“Robert Gibbs: I think he would count himself among those like me that was surprised, absolutely.”

That was Gibbs’ response to my question at Wednesday’s White House briefing about the results of the Massachusetts Senate election. It’s a surprising and disturbing admission.

I suggested in my question that it’s surprising that the President is surprised. He’s the head of the Democratic Party. He’s presumably aware of the state of politics in the country. I pointed out that the losses in New Jersey and Virginia had already been bad for the Democrats. I asked why he is surprised. Is he a little out of touch with what is going on in the country? Is he not being adequately briefed?

Gibbs said more. He said the surprise and frustration happened over many days, and that when people are asked does the President care about people like you, 70 percent of the people say yes.

I don’t want my president to be surprised by political developments in his own party. I want him to be informed. I want him to be briefed. I want him to be in touch with where the voters are.

Also surprising was a reply Robert Gibbs gave to a question asked in a gaggle last week. He was asked why liberals are less enthusiastic or less inspired than they were in 08. He said:

“I don’t know (long pause) why some segment of political observers don’t seem to be as motivated.” He went on to give a long answer about “going forward with new ideas for economic recovery and creating a new foundation, or going back to some of the policies that caused this type of economic devastation to take place”.

But it was “I don’t know (long pause)” and what followed that struck me as his first, most natural response. He really didn’t know.

If President Obama is going to be surprised, then a 7.0 earthquake in Haiti should be about the only thing that should do it.

The President seems to have thought about his administration’s disconnect with the American people because in his interview with George Stephanopoulos, he said “I think, you know, what they ended up seeing is this feeling of remoteness and detachment where there’s these technocrats up here making decisions. Maybe some of them are good, maybe some of them aren’t, but do they really get us and what we’re going through?”

The answer is that he’s partly right; people didn’t think he got them last year, but communicating better to the American people, which is what it seems the White House thinks it needs to do now, is not the whole answer. They’ve got to be able to hear from the American people, and right now they’re not even understanding what motivates their base.

If the White House hadn’t wasted half the year trying to be bipartisan (i.e. one vote) on health care, they could have had it long before the Massachusetts election.

Lesson: Washington in 2010 is not a bipartisan town. Three senators working on energy is not tripartisanship. Give it up. The country’s not interested, and it will drain time and resources. Focus on jobs, deficit reduction, the economy and bank regulation. Be passionate.

The White House lost liberals because they gave up the public option, escalated in Afghanistan, seemed cozy with Wall Street, followed Bush on national security decisions, etc.

The President was surprised. Robert Gibbs was surprised and didn’t know. Was Rahm Emanuel surprised? What did David Axelrod know? If the Democrats don’t turn this around and salvage something in November, then what did the President know and when did he know it will take on a whole new meaning.

White House Correspondent Victoria Jones asks Press Secretary Robert Gibbs why the president was surprised by the outcome in the Massachusetts Senate race, if the president is out of touch. Gibbs responds that he as well was surprised, but he clarifies that they were not surprised on the night of the election but over the course of days leading up to the election. (1:30)

 

 Standard Podcast [1:30m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

You can be on the right side of history or the wrong side of history. Or you can, when a disaster of the magnitude of the Haitian earthquake occurs, shut up, and text “Haiti” to 90999 on your cell phone.

Rush Limbaugh pretends to be a populist, a man of the people. Pat Robertson pretends to be a man of God. Both are nouveau aristocrats.

Limbaugh claims President Obama is using the relief effort to gain points (”burnish their, shall we say, credibility”) with the African American community. “It’s made to order for him.” With the exception of Michael Steele and Armstrong Williams, didn’t the African American community vote for Obama?

He suggests that because Obama has directed people to the White House’s web site, maybe your money might not be going to Haiti, and your name might end up on a mailing list. So on the one hand, Obama is sending masses of military might to actually help Haiti, but on the other hand, he is secretly squirreling away donations from kind and distressed Americans (somehow – not clear how, as the money goes to the Red Cross) for – ?

Limbaugh’s most obscene, astonishing comment is “Besides, we’ve already donated to Haiti. It’s called the U.S. income tax.” Limbaugh talks disparagingly about the liberal elite, but this is where he betrays himself as the true nouveau aristocrat – rich elitist, jingoistic, cruel. Give him powder and a wig. Tumbrils, anyone?

As for Pat Robertson, he claims the Haitians made a deal with the Devil, (who said OK) to get out from “under the heel of the French”, “uh you know Napoleon the third and whatever”. He goes on to say “the Haitians revolted and got themselves free.” Hello. If the Haitians revolted and got themselves free, then ipso facto – and I’m going by what Robertson says – then they did not need the Devil. Apart from the idiocy of this, it is ignorant (see Juan Cole’s piece in Informed Comment), but all of a piece with his disgusting perversion of religion.

Robertson blamed September 11 on the United States: “because God Almighty is lifting His protection from us”, and among other things, because the Supreme Court had insulted God. As for Katrina, it was a good thing for John Roberts who was coming up for confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court. It might intimidate Democratic senators into not asking questions about abortion and other conservative issues.

A nouveau aristocrat, Robertson has had no problem in the past aligning himself with human rights violators Charles Taylor of Liberia or Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire. Gold and diamonds shimmered in the shadows.

Stay tuned for Limbaugh’s next inevitable aristocratic swill. Because there is only one airstrip at Haiti’s airport, because the roads in many places are almost impassable, and because civil authority has virtually collapsed, Limbaugh will attack the Obama administration’s
aggressive, and so far well coordinated response as incompetent, ineffective and a rip off of your good will.

God only knows what Robertson will say.

13 January, 2010

Google
Gibbs was asked to talk about the talks last night with the NSC. (Google is threatening to pull out of China because of a sophisticated computer network attack originating there.) He said the White House has had conversations with them, but did not want to get into depth. In China the President talked about the right of a free internet, taking a question over the internet about the freedom of the internet. The Secretary of State said we will look for a response from the Chinese. Asked if the US offered Google advice, Gibbs refused to discuss it. Asked if there was a concern about a US China chill, Gibbs repeated his response about beliefs in a free internet.

Healthcare
Gibbs was asked whether the cadillac tax was likely to evolve into a lesser tax, and whether that would satisfy unions. He said there was a meeting going on in the Cabinet Room with Democratic leaders of Congress on many of the differences in the issues that remain on health care. This is one of the issues. The White House would have something to say at the conclusion of the meeting this afternoon.

Asked if the President had agreed to exempt from the cadillac tax those policies collectively bargained, he said he would not get into it. Asked if abortion language was on the agenda, he said he did not know if it was specifically one of the things they would talk about, although there were differences in the House and Senate bills, and the meeting is intended to go over differences.

Gibbs did not know if they would get through everything today. He said he hoped for a bill this month. He said the cadillac tax is a tax on insurance companies that provide plans that exceed a threshold level, not a tax on an individual.

Gibbs said the key to making progress is the talks that are taking place currently. 85-95% of the bills overlap, and they are trying to work through the differences on the remaining parts and are optimistic.

Asked if the President would advocate having the bill posted for 72 hours on the internet, Gibbs said that healthcare was the most covered story by the press in 2009. What has gone through has not been a surprise to anyone. It is not a process that will happen in 20 minutes, so people will have an opportunity to look at the legislation.

Haiti
The President will make phone calls to leaders in the region, and talk directly with the Haitian president later on this morning. There will be a readout. As there are either no hospitals left standing or they have been abandoned, Gibbs was asked if there was talk about bringing people to the US. He said first and foremost it is search and rescue and saving lives. He directed reporters to briefings by State and others. There was a lot that was not known until daylight today.

There are no discussions of the President going to Haiti right now. Going into an area that has sustained the type of devastation that it has would only detract from our core mission of search and rescue and saving lives by sending a bunch of people down there to prepare for the President.

Gibbs was asked if the US works together with other countries. He said yes, and that one of the calls late morning early afternoon would be to Canada. As the day goes on, there may be more calls. The US wants to help coordinate and do what it can in terms of international efforts, as well as its priority is search and rescue, and American citizens, and help with international efforts.

Gibbs said he was not aware that the President had any personal connections in haiti, but he would check.

State of the Union
Asked if the date for the State of the Union was contingent on a done deal on healthcare, Gibbs said that is not the case. They are working on scheduling.

Bankers Testifying Before Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission
Gibbs was asked whether Wall Street officials who are testifying today should apologize for their actions. Gibbs said an apology is the least we should expect: common sense and rationality in how they are paid, a measure of common sense in believing that somehow things are so good economically in this country that it is time for billions of dollars in bonuses. There are some on Wall Street who seem to believe that nothing has changed and that the American taxpayers provided financing in order to get them back to making bad decisions.

Bank Fee
The President will speak tomorrow at 11.45 about an effort to ensure that the money that is outstanding that the taxpayers are owed from TARP is fully recouped. That is something the President has talked about extensively. Gibbs was asked how it could be ensured that the fee would not be passed on to consumers. Gibbs said the economic team has worked for quite some time on a structure that will ensure that what taxpayers gave to banks to ensure their safety and security in a time of crisis is paid back in full.

Politics – Democratic Lack of Enthusiasm
Gibbs was asked about a lack of enthusiasm among liberals in 2010, given that it is a challenging year. Massachusetts was mentioned. He was asked why it was, and what the White House could do to energize the people who elected the President. Gibbs said he did not know why some segment of political observers do not seem to be as motivated. He said there was a lot at stake in Massachusetts and on Capitol Hill. It is whether Democrats go forward with ideas for an economic recovery and creating a new foundation, or back to some of the policies that caused this type of economic devastation to take place. He said there is a long way to go before November. People will understand what is at stake in 2010 quite clearly.

Massachusetts Race
The President has no plans to travel there to campaign for Martha Coakley.

Lanham Trip Cancellation
Haiti was the reason for the cancellation of this afternoon’s trip.

Don’t Ask Don’t Tell
Gibbs was asked what the developments are in repealing DADT. He said he had no updates.

Airport Security
Gibbs was asked whether it would be possible to screen the entire terror watch list. He said he would check with NSC. There were several databases. There needs to be something that ensures that people who should not get on planes do not, but not something that is so unwieldy that you cannot use it operationally.

As soon as the Senate returns from its break, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reader will schedule a formal roll call vote on the nomination of Errol Southers to be Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration. Southers is former assistant chief of the Los Angeles Airport Police, and a former FBI agent. His confirmation hearings concluded this month, and his confirmation is considered highly likely.

Why is Reid holding this vote? It’s an unusual move. It’s because Sen. Jim DeMint put a hold on the nomination because he is concerned about unionization at the TSA. During his confirmation hearings, Southers wouldn’t say whether he would support or oppose unionization efforts until he was “confirmed, in place and hearing from stakeholders about the issue.”

That’s not good enough for DeMint, whose spokesman Wesley Denton says: “This is an important debate because many Americans don’t want someone running the TSA who stands ready to give union bosses the power to veto or delay future security measures at our airports.”

DeMint through his spokesman makes it sound as though Southers has already made up his mind to support unionization, which is not what Southers said. However, the real meat here is in the phrase “union bosses,” a classic derogatory term for union leaders. Further, the suggestion is that these “bosses” would veto or delay future security measures at our airports. Why exactly would they do that? Because they’re unamerican, likely scary socialists and possibly craven communists? Why else would they deliberately endanger their own country?

DeMint now blames Reid for not allowing a debate on the nomination before adjourning, and still won’t lift his hold.

Why do TSA workers want to unionize? Arbitrary work rules, a high rate of workplace injuries, high turnover rates, unfair promotion and scheduling policies, low morale and inadequate pay, for starters. I don’t know about you, but I want the 40,000 people at the x-ray machines and everywhere else to be at least minimally content in their jobs.

It’s interesting that Immigration and Custom Service employees and Federal Border Guards are unionized, but in 2003 President Bush decided it would threaten national security to allow the TSA to unionize. Don’t the Federal Border Guards have something to do with national security?

DeMint is holding up Errol Southers because he can, also because he wants to defeat President Obama any time he can (remember Waterloo), and because he hates unions. The fact that the nation’s national security got caught in the middle was apparently of little concern to him. Perhaps he didn’t expect an attack on Christmas Day. Not many people did.

By Victoria Jones – Talk Radio News Service

START Agreement
White House Press Secretary Gibbs opened the gaggle by saying that President Obama spoke with President Medvedev this morning from the White House to continue to make progress on a renewed START agreement that expires on December 5. In the likely event that negotiations are not concluded in the next 24 hours, there will be a joint statement from the two presidents outlining that the status quo will continue as the two make progress toward a renewed agreement.  Issues can probably be worked out with a little more time, Gibbs said. Gibbs said there are no face-to-face meetings planned anytime soon.

A joint statement by the two presidents has since been released.

November Jobs Numbers
Gibbs said the numbers today show that the nation continues to make much needed progress in getting the economy going again, and in getting the right trend going in terms of hiring. These numbers were the best numbers that have been released in 22 months. The two previous months’ numbers were revised downwards. The US is clearly moving in the right direction, Gibbs said. According to Gibbs, the Recovery Act got economic growth going again; Now there is positive movement in jobs. There will be bumps along the way. There will be ups and downs in this process. The President is pleased that we continue to move in the right direction.

Asked if there were any areas of concern, Gibbs said that the President would say that even though the number is less than it has been in 22 months, still 11,000 more people lost their jobs in November. That is too many. We have to return to an economy that is not just growing, but creating jobs. The President held a jobs summit at the White House yesterday, where he heard from CEOs, small businesses and others in the private sector. Today in Allentown, Pa. and in a speech on Tuesday, he will talk about some of his ideas for job growth. We are moving in the right direction, but there will be bumps along the way, said Gibbs.

Pakistan
Gibbs was asked whether the CIA’s expanded use of drones in Pakistan includes targets in Baluchistan. He replied that he respects the longstanding tradition of not talking about it.

Osama bin Laden
Gibbs was asked about a report that says that a Taliban detainee says that bin Laden was in Afghanistan earlier in the year. He refused to discuss it when asked if the US has independent intelligence on it. 

Economy
Gibbs said the President believes he has seen and heard good ideas from his economic team, based on discussions yesterday. He will outline some of what he supports going forward on Tuesday. It will not be the totality, but the President believes we must create an environment for job growth and job creation. Gibbs said there would not be another $787 billion stimulus plan. Using TARP money for job creation is being looked at. Asked whether the job package would be deficit neutral, Gibbs said he did not want to get ahead of that.

Gibbs said the President has asked to be as aggressive as we can be in ideas that will create jobs. If somebody has an idea to create jobs, the President is anxious to hear and look at it. There is not a political constraint on good job creating ideas. Gibbs hoped it would be true from both parties that good ideas create jobs.

In the speech on Tuesday, the President will outline specific ideas for creating jobs and creating an environment where hiring can happen. The President will talk to Congress about these ideas, and Gibbs added that there have already been some discussions with members of Congress.

NATO and Afghanistan
Asked whether the rules of engagement for NATO would be loosened as 7,000 more troops have been announced by NATO for Afghanistan, Gibbs said different countries would make some of those determinations. The US is extremely pleased by the continued cooperation and continued contribution that the international community is making to efforts to stabilize Afghanistan. 

An additional 7,000 troops is a hefty contribution on their part, Gibbs said, and the NATO Secretary General said he believes there are likely more to come.  That is a very positive development in helping us with the mission of combating the insurgency, as well as training the security force that will ultimately take responsibility for security of Afghanistan, said Gibbs.

Gibbs said that General McChrystal’s original equation did not include any NATO troops. One of the points of progress throughout the time period in which the President’s team analyzed the situation was to ensure that our international partners were continuing along our pathway with us. 

Gibbs said that the strategy that got the US into July 2011 is a number and a date that came from military planning at the Pentagon, based on their belief in what could be accomplished, given the strategy that the President would approve, in terms of incentivizing for the Afghans changes in their governance and corruption and an acceleration in their training. 

The full force is likely to get in by the end of next summer. This is a significant ramp up from what was originally proposed in General McChrystal’s assessment, which spread out deployment well into 2011.

Health Care
Gbbs was asked if a realistic date for a health care bill was closer to the State of the Union, given that it took four days to pass two amendments this week. He said he would not wiggle on the date. He said there has been a motion by the Democrats to post amendments on the internet, and Republicans objected. So there had been hours and days debating what the Republicans had wanted to be posted previously. At some point the American people understand there are people in this town to solve the problems people have, and there are people looking to continue to play the same old Washington political games that have gotten their party’s approval ratings a (low rating). If the bill passes, the President would be happy to sign it in Hawaii at a number of picturesque locations.

By Victoria Jones – Talk Radio News Service

Afghanistan
Robert Gibbs said the President talked on Sunday afternoon by phone with Secretary Clinton, met last night at 5 pm at the Oval Office with Secretary Gates, Admiral Mullen, Gens. Cartwright and Petraeus, National Security Advisor General Jim Jones and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.

The President communicated his final decision on the strategy, and issued orders on the strategy’s implementation. After that meeting in the Oval Office, the President held a similar meeting by secure video teleconference in the situation room with General McChrystal and Ambassador Eikenberry in Afghanistan at 6 pm.

The President believes the situation in this region is a shared international challenge. Building on the work he has been doing in this regard, including productive calls last Wednesday morning with Prime Minister Berlusconi of Italy, the President will be in close consultation with friends and allies throughout the day today.

The President spoke this morning with President Sarkozy. He will meet with Prime Minister Rudd and discuss our strategy moving forward as well as the economy and climate change. He will not ask for more troops from the Australians as they have increased their contributions throughout the spring to a level the US is quite pleased with. He spoke at noon with President Medvedev, and will speak at 1 pm over secure
video teleconference with Prime Minister Brown. Many of the calls will be to update leaders on the process that has gone into this. Conversations with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and President Zardari will either happen later today or tomorrow. The President is not yet getting overly specific with foreign leaders as to the number of troops he will send.

Consultations with Congress will continue throughout today and tomorrow in the run up to the speech. The President continued to work through the weekend primarily with Ben Rhodes on tomorrow night’s West Point speech.

Tomorrow afternoon at 4.45 pm a bipartisan group – so far about 31 names, maybe more – will gather at the White House with leadership, as well as a number of the committees of jurisdiction. Today, tomorrow, and in this meeting there will be consultations with Congress on strategy.

Gibbs said the President and his team have ensured that there are benchmarks for progress, whether it is on the training or governance side.

Gibbs declined to respond to requests for troop number increases.

In tomorrow night’s speech, the President will reiterate the limits on our resources, both from a manpower perspective and budgetary perspective, and he will say this is not an open ended commitment. The goal of the strategy is to train an Afghan national security force comprised of the Afghan national army and police that can fight an unpopular insurgency in Afghanistan, so we can transfer that responsibility back to them. This is not open-ended.

A big part of this policy is ensuring that the Taliban in Afghanistan are not capable of providing a safe haven for al Qaeda that existed prior to the attacks of September 11, 2001. The President will discuss that in the importance of why we are there, Gibbs said.

Gibbs was asked if the President would talk about what success would look like in Afghanistan. He replied that he would go through why we are there, what this process brought about, and outline what he hopes to achieve there.

Gibbs was asked if the President would address human rights in Afghanistan, particularly the condition of women and girls, in his speech tomorrow night. He said that he would have to check the speech on that.

Asked if there would be an embargoed copy of the speech made available to the press ahead of the speech, Gibbs said that at 7.30 tomorrow it was their hope to put out a full embargoed text.

Asked if there was a point at which they could just not afford the war anymore, Gibbs said from a broader perspective the President has many concerns about long term debt and the deficit. Throughout the next several weeks and into the next year and beyond, the President will continue to take steps to address fiscal responsibility. Health care costs are part of that fiscal responsibility. Getting the economy back in good health and creating jobs will also help the fiscal situation.

Pakistan
Gibbs said that throughout the campaign and his time here the President has been deeply engaged in improving our bilateral relationship with Pakistan, and ensuring we are working together to root out violent extremism.

Prime Minister Rudd Photo-Op
Gibbs was asked why there would not be a photo op with the press. Gibbs replied that there would be an official photo, to which the reporter pointed out that that was not the same. Gibbs said there would be two people in the photo.

Iran
Gibbs said that a number of the President’s forthcoming conversations with foreign leaders would involve discussing Iran. He said we have seen from the Board of Governors at the IAEA a clear statement from the international community in rebuke
to the activities of Iran. We have seen now purportedly the response of the Iranian government. The Iranians have clear responsibilities and obligations. Their failure to uphold these means that time is running out and failure to take those responsibilities seriously will result in further action.

Jobs Summit
Gibbs said the jobs summit is going ahead on Thursday. The President is eager to hear the private sector’s ideas and where they see the economy. It took extraordinary action at the beginning of the administration to get economic growth going, which has to happen before we can see job growth.

Asked what the real purpose was of having a community event to talk about jobs, Gibbs said they were happy to get ideas and suggestions from anybody. Wisdom is not the dominion of Washington.

Secret Service Investigation – Salahis
Gibbs said as best he knew the Secret Service continues to look into that situation, and when there is something complete, they will have it.

White House Gaggle with Robert Gibbs

Coast Guard Exercise
Gibbs said that to his knowledge they had no advance warning, and that there were exercises going on all over the country. We are all safer because of them. Before people report things like this, he said, checking would be good. He did not question law enforcement in trying to keep the nation’s capital safe. As best he could tell, there was reporting based on listening to a police scanner that was not verified. A lot of this might have been avoided. He saw no analogy to the Air Force One fly over in New York.

Asked whether the President has an opinion about whether the public should have been informed that there was a training exercise on September 11th, Gibbs said he did not think the President knew about every training exercise federal, state or local law enforcement do in preparation for something happening again. It was hard to divorce the media coverage from the question. He suggested people should call the White House. If anybody is unnecessarily alarmed based on erroneous reporting that claimed that shots had been fired, everybody is apologetic. It is a Coast Guard decision. Neither the Commander in Chief nor his spokesperson are going to micromanage the training exercises.

Gibbs said there are a lot of responsibilities. People owe it to everybody, not just in the memory of what happened eight years ago, but in the memory of whatever could happen again, that we may not get this story first, but we may be the first ones to get it right.

Senator Carl Levin on Afghanistan
Asked about Senator Levin’s statement on not sending more troops to Afghanistan until the Afghan army and police have been built up, Gibbs said he has not seen Levin’s statement. The administration continues to assess the situation as it has done since the transition. Reorienting the strategy and getting it right is of the utmost importance to the President. There is no imminent decision on increased resources to Afghanistan.

Gibbs said there never was a timetable for an imminent decision. He did not expect anything to happen for many, many weeks. The President made some decisions early on. All of the resources encompassed in those decisions have not gotten to Afghanistan.

Asked if the President was concerned that he is losing members of his own party on Afghanistan, Gibbs said there is not an imminent decision. They would work to get the policy right. For a long time there was not a sufficient focus on getting Afghanistan right. That is what the President would do working in the administration and with members of Congress.

Previewing Monday’s Speech on Wall Street
Gibbs said that it will be on Wall Street because the financial instability started there and it caused it to be felt everywhere else on Main Street. It is the collapse of Lehman Brothers one year later and the financial instability that that signified and its dramatic impact on the economy. The President, even before that, but certainly on that day and the days that followed, has focused on ensuring that the U.S. gets its stability right, and there has been great progress on that. The speech will focus on the need to take the next series of steps on financial regulatory reform to ensure that after what happened a year ago, there are sufficient safeguards to ensure that does not happen again.

Asked if there was a new time frame for legislation, Gibbs said both chairs would say it is a big focus of their fall. The administration has outlined a financial plan and is working with Congress to implement it. It wants to demonstrate why it needs to move forward and why this can’t wait.

9/12ers Rally
When told about the “9/12ers” rallying on Washington on Saturday against the President’s health care reforms, Gibbs said he did not know what they were. “Have fun”, he said.

President’s Minnesota Speech on Saturday
Gibbs said the President will talk about the perils of not acting, and what happens if we delay again, health insurance reform. Ticket distribution will be open to the public, first come, first served. There will be other rallies like this. Asked whether the event is a political event or a Presidential event, Gibbs replied that it is a Presidential event.

Health Care Mandates For Low Income People
Nancy Ann DeParle was on a Yahoo Chat yesterday and spoke about low income people and health care and fines. A question was asked in some detail about this. Gibbs said there are hardship waivers for individual mandates to avoid penalties.

Health Care For Illegal Immigrants
Asked about a back and forth yesterday about whether illegal immigrants could buy insurance on the health exchange, Gibbs said illegal immigrants would not be allowed to access the exchange that is being set up. Asked if people would have to show proof of legal residence or citizenship, Gibbs said that is something they would work out with Congress, but yes.

Paying For Health Care
Asked about criticism from moderate Democrats that there was not enough specificity in the speech Wednesday about how the President was going to pay for health care reform, Gibbs said there was a very constructive meeting with moderate Senate Democrats on Thursday. Some people are surprised that the President is actually going to pay for a proposal, Gibbs said.

At 9.40 am the President signed into law the extension of the Cash for Clunkers legislation that the Senate approved yesterday.

Jobs Numbers
Gibbs said the numbers are more evidence that we have pulled back from the edge and brink of a depression. If you look at the averaging of the numbers over a period of time, the pace of job loss is declining, which is positive. However, last month, a quarter of a million people lost their jobs. The President is very focused on putting the economy back on track. It is still expected that the unemployment rate will reach 10% this year.

There will be good days and bad days. There is a long way to go. The Recovery Act has made a difference. Two thirds of the benefit has yet to make a difference. The focus is on implementing the recovery plan. Without seeing genuine, positive, sustained job growth, we will see the rate continue to 10%. We are pleased, though not satisfied, that the rate of that job loss is declining. Before recovery, there has to be stabilization.

Gibbs stated that he was informed of the jobs numbers at the same time as the markets. He said it is unclear if the numbers today are a trend. Asked if the numbers would go back up again, he said it was in all likelihood very possible. However, the rate of job loss has declined.

Death of Taliban Leader
Gibbs was asked if the leader of the Taliban in Pakistan, Baitullah Mehsud, has been killed. Gibbs said they cannot confirm it, though there is a growing consensus among credible observers. Mehsud is a murderous thug. He has planned and helped carry out some of the most heinous acts of terrorism and violence in Pakistan. He has killed scores of innocent men, women and children, and is supposed to have plotted the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. If he is dead, the people of Pakistan will be safer as a result.

The US is working very closely with the government of Pakistan to prevent the Taliban, al Qaeda and other affiliated terrorist organizations from killing innocent people. The US is very pleased with the level of cooperation and working together, and want to do everything to help Pakistan defeat terrorism. The President is regularly updated on this situation.

Closing of Guantanamo
Gibbs was asked whether there would be a delay in the closure of Guantanamo, based on something an administration official said yesterday. He said, no, he had looked at the transcript. He quoted the transcript which appeared to state that Guantanamo would close on time.

Violence at Town Halls
Gibbs was asked whether, with the increase of violence at town halls and a death threat, he would recommend that members of Congress do not hold town halls. He said no, that people that go to have their voices heard, that they have some respect for everybody else’s ability to be heard and participate in a town hall.

White House Gaggle with Robert Gibbs

President Bill Clinton in North Korea:
Gibbs reiterated that the White House had put out a statement and would not add to it for awhile. He said it was a private mission that did not involve the use of a government aircraft, and that President Clinton was not carrying a message from President Obama.  

Obama’s Lunch with Senate Democrats:
The economy and healthcare will be on the agenda. All 60 Democrats were invited. Sens. Kennedy and Byrd will not be there. Sen. Mikulski will not be there as she has broken her ankle. Sens. Lieberman and Sanders will be there.  The President will reiterate his support for and his desire to extend the cash for clunkers program by taking previously approved money from energy efficiency programs.  

Cash For Clunkers:
Gibbs was asked, why not subsidize refrigerators or living room furniture? He said the program would have an impact on energy, security and the environment by taking older, more polluting, inefficient automobiles off the road.  They thought the program would be popular; it has proven to be an enormously popular and successful program.  

Health Care Town Hall Protests:
Gibbs was asked if what appears to be well orchestrated protests at town halls are derailing the President’s message.  He said no, and added that the Brooks Brothers Brigade from 2000 in Florida appeared to have rented a similar bus and are appearing together at town hall meetings  throughout the country. He saw commonality.  He didn’t have names, but saw similarity in who showed up where.  He hoped people would take a jaundiced eye to what is clearly the astroturf nature of so called grassroots lobbying, manufactured anger.

Response to the Drudge Report:
Asked why the White House responded to an item on the Drudge Report, Gibbs said that there is a tremendous amount of misinformation floating around on health care. They thought it was important to answer it.  

White House Counsel Greg Craig:
Asked about a report that Craig is leaving, Gibbs referred to what Jim Messina said in the article, that it is summer in Washington and people like to play parlor games.  They have addressed the rumors and they are not true.

Senator McCain Voting No on Sotomayor:
Gibbs said her record as a judge for 17 years and her depth of experience throughout  her career make her qualified to serve on the Supreme Court, adding that she will make a good judge.  It was disappointing that Senator McCain came to a different conclusion the day after talking about bipartisanship.  The swearing in ceremony could happen by the end of this week or the beginning of next week.  He will check.

President’s Birthday Celebrations:
Gibbs will seek guidance. Obama had a lot of fun over the weekend. He bowled a 144. There were friends from Chicago, Hawaii, along with his family. They played basketball, pool, had dinner together, had a lot of fun.