Transcript: President Barack Obama, Part 2

By: CBSNews

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Ireland goalkeeper Shay Given fails to block a shot by Spain's David Silva during the Euro 2012 soccer championship Group C match between Spain and Ireland in Gdansk, Poland, Thursday, June 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison) (Peter Morrison)

KROFT: We talked about some of the criticism that this presidency and you personally are seen as being very insular, closely held. Is it time to expand that circle? Well, you've got some jobs you have to fill.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: We do, and I think there's no doubt that over the next two years, I've got to make sure that that same spirit of openness and engagement with the American people and all sectors of the economy is a focus. As I said, you know, I think because we came in during crisis, we had sort of a narrow-tunnel vision on just getting the job done.

Well, part of the job is engaging people -- listening, making sure that they feel that they're bein' heard, gettin' out of here, gettin' out of the White House, gettin' out of Washington. And you know, that's not just good by the way in terms of developing policy -- 'cause I think a lotta people have good ideas -- it's good for me. It's good for my spirits, good for my soul.

You know, the thing I enjoy most about the presidency is when I've got a chance to interact with folks in a backyard town hall, in you know, buyin' some donuts in a store. You know, that's when things aren't scripted, that's when you're not, you know, spending all your time just goin' through a bunch of talkin' points.

That's when I get most optimistic about America because I'm reminded of how wonderful this country is and how diverse it is, and for all the arguments we have, how our core values are widely shared across this country. And we should be able to pull together to do better than we're doin' right now.

KROFT: You're halfway through --

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Uh-huh.

KROFT: -- your first term. What's the most important thing you've learned about your two years here, about yourself, about the job?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: I think that I've learned that America is incredibly resilient. We went through as bad of a financial crisis as anything in our lifetimes. And you know, the country has bounced back. It's not bounced back all the way, but people are tough, and folks work hard, and they're not easily shaken. It has been so impressive to me the way folks have been able to just keep goin' about their business. Some of them in very difficult circumstances.

I think I've learned about myself that I'm pretty resilient too. I'll get knocked down a couple of times. But when I read letters about folks who've lost their jobs and haven't been able to find one, sent out resume after resume, and then finally after a year and a half, they get hired, you know, that inspires me. It says to me, "You know what, whatever I'm goin' through, it's nothin' like what families around the country are goin' through. And if they are able to keep goin' even when things don't go the way they want then I sure can as well."

KROFT: Do you get discouraged? Are you discouraged now?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: No you know, I do get discouraged, I mean, there are times where you think, "Dog-gone-it you know, the job numbers aren't movin' as fast as I want." And you know, I thought that the economy would have gotten better by now. You know, one of the things I think you understand -- as president you're held responsible for everything. But you don't always have control of everything. Right?

And especially an economy this big, there are limited tools to encourage the kind of job growth that we need. But I have fundamental confidence in this country. I am constantly reminded that we have been through worse times than these, and we've always come out on top. And I'm positive that the same thing is gonna happen this time.

You know, there are gonna be setbacks, and we may take two steps forward and one step back, but the trajectory of this country is always positive. And that's something that that prevents me from getting too discouraged.

KROFT: You seem to feel that things are getting better. I sense that. One of the things that drives business crazy is this idea that they don't know what's going on. They have trouble planning. They don't know what the tax rates going to be

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Right.

KROFT: They're not convinced that things are getting better.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Right. Well there are two separate arguments here. I think a lot of businesses still don't know what the economy is doing. They don't know, are consumers gonna start buyin' again? You know, are we gonna start getting the virtuous cycle, where because businesses start hiring, the people who get hired start shoppin', which means other businesses are hirin', and everybody starts feelin' better about the economy.

There's still a lotta uncertain data out there. And we're still workin' through some big problems of the economy. The housing market is a huge headwind. I think there was actually a lot of optimism back in April right before the Greek crisis, when suddenly a lotta companies who were planning to hire kinda pulled back and said, "Gosh, there may still be a lotta, you know, uncertainty in the global financial market."

So I do think that businesses have not yet committed to the kind of expansion that would involve a lotta hiring because they're nervous [that] maybe we're not completely out of the woods yet. And part of my job is to work with them to inspire that confidence.

Now, the second part of uncertainty, and this is the one that the Republicans focused a lot on during the campaign is, we've got a new healthcare law, we've got a new financial regulatory reform law. We don't know what all these regulations coming out of various agencies might be, and so that's making people hesitate.

And you know, I think that it is entirely legitimate that in the banking sector, it's very important for us to write these rules in collaboration with interested parties so that they can start knowin' how things are gonna work. When it comes to healthcare, we need to be consulting with the insurance industry to make sure they know how things are gonna work.

On the other hand, you know, Apple computer is makin' an awful lotta money right now under the exact same laws as some other companies. And the main reason they're makin' a lotta money is 'cause people are buyin' a lotta iPads. You know Caterpillar's sellin' an awful lotta big machinery and makin' good profits because they know there's some demand there.

So I think it's important for us to work to reduce regulatory uncertainty. I think it's important for us to see are there ways we can eliminate red tape when it comes to how businesses interact with government. I think getting things like the R&D tax credit for businesses, you know, settled, makin' that permanent so that people can start makin' investments, I think that's somethin' that's very important.

But probably the biggest uncertainty right now for a lotta companies is there gonna be enough demand out there for the products, and we've gotta make sure that we're workin' with them to try to improve that.

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by howardk2043 November 8, 2010 5:17 PM EST: How could Steve Kroft interview the president and speak of the current and past problems without even mentioning that we are in 2 WARS!! Doesnt this even come up with the fact that Obama pressed the least of important priorities (ie) healthcare, spending a whole year fighting while the economy crumbles, wars get worse and unemployment is out the door. A little more insight would have been beneficial.
Regds,
Howard; Reply to this comment


by idelie November 7, 2010 11:26 PM EST: Okay people, we know now what our President is all about, how much work he has done to clean up the Republican and Bush mess. Their biggest problem is the fact that they are making promises to wall street, the banking system and the pharmaceutical company in driving the country into more mess to satisfy their selfish agenda where the rich gets richer and the poor gets poorer.
Since the president took office a lot more people got into universities. A lot more people has health care coverage. The housing market has always been cyclical, this crisis is not new which by the way almost always get fixed by a democratic administration. we got more respect around the world (two years ago American were not welcomed almost everywhere in the world). We were considered as criminals, unintelligents.
We need to start fighting. Republican and Democrates do not own this country. we need to come up with a movement to counterfit the tea party movement which contains a lot of liars, cheaters, racists, selfcentered people so we can move the country forward. This President is an Innovator he came up with a lot of ideas that are now being implemented in Europe Asia and Africa we should focus on tapping in on them to make America a prosperous country again (Renewable energy, technology, science,research, inventions etc.) Let's be competitive again in this global economy so we can reclaim our strengths; Reply to this comment

by laciboros November 7, 2010 9:09 PM EST

The full interview, only available on line, included full and thoughtful answers to the questions. I am astounded that the editors of CBS feel that they have the power to edit an interview with the President of the United States to reflect what they think is most important to the country. Unelected but admittedly in control of a powerful media outlet, they have chosen to highlight hot button issues instead of a balanced review of the Obama record. No wonder that more people trust Jon Stewart, who had the decency to devote his whole show to the President.

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by cathysf November 7, 2010 11:11 PM EST: right on laciboros!

by amfran November 7, 2010 8:57 PM EST

60 Minutes stopped being journalism years ago, and Steve Croft reached a new low in pandering to the right in his "interview" with the President -- posing "questions" that were thinly disguised talking points of the tea party, and throwing in shameless editorial comments such as "the Republicans want to extend tax breaks for everyone to keep the economy moving". Where does it say that tax breaks for the top earners will "keep the economy moving"?? Only in Croft's head, and of course on Fox News. Why don't you send Croft over to Fox along with the rest of the 60 Minutes team....

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by anotheramericanvoter November 8, 2010 4:44 PM EST: I'm sorry... where did you find that quote? I couldn't manage to find it anywhere in either part of the transcript or video.

And can you elaborate somewhat on what your issue was regarding the questions? It seems you're rather unclear on the difference between an interview and a speech. In an interview, it is generally expected of the interviewer to ask tough questions. Given the election results, I'd find it odd if the interviewer didn't ask questions that address the talking points of the opposing parties. If Obama didn't want to talk about those sorts of things, he should have probably scheduled a press conference instead.

Finally, I would think you'd be proud that he fielded those tough questions reasonably well. Whether we should believe him or not remains to be seen, but he gave reasonable answers for a change.

by tilden1876 November 7, 2010 8:37 PM EST

I was disappointed that Steve Kroft misrepresented the President's proposal on taxes. Obama has proposed a cut for the first 250K for EVERY American - those above 250Kl get of $61,000 in cuts! Yet Steve said that the President only wanted cuts for those making less than 250K while the GOP wants it for everyone. This is just not factually accurate, or true in any sense! What happened to accuracy at 60 Minutes!

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by laciboros November 7, 2010 9:01 PM EST: Right on. It seems that there is more and more editorializing in the guise of interviewing. Leading questions abounded coupled with editing of answers. Accuracy and objectivity were clearly no longer the main goals of what used to be the best interviews on TV.