appreciate the pledge of $30 billion to small businesses.

But lending it to the ban banks to lend to us is not the answer. It's just not.

(APPLAUSE)

QUESTION: What I suggest -- and the question is, why can't you use the SBA just like you lent directly to Wall Street, you lent directly to the automakers, you lent directly to the banks? Why can't the government make small businesses available directly to us?

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: Well, this is a good question.

Look, first of all, you should be aware that we have increased SBA loans during the course of this year by 70 percent in some cases. So, some of the key programs like businesses like yours, we have massively increased their lending. And, by the way, we have waived some of the fees and red tape that are associated with you getting a loan from the SBA.

Now, it's not enough. I know you're shaking your head here. I understand it's not enough, because you still want a loan. So -- but you need to -- I just want you to know, it's not like we haven't thought of, why don't we use the SBA? We have.

The challenge that we have got is, is that even the SBA loans are generally run not by the SBA. The SBA essentially works with local banks, community banks, neighborhood banks to process the loan, and essentially the SBA underwrites the loan.

And so, the SBA does not have the infrastructure to go all across the country in every region and process loans to small businesses directly, because they don't have enough people. Somebody yelled, "Why not?" The SBA doesn't have the staff to do it.

You know, keep in mind, a small business loan of any sort or a large business loan of any sort requires some sense of, all right, what is the business plan? What are your projected earnings? Et cetera, et cetera. And somebody has got to do that. Now, if the SBA were to suddenly take over that entire function, we would have to stand up a massive bureaucracy. A huge one. And we'd have to train all of those people, and it would take too long. And you would be frustrated, why is it that this big government agency can't seem to run anything?

So what we have decided to do instead is to take $30 billion that was repaid by the banks and make that available under criteria that will encourage small banks to give those loans to you. And if we do that effectively, we can potentially get that money out of the door more quickly.

But I am absolutely sympathetic to what you are saying, because I am hearing it everywhere I go. And that's why I mentioned it last night in my speech.

You have got a lot of small business owners who are ready the grow, ready to hire, but they just can't get financing. So, we're going to use the SBA as one tool. This $30 billion is going to help.

Ultimately, though, the vast majority of small businesses, their loans are going to come from the private sector. And we have got to get the private sector to think differently.

What happened here was that everybody was making loans without thinking of the risk at all. They were just sending money out of the door. That's how a lot of overdevelopment happened here in Florida. It happened in Nevada, it happened in California, because people were just saying, you know what, we're making money, we're not going to ask a lot of questions.

Suddenly, the bottom falls out, and the pendulum has shifted too far in the other direction, so that even if you have got a good business plan, you've got a good model, and you're making profits and you've got a good product, now banks are reluctant to lend at all. And what we are trying to do is to encourage them to get that happy medium where they're not taking such exorbitant risks that they threaten the entire system, but they are also open to enough risk that America's dynamic free enterprise system is actually able to work.

One role -- one aspect of this is also getting regulators who oversee the banks which aren't under my supervision -- and these are independent bank regulators -- getting them to at least take a closer look at their policies, because a lot of bankers will tell you they want to loan you the money, but they are worried about -- they suffered all these losses because of some of the mortgage stuff going belly--up. So, what they will tell you is, I've got a bank regulator breathing down my neck making sure that I'm keeping my capital levels high enough. And we're going to have to make some adjustments there, but that's not something the administration can do directly. We can just encourage these independent regulators to take a closer look at it.

I'm confident you're going to succeed though, and you can give maybe Reggie Love (ph) here your business card so we can find out about your terrific business. (APPLAUSE)

All right. I've got time only for -- I've only got time for two more questions.

This young lady right here, she's been standing here a very long time.

QUESTION: First, my 15-year-old son, Zach Cartwright (ph), wanted me to tell you that he is a big supporter of yours.

OBAMA: Well, tell Zach (ph), thank you very much.

QUESTION: Many families are having to withdraw money from their 401(k)s. Once this occurs, in addition to taxes, there is a 10 percent penalty assessed. Since the withdrawals are taking place due to hardship, families don't always have the money to pay the 10 percent and the penalties. The interest then accrues until the day full payment is made.

The IRS recently made headlines after giving tax breaks to Citigroup. Several months ago, people with offshore accounts were given amnesty.

My question is, why is the IRS coming after the middle class, creating more stress for us? And what is your plan to help resolve this? And if Congress is unable to deal with the issue and directly impacting the middle class, I'm happy to contribute my ideas.

OBAMA: Well, this is something that, actually, I personally experienced. This is several years ago.

Michelle and I had some family emergencies. This was when I was still working in a law firm.

I had a small retirement account set up. And I ended up having to withdraw it and pay that 10 percent penalty, and it was no fun. But it was what we had to do. And fortunately, we were young enough where we could absorb that hit. A lot of families aren't in that position if they've got a nest egg to suddenly -- it's bad enough having to draw it down, but then also to have to pay taxes on top of it is really tough.

Now, the reason that policy is in place, obviously, is because you're getting that money tax free, the idea being that you're going to actually use it for retirement. And then if you're spending it early, before retirement, then you can imagine that a lot of people could potentially game the system by avoiding -- you know, using these accounts to avoid taxes.

So, I just want to show a little sympathy here for those who are trying to enforce the law. They're not mean-spirited, they're just trying to -- they're working with the system that was set up.

I think you are raising a legitimate point though. And if I'm not mistaken, we actually started looking at this, Joe, in our administration, was to take a look at, are there circumstances -- and the specific thing we were thinking about was medical emergencies, where people should not be penalized for it. And I think that issuing blanket amnesties in all circumstances may not be possible, but taking a look at certain narrow categories of emergencies in which these penalties could be waived is something that we have discussed. And I think that we could explore.

All right?

OK. All right. I've got one more question.

OK. Everybody is pointing at this young man, so I'm going to call on this young guy right here. I think that's all his sisters, were all pointing at him.

Oh, call on my brother.

QUESTION: All right. I'm Hector (ph), and I am a student at UT.

(APPLAUSE)

QUESTION: And my question is, last night you talked about repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell, and my question is, what are you doing now to put in motion so that same-sex couples and homosexuals are treated as equal citizens, i.e. same-sex marriages and the thousand-plus benefits that heterosexual couples enjoy after marriage?

OBAMA: Well, look, as I said last night, my belief is, is that a basic principle in our Constitution is that if you're obeying the law, if you're following the rules, that you should be treated the same, regardless of who you are. I think that principle applies to gays and lesbian couples.

So, at the federal level, one of things that we're trying to do is to make sure that partnerships are recognized for purposes of benefits so that hospital visitation, for example, is something that is permitted, that Social Security benefits or pension benefits or others, that same-sex couples are recognized in all of those circumstances.

I think that we have got to -- we actually have an opportunity of passing a law that has been introduced in Congress right now, and my hope is that this year we can get it done just for federal employees and federal workers. A lot of companies on their own, some of the best-run companies have adopted the same practices, but I think it is the right thing to do and it makes sense for us to take a leadership role in ensuring that people are treated the same.

Look, if you are -- regardless of your personal opinions, the notion that somebody who is working really hard for 30 years can't take their death benefits and transfer them to the person that they love the most in the world and who has supported them all of their lives, that just doesn't seem fair, it does not seem right, and I think it is the right thing to do. (APPLAUSE)

OK, look, guys -- listen, everybody, I have got to take off. Wait, wait. But I warned you guys I could not answer every question.

Let me just say in closing -- let me just say this in closing...

(CHEERING)

Let me just say this in closing -- hold on a second. Hold on a second. Hold on, hold on, hold on a second. I want to say this.

Look, we've gone through a very difficult year, but I have great optimism that we have begun to dig ourselves out this hole. In order for us to do it successfully, we are going to have to work together, we are going to have to listen to each other and we are going to have to be respectful to each other. So I want to end on mentioning something that I talked about last night.

You know, our political dialogue in this country has always been noisy and messy because we come from different places, we have different ideas, different beliefs. I understand all of that, but we are all Americans. We all should anticipate that the other person, even if they disagree with us, has the best of intentions. We don't have to call them names, we don't have to demonize them, and that is true whether you are a democrat or a republican, whether you are conservative or liberal or an independent. Being respectful and listening to other people's points of views and understanding that most of the issues are complicated.

Look, let me take the example of health care. Part of the reason why it is so easy to scare people about health care, even if they don't like it the way it is now, is because you have got doctors, you have got nurses, you have got hospitals, you have got insurance systems, you have got Medicaid, you have got Medicare, you have got the VA system -- all of these systems constitute several trillion dollars, one-sixth of our economy. Even if you come up with a great plan that lowers premiums and creates greater competition and ensures freedom for you to chose your doctor and is bringing down the deficit, all of the things that I've claimed, and prevents insurance companies from abusing customers, even if we do all that, there is going to be somebody out there in a $2 trillion system who is unhappy with something, right? So they will complain, well, you know, I'm a medical device manufacturer, and if you reform system that might force me to change how I sell my products. Or there is going to be a doctor who says, well, you know what, right now I get charged this way and if you change how Medicare reimburses, then I might have to change my billing system, and that is going to cost me a few thousand dollars and I don't like that.

The reason I'm pointing this out is if we are going to do big things on energy or health care or infrastructure, then we are going to have some differences, we've got to work them through. Nothing that human beings do will be perfect, but we shouldn't sort of assume that the other side is either heartless and doesn't care about sick people, or is some socialist communist who is trying to take over the health care system, or -- you know, we start getting into these caricatures of each other. They are so damaging.

And frankly, you know, the political parties and the media haven't been helping, they've making it worse. I want to dial some of that back. Let's start thinking of each other as Americans first, figuring out how to help one another, figuring out how to move this country move forward. I am confident we'll do great.

Thank you, everybody. God bless you. Thank you.

(CHEERING & APPLAUSE)

VELSHI: And there is President Obama wrapping up a town-hall meeting where he is taking questions in Tampa, Florida.

When we come back, we will speak to a schoolteacher who says that she still has a job because of the administration's stimulus bill. We will discuss that when we come back and we'll check some of the facts that President Obama put out there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: OK. We just heard from President Obama in Tampa. I want to talk to you about what he said, and I also want to bring in Jeanne Simons, who is a Phoenix schoolteacher and single mother of two children. She was not referred to by name, but she was referred to by President Obama in the State of the Union Address last night. And, of course, on the right of your -- on the left of the screen is our political editor Mark Preston.

Mark, you listened to the speech in great detail last night, poor Jeanne didn't because everybody was calling her trying to figure out if it was her that the president was talking about, and indeed it was. I was one of the people who was calling her.

Jeanne, you met with the vice president last week. You were going to -- you thought that you might lose your job. Tell us your story very quickly.

JEANNE SIMONS, JOB SAVED BY STIMULUS MONEY: Well, I graduated in 2008 and accepted position with Teach for America which is an organization that sends people to, you know, low-income schools in inner cities to teach for two years. And so, I was coming up to the end of my first year with that program and my principal came to me about two months before school had ended, and she said your job is not going to be saved. So, it was going to be cut.

And after that point, I was obviously very concerned. I knew that I had the safety net of Teach for America to be able to help me, but I still didn't know if I would be coming back and my first thought was thinking about my students and how would they find me and know which classroom I was teaching at somewhere in the Valley if it was not the same one that they had attended.

VELSHI: And then you found out -- then you found out your job was saved. SIMONS: Yes, about a week before, I guess the school year ended, she called me back into the office and told me that my job was saved because of stimulus money.

VELSHI: Mark, the president made it clear last night in the speech, his advisers and his surrogates have been out there, and again he said it again today, that there are jobs that have been saved and created because of. Still, he is having a hard time getting traction on that, because most people see jobs lost in America over the last years, and are wondering how that $800 billion-plus has helped the economy.

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Yes, you know, Ali, who knows it better than you. I mean, you have been following this for the last two years when you and I went across country and really met with real people who were starting to lose their jobs.

But look, once the stimulus bill passed, people expected jobs immediately, and in fact we saw unemployment rise and we are at 10 percent right now. Now Jeanne is one of the success stories. If you talk to critics, if you talk specifically to republican critics, they will say that it was ill advised to spend all of that money. That, in fact, the biggest problem right now is the debt and the fact that the government is getting involved in all of these bailouts is really stymieing private enterprise.

So, you know, thankfully that Jeanne was able to save her job, but critics will say that, you know, perhaps that money was spent unwisely.

VELSHI: Well, interesting point.

Jeanne, when you and I talked last night, putting aside the fact that you are pleased that your job was saved, you actually told me that you sort of think back to the Great Depression and money spent on infrastructure and you feel it is important that education is really somewhere where that money should be spent?

SIMONS: Absolutely. You know, we need to build our intellectual infrastructure just like we need to build our economic and physical infrastructure.

And I see it every day in my classroom. You know, some of the shortcomings within our public education system, if we don't work on this -- and I'm grateful that this administration was able to create more jobs for education -- if we don't work on this, we don't really have a future as a nation.

VELSHI: Mark, did you get some sense of comparing last night's speech to this town hall today? Did you get some sense that the president is in a groove in this new direction that he is going in in terms of trying to convince people he is going to stick to helping out the middle class and going to be more disciplined about government spending?

PRESTON: Sure. I mean, and he has to be because we are heading into the midterm election.

But, you know, Ali, listening to the speech today, it reminded me of a campaign event. I mean, he was very aggressive in defending what his administration has done. He did not mention the Bush administration by name, but he talked about "the lost decade." And he said that we are on the right track, things won't go as fast as some people hope. But it really seemed to have a campaign feel to me as not only did he deliver that speech, but when he took the questions.

VELSHI: Mark, good the talk to you, as always. You have been sticking with us through all of the developments and of course we'll see a lot more of you through the campaign. Our CNN political editor Mark Preston.

And Jeanne Simons, good to talk to you again after speaking with you last night. We are glad you still have your job and we look forward to following your career. Good luck.

SIMONS: Thank you.

VELSHI: All right, Ford Motor Company has announced its first full-year profit for the company year since 2005. That was just before the new CEO, Alan Mulally, took over. He is driving that car that you're looking at right there, I'm in the passenger seat. When we come back, my interview with the CEO of Ford, Alan Mulally.

VELSHI: Ford Motor Company announced its first full-year profits since 2005, that was just before the new CEO and president, Alan Mulally, took office with an aim to turn Ford around. He is part of the way there.

Here's my conversation with him.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: You were brought in in 2006 to help turn Ford around. Profitability, full-year profitability is a major part of that, but it is only part of the pie. What is left to do at Ford?

ALAN MULALLY, CEO & PRESIDENT, FORD MOTOR COMPANY: Well, I think clearly staying absolutely focused, Ali, on our plan that we put in place three years ago -- and you have covered it very well. You know, focus on the Ford brand, complete family of vehicles small, medium, and large, cars and utilities and trucks, and every one of them best in class, and every year improve the quality and productivity.

And that is why we are seeing the results we are seeing today. So, I think staying laser focused on continued implement of this plan for profitable growth.

VELSHI: The auto industry had a bit of a head start on the rest of America in having to lay people off. And you have had to be involved in that, so I know how important people are to you, so this sort of question is dedicated to those people that you and I have both met in those factory towns, American autoworkers who have been laid off. What is the future for the laid off American autoworker now as we start to pick things up? Is there really a chance they will come back into the workforce?

MULALLY: I sure think so, Ali. And the neatest thing about our plan is that we have turned the corner on growth and we are profitably growing now. We have picked up market share for 14 of the last 15 months. We have improved our quality, our costs, and the strength of the product line now. The real proof point about today is that we are growing the company now.

And just this last week, Ali, we announced to make the new Explorer, 25 percent improvement in the vehicles' mile per gallon, in Chicago with a dynamite team, and actually start to growing the business and now hiring again and providing some great opportunities.

So I think that the key is for all of us to keep it going on profitably growing the company and making the best cars and trucks in the world, and we're going to provide a lot of opportunity for a lot of people, Ali.

VELSHI: We have watched you in the last few years, so we know that there is enough information in the answer that I'm going to ask you to give me to fill a book, but in very short form, what are the lessons you have learned at Ford in the last few years?

MULALLY: Have a compelling vision about the future of the company and what we are all about, have a robust and complete strategy and plan to deliver it, and pull everybody together so that everybody knows the plan, they know where we are, then you know the areas that need special attention, and celebrate every successful point along the way.

VELSHI: When you were hired, Bill Ford, Jr., the chairman, he said that one of the problems at Ford was that the philosophy was "If we build it, they will come," and that stopped happening. What are people looking to buy? What are your consumers wanting to buy today and for the future, do you think?

MULALLY: Well, it is very interesting, because it is the same in the United States as around the world. It is really coming together.

First of all, they want a complete family of vehicles for their needs whether it is a small, medium or large vehicle, or a car, utility or truck. So they can get that with Ford. They also want the very best quality, the very best fuel efficiency, safety, smart design -- just like my Ford -- and they want the best value. And that's almost universal, and that is why every vehicle you see now, Ali, coming out from Ford absolutely delivering on that brand promise.

VELSHI: We were talking about the Toyota situation with a bunch of my colleagues here, and we were worried about how serious this could get for Toyota. And one of the colleagues brought up the fact that, well, remember the Ford-Firestone situation, and I know it was before your time at Ford. That seemed like a very, very serious bad situation for Ford, and yet, Ford, today is profitable and successful.

So, what is Toyota need to do to stem the bleeding on this recall situation that it has got? MULALLY: Well, I think that they are doing exactly the right thing, and that is absolutely get to the root cause, find out everything that you need to know about it, and then move decisively to fix the design and move forward.

It is a neat thing about Ford, Ali, too, that every time anybody has a problem, whether it is a competitor or Ford, we have a process where we understand everything about the issue, we look at our designs and manufacturing plants worldwide, make sure we don't have a problem, if we do, move decisively to fix it. So we will continue to learn from this also.

VELSHI: And you actually did find a similar problem with one of the commercial light buses that you sell in China?

MULALLY: Exactly. In our joint venture there, one of the old versions of the Transit, they had changed suppliers and it looks to us right now that the design looked similar and they have moved over to the same supplier which Toyota had, which is not uncommon. So even though we don't have a problem and we have no reported issues, we stopped the production. It affects less than 2,000 vehicles, but the prudent thing to do is to move decisively until you find out whether we have an issue or not.

VELSHI: Alan, good to see you. Look forward to seeing you again someplace where we can actually talk cars and maybe take a spin in one.

MULALLY: Absolutely. Good to see you, Ali.

VELSHI: Alan Mulally is the Ford president and CEO.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: All this week we are following the stimulus money with the CNN Stimulus Project. When we come back, we'll get the White House's reaction to some of the stuff that we found out this week.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: All this week we have been digging through the stimulus project to see how it has helped to create jobs or failed to create jobs in America. I just discussed the Stimulus Project with Jared Bernstein. He is the chief economist and economic policy adviser to Vice President Biden.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: Jared, thanks for joining us.

Boy, we've kept you and the folks at the White House running around all week, because as we have learned things in the stimulus project, we have gone to you, we've reached out to say how do you explain this money or where it went or how many jobs were created. I think that we have all learned something through the stimulus project this week. JARED BERNSTEIN, CHIEF ECONOMIC ADVISER TO VP BIDEN: Yes, we have appreciated the opportunity to talk about this, and I think some of the stories that you have done have been really instructive in putting a face on some of the folks who have actually been helped by this. We have talked a lot about the 2 million jobs saved or created thus far, but it is really helpful to put a face on some of those folks.

VELSHI: Sure.

BERNSTEIN: And I know some of your stories have done so, and that is important.

VELSHI: Well, that always makes it easier for us.

So in the President's State of the Union Address he made some references to some people who had been helped. We were able to reach out to them and find them -- a manufacturer of windows in Philadelphia, a small business owner involved in electric cars, in Phoenix a schoolteacher.

What is your sense of whether the money that has been spent in the stimulus has been deployed effectively to create jobs, because that's largely been yours and the vice president and the president's message in the last year?

BERNSTEIN: Not only has it been spent effectively, it has been spent efficiently. That is, it has gone out the door quickly at a pace that is just about -- maybe a little even faster than we had expected -- and it has offset some, not all -- and we have all, including the president last night, been quick to point that out. The deluge in the labor market of job loss from the deepest recession from the Great Depression would have overwhelmed any conceivable government program. But the ability of this program to get out of the door as quickly as it could to offset some of the pain to stabilize, to help to stabilize the job market, I think, has been really effective.

And one of the points you just made, you talked about a teacher, there are 300,000 folks in education working now across this country who would not be at work if the stimulus program hadn't helped to offset some of the gaps in budget deficits.

VELSHI: So this becomes -- and you must have heard this not just from us at CNN, but you must have heard this question wherever you go -- that the minute we talk about saved or created or job losses that were prevented, it almost becomes unmeasurable, it becomes unverifiable, because we don't really know who else would have laid someone off. So this is where, I guess, some of the tension comes in, because we don't know how to prove the numbers to be true or false.

BERNSTEIN: Well, there is a longstanding set of methods that we use. The Congressional Budget Office, which I think is widely granted to be an independent source of analysis, came up with a number that was just about identical to ours. In fact, they are talking about up to 2.4 million jobs saved or created through the fourth quarter. But you know, I think that the thing, Ali, in reflecting back in some of the stories over the course of the week that helps in this regard is the transparency with which this act has been implemented. I dare say that you and your staff would have had a much harder time doing this story were it not for the fact that we have tried to be extremely up front to the American taxpayer with how every one of the dollars is being spent. That kind of accountability and transparency, the idea that every direct beneficiary, their information is on recovery.gov a mouse click away, I think that's the accountability that helps to develop the type of stories that we have been talking about that put a real face on how this program is helping people across the country in every state in the nation.

VELSHI: Jared, we appreciate you and your staff being available to us. I will confirm that we have reached out to your office many times to say we have a project, this where we think that the money is going, can you help us to trace it. It is a big project, it's a lot of money that's gone out, and a lot of recipients. It's a work in progress for us and we we'll continue talking to you about it.

Thanks for joining us, Jared.

BERNSTEIN: My pleasure.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: And of course, in last night's State of the Union Address the president tackled a number of the issues of jobs created or saved. Let's go to David Gergen, CNN's senior analyst, to discuss this.

David, you and I have been following the economy and politics together daily for a couple of years. I listened to you last night after the State of the Union and I sort of sensed that you were actually a little bit pessimistic about what this administration is going to be able to achieve given that it has lost some ground in public opinion?

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think it faces a steep uphill climb, Ali, in terms of governance. Health care reform is on life supports. Cap and trade, which is the centerpiece of the energy and environmental bill, seems to be dead for this year. The deficits, as we have heard, I think are very, very difficult to bring under control. Last night we heard no firm plan for dealing with Medicare or Medicaid, Social Security.

And of course, the Senate, unfortunately, just two days ago with an act was showing a real lack of courage. David Broeder the senior political writer, as you know, for "The Washington Post" said it was -- called that vote in the Senate rejecting the commission on deficits a betrayal of the country. That is tough language, especially from someone as moderate in his language as David Broeder.

VELSHI: What is the answer, David? What has to change? Because people are clearly on a daily basis losing faith in government right now. They just don't feel that the government that they wanted to protect them from this remarkable downturn in the economy is doing it for them?

GERGEN: Well, Ali, I think the speech helped some last night, but people are looking for deeds more than words at that point. You know, we've had a Niagara of words from the president and from others about the economy over the last year, and yet conditions are still very grim for many, many Americans. And so, last night's speech, I think, was helpful in reframing his priorities, but I don't think it changed many minds about where we go. What people are going to be looking for is actual progress on the job front.

And one of the reasons the stimulus program is so important, this argument is so important is things have been happened as a result of the stimulus, jobs have been saved, but as you know CNN polls this week have also shown, that most Americans do not think it's worked. Three-quarters think that half or more of the money has been wasted.

I think the administration has to actually get jobs done. It would be very helpful if they had one or two projects that you and I could go look at and you could go to and point to and say, you know, this is a national model. This is something that's going to be here for years to come. We don't -- there has been nothing in the reporting that I have seen that you are going to look at 20 years from now, and say, wow, they did that during the stimulus program. The CCC in Franklin Roosevelt is very, very different.

I also think, Ali, they need a strong CEO-type to run this jobs program. The responsibility is so diffused within the administration, there is nobody who is the out front person who you can look at and say that person can pick something up and lift it and carry it somewhere else and that person's going to help do that for the country.

VELSHI: David, thanks for your commentary. As always, good talking to you. We'll talk to you again.

That's it for me today, over to "RICK'S LIST" now.