Obama On AIG Rage, Recession, Challenges

Also Tells 60 Minutes How He Is Adjusting To The Job, And His Family To The White House

(CBS)  By most accounts, this past week was one of the most difficult in the young presidency of Barack Obama. At the heart of it all was the public upheaval over $165 million in bonuses paid to employees of AIG, a company largely responsible for bringing the world's financial system to its knees and now being propped up by U.S. taxpayers. The bonuses touched off a cultural war between Wall Street and Main Street, both of whose support the president needs to help stabilize the economy.

After campaigning in California to drum up support for his $3.6 trillion budget, the president sat down with 60 Minutes in the Oval Office for a conversation about the AIG debacle, the economy, and getting the hang of the world's most difficult job.

"Were you surprised by the intensity of the reaction, and the hostility from the AIG bonus debacle?" correspondent Steve Kroft asked.

"I wasn't surprised by it. Our team wasn't surprised by it. The one thing that I've tried to emphasize, though, throughout this week, and will continue to try to emphasize during the course of the next several months as we dig ourselves out of this economic hole that we're in, we can't govern outta anger. We've got to try to make good decisions based on the facts in order to put people back to work, to get credit flowing again. And I'm not gonna be distracted by what's happening day to day. I've gotta stay focused on making sure that we're getting this economy moving again," President Obama replied.

The president ordered Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to use every legal means to recover the bonus money from AIG. If it is not repaid, it will be deducted from the company's next bailout payment. The House decided to extract its own revenge by passing a bill that would impose a tax of up to 90 percent on the AIG bonuses and on the bonuses of anyone making more than $250,000 a year who works for a financial institution receiving more than $5 billion in bailout funds.

"I mean you're a constitutional law professor," Kroft remarked. "You think this bill's constitutional?"

"Well, I think that as a general proposition, you don't wanna be passing laws that are just targeting a handful of individuals. You wanna pass laws that have some broad applicability. And as a general proposition, I think you certainly don't wanna use the tax code to punish people," the president replied. "I think that you've got an pretty egregious situation here that people are understandably upset about. And so let's see if there are ways of doing this that are both legal, that are constitutional, that upholds our basic principles of fairness, but don't hamper us from getting the banking system back on track."

"You've got a piece of legislation that could affect tens of thousands of people. Some of these people probably had nothing to do with the financial crisis. And some of them probably deserve the bonuses that they got," Kroft said. "I mean is that fair?"

"Well, that's why we're gonna have to take a look at this legislation carefully. Clearly, the AIG folks gettin' those bonuses didn't make sense. And one of the things that I have to do is to communicate to Wall Street that, given the current crisis that we're in, they can't expect help from taxpayers but they enjoy all the benefits that they enjoyed before the crisis happened. You get a sense that, in some institutions, that has not sunk in; that you can't go back to the old way of doing business, certainly not on the taxpayers' dime," Obama said. "Now the flip side is that Main Street has to understand, unless we get these banks moving again, then we can't get this economy to recover. And we don't wanna cut off our nose to spite our face."

"Your Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has been under a lot of pressure this week. And there have been people in Congress calling for his head. …Have there been discussions in the White House about replacing him?" Kroft asked.

"No," Obama said.

Asked if Geithner had volunteered or asked whether to step down, Obama told Kroft, "No. And he shouldn't. And if he were to come to me, I'd say, 'Sorry, Buddy. You've still got the job.' But look, he's got a lot of stuff on his plate. And he is doing a terrific job. And I take responsibility for not, I think, having given him as much help as he needs."

[On_Our_Honor]

First bailout should have been voted down. Second bailout should have been voted down. How dare the American government show preferential treatment to corporations and keep them afloat denying the free market and new small business the chance to come in and overtake huge corporations running with terrible business plans and bad customer service. This trillion dollars spending spree is the most wanton and ridiculous expenditure of money that I can remember seeing being passed and endorsed by a United States governmental body to spend toward completely uncoordinated, unclear and nonsensical objectives.

What was the last line of trash that Obama was selling during the presidential campaign, something like that John McCain doesn't know anything about the economy and is running around like a chicken with his head cut off because he went back to do his job as a United States senator in Washington D.C. while Obama made it very clear then he just wanted to be on tv at the presidential debate instead of doing his job as a sitting U.S. senator. So it should comes as no surprise to voters that during the continued economic crisis we now have Obama still longing to be a superstar on tv with Jay Leno, 60 minutes among other programs while the economy spirals into disarray and the white house is running around like chicken with its head cut off. Obama never seriously committed to doing his job as freshman in the senate and I expect the same from him in the white house

[wyzguy11]

At this point in Dubya's first term he was already planning his vacation to Crawford, TX while his chief terrorism head, Richard Clarke, was warning him of the Al-Queda threat. He wasn't given the time of day because he was a Clinton hold-over!

President Obama is doing a tremendous job considering what has been left on his plate!!

[c1nder]

I think that it's a shame that Kroft would ask this question of a sitting president. I used to be an avid 60 Minutes fan. After this, never again will I watch this show. You guys have given up journalistic integrity. You should be ashamed of yourselves for allowing this question to be asked of our President. He's been in office two days and two months, and you act like a bunch of rabid dogs going after him. Shame on 60 Minutes and Steve Kroft should be fired. I am contacting all of your sponsors and voicing my concerns over your shabby journalistic standards. I won't be watching your show again, or buying any of your sponsors' products unless and until they drop 60 Minutes.

[suzyku]

steve kroft was extremely disrespectful to President Obama! The high ratings that 60 minutes gets are as a direct result of his interviews with President Obama and instead of appreciating that fact as well as being grateful that our President chose him to do the interview, mr. kroft acted like a jerk! We will always be interested in and watch our President however in future it will NOT be on 60 minutes and will NOT be if kroft is doing the interview! How dare he say: "are you punch drunk" to the President of the U.S., I don't recall anyone saying things like that to mr. bush who seemed to "always" be an idiot! steve kroft needs to apologize publically to our President as well as to his viewers.

[TheDaveElder]

Regarding your interview with President Obama on "60 Minutes," you could have suggested to the President that maybe some of the disputed bonuses were deserved, or you could have asked him if he thought some of them were deserved, but you didn't do either. You stated that some of the bonuses were probably deserved. On what planet? The big boys at AIG, Citigroup and all the rest pulled off the biggest scam in the history of Western Civilization -- do you, as a journalist, not get that? Moving money around does not increase its value, whether you're doing it on Wall Street or on the Las Vegas strip. How is it possible to have credit derivatives worth 10 times more than the yearly GDP of the entire planet? The answer is... it's not possible! But apparently it is possible as a TV journalist to be clueless about the financial world. The big boys at AIG (or AIU, as it's now called) and their counterparts at the other big banks don't deserve bonuses for their financial chicanery, they deserve jail time!

[redrider5050]

Please tell me our new President did not throw out an analogy from 50 years ago - "And we don't wanna cut off our nose to spite our face." I am 54 and have never quoted that one.
This is the best leader this nation has ever seen.
Forget the metaphors and people pleasing, communicate on your level, we will catch up.
The Press Conference from last night was intelligent and to the point. Thanks for the Education.

[clancy49]

This is addressed to CBS news reporters. I am screaming here. If education is so important why oh why are you using 'wanna' consistently instead of 'want to'? Even if the President has a slang or accent of some sort, it isn't wiser to put it in proper language English? I don't recall y'all with other presidents. If you want our children to be educated properly, you should set the example. You have English majors for editors, use them! Stop using slang just because the President sets a poor example of slang use. Stop it! Stop it Now!

[ginoson]

So, this is an Odumbo press conference to the NATION??? Favorite reporters asking rehearsed questions and receiving answers from a teleprompter??? What a complete crock of ****!!! Just part of the oncoming march towards PRAVDA & TASS. And we are losers???? You idiots voted for this stump.

"SOURCE: Reporters were told in advance if president was going to call on them. Senior Administration Officials notified reporters from Stars & Stripes, Univision and other news outlets that they should have question ready. Several reporters moved up in assigned seats as result... "

[ginoson]

Hey, Canada. We could care less what you think. Canada is like an eighty year woman's breasts. Everybody knows they are up there, but no one gives a cr@p. You like socialism, more power to you. Stay there and leave us with what we did have. This idiot is not going to be president for life. And you guys will continue coming here to thaw out your rearends.

[ginoson]

And you OneBigA$$MistakeAmerica worshippers dared to call Bush stupid. Your problems stem from your complete hatred of Bush. Your brains went into a holding pattern and are still there. You have a good case of the brain fa*ts.

{One of the few times he summoned raw emotion came after a reporter demanded to know why it took him so long to express outrage over the AIG executive bonuses.

"It took a couple of days because I like to know what I'm talking about before I speak."

Even better, he likes to have it up on the teleprompter.}

[InterestedCanadian]

As a Canadian I am watching the new Administration under President Obama with keen
interest. Canada is very heavily dependent on our tradind relationship with the US. What happens there in your country greatly impacts us here. From the economy to the war in Afganistan to stem cell research I regard Obama as making all the right moves. Our federal government here - the Harper conservatives - could learn a lotfrom him (but they probably won't). Huge deficits in future years are a sizable risk, but as Obama implied tonight on CBS it is a risk that must be taken. The greater risk could be ec onomic stagnation, and the US languishing as a much needed global leader in the extremely challenging times that lie ahead.

[ginoson]

And then there is BARNEY F***t.

[ginoson]

Great Orators of the Democratic Party

'One man with courage makes a majority.'
- Andrew Jackson

'The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.'
- Franklin D. Roosevelt

'The buck stops here.'
- Harry S. Truman

'Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.'
- John F. Kennedy

And for today's Democrats...


'It depends what your definition of 'IS' is?''
- Bill Clinton


'Those rumors are false .... I believe in the sanctity of marriage.'
- John Edwards

'I invented the Internet'
- Al Gore

'The next Person that tells me I'm not religious, I'm going to shove my rosary beads up their Back Side.'
- Joe Biden

' America is--is no longer, uh, what it--it, uh, could be, uh what it was once was...uh, and I say to myself, 'uh, I don't want that future, uh, uh for my children.'
- Barack Obama

'I have campaigned in all 57 states.
- Barack Obama

'You don't need God anymore, you have us democrats.'
- Nancy Pelosi (said back in 2006)


'Paying taxes is voluntary.'

- Sen. Harry Reid


'Bill is the greatest husband and father I know. No one is more faithful, true, and honest than he.'

- Hillary Clinton (said back in 1998)




HOW LUCKY CAN WE BE TO HAVE SUCH BRILLIANT MINDS IN CHARGE OF OUR ONCE GREAT COUNTRY!!!

" IN GOD WE TRUST "

[shellykeith]

The problem isn't President Obama's sense of humor or understanding of the severity of the current situations that plague the United States of America the problem seems to be the severity of the attitude of Americans. On the whole Americans are spoiled and not accustomed to truly tightening there belts and living with less. We have convinced ourselves that the rewards of discretionary income are in fact necessities. We shun public transportation in favor of traffic jams, packaged and prepared foods in favor of fresh whole foods prepared at home and we let our children get the tools and rules of life from mass media. Seems to me that rather than continuing down this path of self destruction and denouncement of the values and practices of our elders we ought to revere the customs and traditions of our past and reengage in a more communal family oriented way of life. Starting with a bit more tolerance of all and certainly a little chuckle now again won't hurt. Peace, Shelly

[ginoson]

I sure hope you leftists are right in that that interview might just put 60 minutes out of business. I wish the other alphabets would do the same trick. It might just level the playing field a little. Maybe Rush could work that out.

[ginoson]

Posted by igotitdidu ..."You have truly lost it as most of you have on here. You are so used to being bullies and doing things the "white" way that you cannot fathom anything any different. Fear will drive you to all sorts of distorted thinking, as I read this post by this person it clearly suggest that some of you are just loosing it. Please seek help for your delusional beliefs before they lead you down the wrong path. You clearly have a misconception of was it real and what is not. "
=================================================================
Beg to differ. Did you ever hear about the Rev. Jim Kones of Guyana fame. Fed his cultists strychnine laced KoolAid down in Guyana to avoid the Feds. His "followers" willingly(?) committed suicide because they were so enthralled by this character. Rev Jones was, supposedly, a good speaker and had them all mesmerized with his message. Their bodies were strewn all over the compound when the Feds found them.
Hitler was another master at manipulation of the mind. What happened there? Remember? In both of the above cases, the masses of followers kept saying, "Everything is going to be alright." The same exact thing that you people are saying about your Messiah.
You accuse us on the right of LOSING it??? My fine feathered friend, who has LOST it here? We did not vote for this smooth teleprompter reading racist, marxist/socialist empty suit. You did. You drank his KoolAid for the last 2 plus years to the point that you are hooked. I hope most of you don't have grandkids. If so, they are going to say to their parents, " I wish my gramma & granpa were still alive so that I could kick them in the a$$ for putting us in this mess."
HOW DO YOU LIKE YOUR KOOLAID,SIR?

[spinner630]

It's been a while since I watched 60 Minutes, and I was surprised to find the tenor of Steve Kroft's interview with the president adversarial. The president was clearly not laughing at the county's problems, nor making light of them. However, humor is an element of resiliance - a characteristic we very much need in a leader at an anxious time in our history.

[spinner630]

It's been a while since I watched 60 Minutes, and I was surprised to find the tenor of Steve Kroft's interview with the president adversarial. The president was clearly not laughing at the county's problems, nor making light of them. However, humor is an element of resiliance - a characteristic we very much need in a leader at an anxious time in our history.

[starfaced]

These old codgers need to go to Interview School. Steve Croft was way out of line by asking the President of the United States if he was punch drunk. A stupid, disrespectful question---it will be the death knoll for any future 60 Minutes interviews. You've ruined it for the American people. If the President and his family can't do an Edward R. Murrow in your living room-type interview with REAL questions, then bar the medium altogether. How dare this old codger of an interviewer say to the President---you're laughing, but.....How dare he? Bush couldn't get a straight sentence out of his mouth. Clinton never came up for air. Cheney couldn't tell the truth if he tried and this old codger-pip squeak is asking Obama why he was smiling? Morley Safer says something like "a fat, dumpy housewife" before introducing a segment---he sitting there with his mass of facial wrinkles and perpetual gingham trademark shirt and tie--old codger passes judgment on the rest of us. Or, how about Leslie Stahl running all over the top of the question AND the answer while interviewing (THAT was an interview???) Alan Greenspan. You could easily get embarrassed by these people. What about the woman who asked Senator Kennedy about "the Kennedy Curse". 60 Minute Taboloid. Brickbats to 60 Minutes for this interview. You could see from President Obama's eyes that he was tired, passing too many time zones, he must be tired. But what is Steve Croft's story? "You're laughing..." he says----what a non-nonsensical, disrespectful comment. You won't see it again---you just ruined it for your audience, they won't go on to another interview...thanks alot Steve.....

[gwxpy1]

President Obama's smiling at Steve's question can easily be explained as nervousness. Mr. Croft's comment about being "punch drunk" was inappropriate and just plain stupid. How many times did President Bush do something similar when he would "snicker" or what ever you would call it? In any event you should just let the audience make the judgement and not the interviewer.