President Obama's Weekly Web Address

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary
__________________________________________________________________________________
EMBARGOED UNTIL 6:00 AM ET, SATURDAY, April 18, 2009

WEEKLY ADDRESS: President Obama Discusses Efforts to Reform Spending, Government Waste; Names Chief Performance Officer and Chief Technology Officer


WASHINGTON – In his weekly address, President Barack Obama announced that Jeffrey Zients, a CEO, management consultant and entrepreneur, will join the administration as the Chief Performance Officer, and that Aneesh Chopra, Virginia’s Secretary of Technology, will serve as the Chief Technology Officer. Zients will also serve as Deputy Director for Management of the Office of Management and Budget. He will work to streamline processes, cut costs, and find the best practices throughout the government. As Chief Technology Officer, Chopra will promote technological innovation to help the country meet its goals from job creation, to reducing health care costs, to protecting the homeland. Together with Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra, they will help give all Americans a government that is effective, efficient, and transparent.

President Obama announced his appointments of the following individuals today:

Jeffrey D. Zients
Zients has twenty years of business experience as a CEO, management consultant and entrepreneur with a deep understanding of business strategy, process reengineering and financial management. He served as CEO and Chairman of the Advisory Board Company and Chairman of the Corporate Executive Board. These firms are leading providers of performance benchmarks and best practices across a wide range of industries. Currently, he is the Founder and Managing Partner of Portfolio Logic, an investment firm focused primarily on business and healthcare service companies.

Aneesh Paul Chopra
Chopra serves as Virginia’s Secretary of Technology. He leads the Commonwealth’s strategy to effectively leverage technology in government reform, to promote Virginia’s innovation agenda, and to foster technology-related economic development. Previously, he worked as Managing Director with the Advisory Board Company, leading the firm’s Financial Leadership Council and the Working Council for Health Plan Executives.

The full audio of the address is HERE. The video can be viewed online at www.whitehouse.gov.


Remarks of President Barack Obama
Weekly Address
Saturday, April 18, 2009


It’s not news to say that we are living through challenging times: The worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. A credit crisis that has made that downturn worse. And a fiscal disaster that has accumulated over a period of years.

In the year 2000, we had projected budget surpluses in the trillions, and Washington appeared to be on the road to fiscal stability. Eight years later, when I walked in the door, the projected budget deficit for this year alone was $1.3 trillion. And in order to jumpstart our struggling economy, we were forced to make investments that added to that deficit through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

But as surely as our future depends on building a new energy economy, controlling health care costs and ensuring that our kids are once again the best educated in the world, it also depends on restoring a sense of responsibility and accountability to our federal budget. Without significant change to steer away from ever-expanding deficits and debt, we are on an unsustainable course.

So today, we simply cannot afford to perpetuate a system in Washington where politicians and bureaucrats make decisions behind closed doors, with little accountability for the consequences; where billions are squandered on programs that have outlived their usefulness, or exist solely because of the power of a lobbyist or interest group; and where outdated technology and information systems undermine efficiency, threaten our security, and fail to serve an engaged citizenry.

If we’re to going to rebuild our economy on a solid foundation, we need to change the way we do business in Washington. We need to restore the American people’s confidence in their government – that it is on their side, spending their money wisely, to meet their families’ needs.

That starts with the painstaking work of examining every program, every entitlement, every dollar of government spending and asking ourselves: Is this program really essential? Are taxpayers getting their money’s worth? Can we accomplish our goals more efficiently or effectively some other way?

It’s a process we have already begun, scouring our budget line by line for programs that don’t work so we can cut them to make room for ones that do. That means ending tax breaks for companies shipping jobs overseas; stopping the fraud and abuse in our Medicare program; and reforming our health care system to cut costs for families and businesses. It means strengthening whisteblower protections for government employees who step forward to report wasteful spending. And it means reinstating the pay-as-you-go rule that we followed during the 1990s – so if we want to spend, we’ll need to find somewhere else to cut.

And this Monday, at my first, full Cabinet meeting, I will ask all of my department and agency heads for specific proposals for cutting their budgets. Already, members of my Cabinet have begun to trim back unnecessary expenditures. Secretary Napolitano, for example, is ending consulting contracts to create new seals and logos that have cost the Department of Homeland Security $3 million since 2003. In the largest Department, Secretary Gates has launched an historic project to reform defense contracting procedures and eliminate hundreds of billions of dollars in wasteful spending and cost overruns. And I commend Senators McCain and Levin – a Republican and a Democrat – who have teamed up to lead this effort in Congress.

Finally, in the coming weeks, I will be announcing the elimination of dozens of government programs shown to be wasteful or ineffective. In this effort, there will be no sacred cows, and no pet projects. All across America, families are making hard choices, and it’s time their government did the same.

That is why I have assembled a team of management, technology, and budget experts to guide us in this work – leaders who will help us revamp government operations from top to bottom and ensure that the federal government is truly working for the American people.

I have named Jeffrey Zients, a leading CEO, management consultant and entrepreneur, to serve as Deputy Director for Management of the Office of Management and Budget and as the first ever Chief Performance Officer. Jeffrey will work to streamline processes, cut costs, and find best practices throughout our government.

Aneesh Chopra, who is currently the Secretary of Technology for Governor Kaine of Virginia, has agreed to serve as America’s Chief Technology Officer. In this role, Aneesh will promote technological innovation to help achieve our most urgent priorities – from creating jobs and reducing health care costs to keeping our nation secure.

Aneesh and Jeffrey will work closely with our Chief Information Officer, Vivek Kundra, who is responsible for setting technology policy across the government, and using technology to improve security, ensure transparency, and lower costs. The goal is to give all Americans a voice in their government and ensure that they know exactly how we’re spending their money – and can hold us accountable for the results.

None of this will be easy. Big change never is. But with the leadership of these individuals, I am confident that we can break our bad habits, put an end to the mismanagement that has plagued our government, and start living within our means again. That is how we will get our deficits under control and move from recovery to prosperity. And that is how we will give the American people the kind of government they expect and deserve – one that is efficient, accountable and fully worthy of their trust.

Thank you.

Obama's Weekly Web Address

We start this new year in the midst of an economic crisis unlike any we have seen in our lifetime. We learned yesterday that in the past month alone, we lost more than half a million jobs – a total of nearly 2.6 million in the year 2008. Another 3.4 million Americans who want and need full-time work have had to settle for part-time jobs. And families across America are feeling the pinch as they watch debts mount, bills pile up and savings disappear.

These numbers are a stark reminder that we simply cannot continue on our current path. If nothing is done, economists from across the spectrum tell us that this recession could linger for years and the unemployment rate could reach double digits – and they warn that our nation could lose the competitive edge that has served as a foundation for our strength and standing in the world.

It’s not too late to change course – but only if we take immediate and dramatic action. Our first job is to put people back to work and get our economy working again. This is an extraordinary challenge, which is why I’ve taken the extraordinary step of working – even before I take office – with my economic team and leaders of both parties on an American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan that will call for major investments to revive our economy, create jobs, and lay a solid foundation for future growth.

I asked my nominee for Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, Dr. Christina Romer, and the Vice President-Elect’s Chief Economic Adviser, Dr. Jared Bernstein, to conduct a rigorous analysis of this plan and come up with projections of how many jobs it will create – and what kind of jobs they will be. Today, I am releasing a report of their findings so that the American people can see exactly what this plan will mean for their families, their communities, and our economy.

The report confirms that our plan will likely save or create three to four million jobs. 90 percent of these jobs will be created in the private sector – the remaining 10 percent are mainly public sector jobs we save, like the teachers, police officers, firefighters and others who provide vital services in our communities.

The jobs we create will be in businesses large and small across a wide range of industries. And they’ll be the kind of jobs that don’t just put people to work in the short term, but position our economy to lead the world in the long-term.

We’ll create nearly half a million jobs by investing in clean energy – by committing to double the production of alternative energy in the next three years, and by modernizing more than 75% of federal buildings and improving the energy efficiency of two million American homes. These made-in-America jobs building solar panels and wind turbines, developing fuel-efficient cars and new energy technologies pay well, and they can’t be outsourced.

We’ll create hundreds of thousands of jobs by improving health care – transitioning to a nationwide system of computerized medical records that won’t just save money, but save lives by preventing deadly medical errors. And we’ll create hundreds of thousands more jobs in education, equipping tens of thousands of schools with 21st century classrooms, labs and computers to help our kids compete with any worker in the world for any job.

We’ll put nearly 400,000 people to work by repairing our infrastructure – our crumbling roads, bridges and schools. And we’ll build the new infrastructure we need to succeed in this new century, investing in science and technology, and laying down miles of new broadband lines so that businesses across our nation can compete with their counterparts around the world.

Finally, we won’t just create jobs, we’ll also provide help for those who’ve lost theirs, and for states and families who’ve been hardest-hit by this recession. That means bi-partisan extensions of unemployment insurance and health care coverage; a $1,000 tax cut for 95 percent of working families; and assistance to help states avoid harmful budget cuts in essential services like police, fire, education and health care.

Now, given the magnitude of the challenges we face, none of this will come easy. Recovery won’t happen overnight, and it’s likely that things will get worse before they get better.

But we have come through moments like this before. We are the nation that has faced down war, depression and fear itself – each time, refusing to yield; each time, refusing to accept a lesser fate. That is the spirit that has always sustained us – that belief that our destiny is not written for us, but by us; that our success is not a matter of chance, but of our own courage and determination. Our resources may be finite, but our will is infinite. And I am confident that if we come together and summon that great American spirit once again, we will meet the challenges of our time and write the next great chapter in our American story.

McCain's Lies About Obama's Tax Plan

Here's the truth:

New Obama Ad: "Try This"

Go to TaxCutFacts.org to see what effect the Obama plan will have on your taxes.

New Obama Ad: "Defining Moment"

A serious ad from a serious candidate.

John McCain: For Socialism Before He Was Against It

From ThinkProgress:

At an October 2000 town hall on MSNBC’s Hardball, an audience member asked Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) about why the rich pay higher taxes than the middle class. McCain defended progressive taxation, stating, “I think it’s to some degree because we feel, obviously, that wealthy people can afford more”:

[T]he very wealthy, because they can afford tax lawyers and all kinds of loopholes, really don’t pay nearly as much as you think they do when you just look at the percentages. […]

So, look, here’s what I really believe, that when you are — reach a certain level of comfort, there’s nothing wrong with paying somewhat more. … And frankly, I think the first people who deserve a tax cut are working Americans with children that need to educate their children, and they’re the ones that I would support tax cuts for first.

The problem with switching every position you've ever held in your life for an election -- in the YouTube age -- is that every prior position is on videotape.

And sadly, look how much younger John McCain is in this 2000 townhall meeting.

New Obama Ad: "Golden Years"

I love the combination of attacking McCain's {crappy) healthcare plan with reminding the voters that McCain is a gambler -- electing him would be a crapshoot.

Republicans Are Only Against Socialism for The Rest Of Us

David Gergen on redistribution of wealth as practiced by the Republican Party. Since 1979, the bottom 80% of the American population have lost $600,000,000,000 in wealth, and the top 1% has gained that $600 billion.

McCain/Palin are throwing "socialism" out there to keep that money from flowing back to the people.

Miscellany

yahoo: A sculpture is photographed by a visitor at Sydney's Tamarama Beach in Australia Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2008. Sculpture by the Sea is Australia's largest annual outdoor exhibition of sculpture, free to the public. The 2008 exhibition will feature over 100 sculptures from seven different countries and will run for three weeks.
(AP Photo/Mark Baker)

Interview with one of my favorite authors, E. Annie Proulx, in the LATimes.

This dailykos diary has clips from the Bill Maher show from HBO last night.

Jere from A Red Sox Fan From Pinstripe Territory has many photos and videos from the Red Sox amazing Game 6 5 comeback win [Freudian slip, there].

While ACORN is being excoriated for voter registration fraud for having workers fill out bogus registration forms, then flagging them as bogus before sending them in to the states, Republicans hired a firm to deliberately defraud voters into changing their registration from Democrat to Republican. Read this LATimes article on the firm hired by the California Republican Party -- Young Political Majors, or YPM -- which has a long, documented history of voter registration fraud. In California, they duped people into changing their registration to Republican by telling them they were signing petitions for tougher penalties against child molesters. That's fraud with intent to commit fraud.

Obama is racking up the endorsements.

The McCain campaign finally released a 2-page summary of Cindy McCain's tax returns (pdf file); she's clearly middle class as she makes only $4.2 million per year, not $5 mill.

Obama Slams McCain Healthcare "Plan"

Obama yesterday in Roanoke, VA attacks McCain's terrible healthcare plan which would slash Medicare and tax benefits for the first time ever. "Every single American has a right to affordable, accessible health care."

I Don't Want to Hear Anything More About Joe the Plumber

The guy isn't even registered to vote, for crying out loud. And he's not a registered plumber, as far as anyone can tell. And he compared Obama to Sammy Davis Jr. (why not Fred Astaire? Oh yeah, Fred Astaire's white.)

Joe the apathetic cheating racist, more like it.

John McCain = 4 More Years of Bush

McCain recites Bush's 2004 debate position on taxes in the 2008 debate. Feel the change!



McCain = Bush

Poll Candy

WaPo: Obama Up by 10 Points as McCain Favorability Ratings Fall

Overall, Obama is leading 53 percent to 43 percent among likely voters, and for the first time in the general-election campaign, voters gave the Democrat a clear edge on tax policy and providing strong leadership.

McCain has made little headway in his attempts to convince voters that Obama is too "risky" or too "liberal." Rather, recent strategic shifts may have hurt the Republican nominee, who now has higher negative ratings than his rival and is seen as mostly attacking his opponent rather than addressing the issues that voters care about. Even McCain's supporters are now less enthusiastic about his candidacy, returning to levels not seen since before the Republican National Convention.

Conversely, Obama's pitch to the middle class on taxes is beginning to sink in; nearly as many said they think their taxes would go up under a McCain administration as under an Obama presidency, and more see their burdens easing with the Democrat in the White House.

Take the Pledge

This pledge to protect Social Security is being circulated by the Center for American Progress Action Fund. I pledge to oppose privatization of Social Security.

The Golden Pledge

Some People Get a Golden Parachute...
For Everyone Else,
There's the Golden Promise: Social Security

Americans have lost nearly $2 trillion from their retirement accounts in the last 15 months* while Wall Street's financial elites are making away with billions.

Social Security is a golden promise guaranteeing Americans that if we work hard and play by the rules, we will earn the right to retire with dignity. We must not gamble this promise away on risky privatization schemes that guarantee only massive benefits cuts and turn our life's work into a chip for Wall Street’s elites to bet.

Therefore, I pledge to oppose privatization of Social Security -- the diversion of payroll taxes into private accounts -- by any name.

I Voted

I handed in my absentee ballot at City Hall today. Voted in two contested races -- Obama and Kerry -- but nobody but Democrats in the other five races on the ballot.

I was amazed to see eight McCain-Palin lawn signs as I drove to my hairdresser's today. Surely the McCain campaign is not so foolish as to waste money in this state, where the Republican Party is virtually moribund? Or maybe they are that foolish.

On the three ballot questions, I voted against eliminating the state income tax, in favor of changing the marijuana laws to a system of civil penalties, and in favor of eliminating dog racing.

It always feels good to vote.

New Obama Ad: "Taketh"

Good, as McCain's healthcare plan is horrid.

Why the Rich Love McCain's Tax Plan

In a nutshell, because under George Bush, 31% of the tax cuts were given to the wealthiest 1% of Americans. Under McCain's plan, 58% of tax cuts will go to the wealthiest 1%.

Tax Cheat/Tax Cheat '08: That's McCain/Palin All Right

McCain is cheating on his taxes by not reporting his gambling income, or losses. Doesn't matter which, by law he has to report it.

Palin is cheating on her taxes by not reporting her per diem income. When you charge your state's taxpayers to live in your own home, that's taxable income to you. Dope.

Somehow I don't think George W. Bush's IRS is going to go after them, but they should. Cheating is cheating, no matter how rich or powerful you are. They're cheating the rest of us who play by the rules and pay our taxes.

Hit Him Again, Hit Him Again, Harder, Harder

New Obama ad on McCain's healthcare plan:



McCain's healthcare plan would be the largest middle class tax increase in history.

New Obama Ad: "Prescription"

This is a great issue to attack John McCain on. His health care plan is a joke, a gift to the greedy health insurance industry. How does a $2,500 tax credit help me, paying over $5,000 for health insurance this year (probably over $6,000 next year)? And he's going to tax what benefit I do get from my employer as income. And if he taxes benefits, taking away the tax benefit employers get for providing health insurance, that is the death knell of employer-provided health insurance.