What can you tell the 50 million people that don't have a job right now, Mr. President?

[bigtree]

excerpt from interview by Eddie "Piolin" Sotelo last week in Los Angeles for a Univision radio program that aired Monday:


EPS: What can you tell the 50 million people that don't have a job right now, Mr. President?

POTUS: It's gonna take time for us to rebuild this economy after taking such a bad blow. Keep in mind what happened. We went through the worst crisis since the Great Depression, since the 1930s and so what happened was that the housing market collapsed, businesses shrank, banks weren't lending and we lost four million jobs before I was even sworn in. We lost almost another four million jobs in the first three months that I was sworn in. We lost eight million jobs before any of my economic plans had a chance to take effect. Now, we've worked very hard over the last two years to help to rebuild and stabilize the housing market, to put people back to work building roads and bridges and our infrastructure, saving jobs of teachers who were threatened to be laid off and now we have an economy that's growing again and we've seen in the private sector job growth for the last nine months. All that is important, but we have a long way to go and the key now is to help small business get loans so that they can keep their doors open and hire more workers and that’s especially important in the Latino community because Latino community's an entrepreneurial community. People like to start a business and they've gotta get financing and we've been putting a lot of emphasis on that. We've gotta make sure that we keep on building our infrastructure. A lot of Latino workers who are in construction, they could also be working to help to build new airport runways, new school construction, so getting projects going that can put people back to work right away, that's something that we've proposed. But it's gonna take a few more years. When you fall into such a deep hole, it takes time for you to climb back out. That's what we're doing right now. I feel confident that we're moving in the right direction. The one thing that we can't do is go back to the same policies that the Republicans had in place that resulted in this disaster in the first place.

EPS: I agree, Mr. President. We understand that, you know, you've been working a lot and you can count on us, you know, to help you so we can become, you know, united and together move forward in this beautiful country . . . I know, Mr. President, that it hasn't been easy for you.

POTUS: You know, let me say this, Piolín. You know, 'cause a lot of people say this to me, they say, oh, you know, you have a really hard job. You know, you have all these problems, everybody expects you to solve them right away, people are criticizing you and I say, you know what? The problems that I have are not nothing compared to the problems that people have every day if their losing their job, they may lose their mortgage, they're trying to figure out how to finance their kids' college education. This is a great privilege for me to be president and to be able to help people as much as I can and I get frustrated that we're not moving as quickly as I'd like. I'm not getting as much cooperation sometimes as I want in Congress, but I feel confident that we're making progress. I'll just give you one example. You know, we were able, because of the work that we did, to change how we finance the Student Loan Program to take tens of billions of dollars that used to go to the banks that are now going to Pell Grants and student loans. Millions of children, a lot of young Latino students, are now getting scholarships and grants that didn't get it before and are able to aspire to college. When you get something like that done, you feel good in the morning when you wake up because you know, okay, I still have a long check list of things I have to do, but at least we're making a difference right now.

EPS: I'm gonna tell you, Mr. President, that we're inviting my listeners to vote in this election. We’re gonna make a difference again because we did it on the last election.

POTUS: Absolutely.


read full transcript of Univision interview with President Obama: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2010/10/transcript-of-president-barack-obama-with-univision.html



President Barack Obama signs the Executive Order on the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics, during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2010. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

[Bonhomme Richard]

1. Vote. n/t

[Liberal_in_LA]

20. yep

[MadHound]

2. Mr. President, words are cheap, how about a large, WPA style job creation program?

After all, it is well known to be the best form of economic stimulus going. Why don't we try that rather than continuing to fuck around with tax cuts and tax credits, the least effective form of economic stimulus.

It is nice that you are aware of the situation Mr. President. But telling people to be patient, people who have been out of work for weeks, months, years, sorry, but that rings hollow and is of no help. Feeling sorry for people who are barely hanging on, or who have slid into despair and ruin, that's nice. But actual action would be much better. Yet you have squandered the political capital that you came in with, and now are leaving a huge swath of Americans out to dry.

[McCamy Taylor]

4. It is gonna take more than that. The WPA improved the nation's mood--but unemployment

remained high until WWII forced the banks and industry to stop their "capital strike."

Obama needs to nationalize health care, the banks, utilities----that is just a start. And that is going to be a very, very tough sell in the USA.

[Scruffy1]

18. Well put-Its 1938 all over again

The new deal is over-balanced budgets are in and the normal state of surplus labor is in effect. Thirty per cent ill housed and ill fed is the norm. We get just enough to keep us from revolting. Obama has stated that he doesn't believe its governments responsibility to create jobs. Or was he quoting Coolidge and Hoover?

[devilgrrl]

3. I say vote Republican - seeing that Obama isn't doing it for you - go back to what we came from!

:sarcasm:

[ThomCat]

5. Nice words, but WHY THE HELL didn't he take the economy more seriously

and treat JOBS more seriously from the beginning?

Why didn't he put a HUGE jobs program in place immediately when he took office? Or any jobs program, for that matter? It took a year before he even got started, and then when he finally did, the program was only for teachers and it was a drop in the bucket. Where is the rest of the effort?

When do you really start taking this Jobs Deficit as seriously as it deserves with real government programs with real funding and real backing and support?

Why didn't he give Just as much money to Main Street for Mortgage Relief as he gave to Wall Street through TARP? Wasn't Main Street just as Deserving of relief as Wall Street? And when he finally did create a mortgage relief program, why did he underfund it and have it administered by the banks! (The banks held onto almost all of that money, btw., and rescued very few mortgages.)


Now, let's elaborate on one particular point.:
When do you stop this fucked up policy of bashing the left, distancing yourself from your base, and then blaming the left for your problems? Since when did it become the Democratic Party's belief that the base isn't necessary in order to win? And since when did it become a good thing to neglect your own base, bash portions of your base, and then blame them for the obvious and expected results as if your actions have no consequences?

I'm getting tired of seeing the LGBTQI community, and leftists and progressives bashed repeatedly as if we are to blame for this party's failings. Yes, we keep hearing from apologists that the democrats are better than the republicans. That's not the point. Anyone would be better than the republicans. But Obama and the apologists apparently still don't realize that you can't keep neglecting, insulting and bashing large parts of your own base without an effect!

If your entire policy is "we're going to keep neglecting and insulting and bashing you, and maybe we'll toss you some crumbs to make it look good, but you better still give us money and votes or else you're the one being disloyal, because the republicans are worse than us and you have nowhere else to go," then you may be technically correct, but you're also deliberately Fucked-Up Evil!

That kind of a policy means you're deliberately mis-using people, deliberately creating hostility, and deliberately demanding loyalty you don't intend to earn or return. This seems to be the current policy of the this administration regarding LGBTQI rights. And it also seems to be the attitude of a hell of a lot of people here at DU regarding the LGBTQI community.

[bigtree]

6. from the interview

"I think somebody said the other day, I am president, I am not king. I can't do these things just by myself. We have a system of government that requires the Congress to work with the executive branch to make it happen. I'm committed to making it happen, but I've gotta have some partners to do it”

"The notion that we haven't worked it hard is just not true. There is a notion that somehow if I had worked it hard enough, we could have magically done it. That's just not the way our system works. If I need 60 votes to get this done, then I'm gonna have to have some support from the other side. If the Latino community decides to sit out this election, then there will be fewer votes and it will be less likely to get done. And the other side, which is fighting against this, is not gonna support it, so look, let me say this as an African American. We worked for decades on civil rights. Civil rights didn't come after one year. It didn't come after two years. People had to march, they had to have their heads beaten, they had fire hoses put on them. Even after Dr. King gave his I Have a Dream Speech, it still took years before African Americans achieved full citizenship in this country. Change isn't easy. It doesn't happen overnight. Now, you know, for us to say, oh, it didn't happen right away and so we're just giving up and we're not gonna be involved in the system, that makes no sense. That's not the history of this country. That's not the history of change in our own lives. All of us, you included Piolín, have gone through hardships, you've had your struggles and what happens is, is that you keep on working and you keep on working and you keep on working and finally, eventually you make a breakthrough and you get things done. That's how change happens for us personally, that's how change happens in the country, so instead of us giving up, we just have to keep working until it gets done."

[ThomCat]

7. Okay. What is your point?

[bigtree]

8. I think the president's words are a more accurate reflection

. . . of his attitude, his actions, and his efforts than your summary - and, I think he makes a relevant point about the limits of his ability to achieve lasting and meaningful change unilaterally.

The rest about the President 'bashing' and 'insulting' doesn't ring true to me.

[ThomCat]

9. You go ahead and belief his pretty speaches.

A hell of a lot of us will go on looking for actions. Actions mean more than words.

Politicians say a lot, and mean very little of what they say. Obama is no exception. If you choose to believe a politician, any politician, you're naive and foolish.

Especially when that politician's actions directly contradict his pretty words, and anyone who pays attention has a hell of a lot of ample evidence to be wary. :eyes:

[bigtree]

10. his words are usually important to us

. . . when he's saying things we don't like. I've taken quite a few of those seriously since he's taken office.

I don't believe for a moment that Pres. Obama would hesitate to enact every one of his campaign promises if it was in his power to do so. I see the same obstacles to success that he's looking at and I fully agree with the President about the need to send him 'partners' to help advance our Democratic agenda.

[ThomCat]

11. In other words

you believe whatever you're told, and you think we should "just have faith."

And you have no other information or perspective other than just the speech itself. Gotcha. :eyes:

[bigtree]

12. your words

. . . not mine

[LawnLover]

13. I have a suggestion for you

Politics is 90% lip service and 10% action. That's the way it has ALWAYS been. Movement is slow in Washington. Legislation crawls. Nothing new. And it won't change.

You obviously don't think Obama is doing his job, so don't vote for him in 2012 and vote for whatever stooge the Republicans put up. Don't vote for Democrats next week because they aren't getting the job done fast enough. Or don't vote at all and give the Republicans exactly what they want.

And when they win, what will you complain about then?

[ThomCat]

14. Anyone who tells me to vote for a republican

is basically claiming that you own the party more than me. You don't.

I have every right to expect and demand more from this party.

[LawnLover]

15. Demand all you want

But if you vote against it, you might as well vote Republican. Is THAT what you want? Republicans in office?

Nothing wrong with crying foul, but in a week before an election I think we need a little unity.

[ThomCat]

16. It's usually the people who give the least who demand the most

from others.

The people who won't bash the LGBTQI community for wanting our equality are demanding that we our loyalty, but will you give us YOUR loyalty? When? Where? How?

We're sick of being told to give blind loyalty, in exchange for maybe someday getting slow gradual results that look like a kick in the ass, and then me demands for loyalty.

We're part of this party too. We demand loyalty too! :grr:

So do the unemployed! :(

So all the people in the base who have been neglected and bashed on the left. x(

[LawnLover]

17. Look, the math is simple

You don't vote for the democrats, things will get worse than they are now.

So you think you'll get loyalty from the Republicans?

I always thought your average Republican was crazy for voting against his own best interests. So now you're saying the LGBT community should vote against the Democrats (or no vote at all) because they haven't shown you enough loyalty?

With all due respect, that's thinking like a child. Decisions have consequences. If you decide not to vote, you're potentially putting your life into the hands of your enemies.

[pnwmom]

19. Welcome to DU, LawnLover! n/t

[bigtree]

21. kick