BREAKING: Obama Releases Off-the-Record Transcript of Des Moines Register Interview

Source: DesMoine Register

Without comment, campaign officials for President Obama this morning released to the Des Moines Register a transcript of an interview he had Tuesday with Laura Hollingsworth, president and publisher of the Register, and Rick Green, editor/vice-president of news. Initially, the White House had asked that the conversation be considered off-the-record and its details not shared with readers. Its release comes on the heels of a Tuesday evening DesMoinesRegister.com blog post by Green questioning why an endorsement interview with the Register would be off-the-record.




Interview of the President by Rick Green & Laura Hollingsworth, The Des Moines Register

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Q: Mr. President, we’re very sensitive to your time. I know you’ve got a busy schedule. But we just had just one last question here. As we close in on the final hours of this campaign -- it’s been a long one. It’s been exhausting. It’s been very, very expensive, as I know you know. Why should the Des Moines Register offer its endorsement to you, sir?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, you guys have seen me up close. I wouldn’t be on the national stage had it not been for the people of Iowa. And if you look at what I said to you this time four years ago, and the commitments I’ve made, I have kept and met those commitments, or I have worked really hard to keep them and meet them.

I said that I’d cut taxes for middle-class families -- I did. I said that we would make sure to make college more affordable -- we have. I said I would clean up the financial system and pass the toughest Wall Street reforms since the 1930s, and we have. I said that I would make sure that people don’t go broke in this country because they get sick -- we did that. I said I’d end the war in Iraq -- I have. I said we’d got after al Qaeda and bin Laden -- we have. I said we’d begin a process where we could initially blunt the momentum of the Taliban and then a process in which we’d begin transitioning out -- we’re in the process of doing that.

So across the board, I’ve done what I said. And this is in the midst of I think what everybody would agree were some pretty historic circumstances. And the criteria by which I’ve made these decisions has always been what’s good for America’s families, how do we build our middle class, how do we grow the economy in a way that broad-based and sustainable.

The notion that somehow we’ve been bad for business is obviously contradicted by the evidence. Corporate profits have been at record levels up until maybe last quarter. The stock market basically has recovered all its losses that it experienced from the financial sector. The auto industry has come roaring back. Our exports have doubled.

For the people of Iowa that are so dependent on the agricultural sector -- the agricultural sector has never done better than it has under my administration. Even in the midst of this year’s drought it’s still doing well.

When it comes to clean energy that I talked about so much back in 2007-2008, we’ve doubled our production of clean energy. And we’re starting to see the costs of that energy come down, the number of jobs it generates go up.

I got to tell you, I feel very strongly that I have a record that justifies a second term. But I guess, more importantly, what you also know is that I’m somebody who keeps my word, that I don’t read the polls, that I do what I think is right for the American people, even when it is profoundly unpopular politically. And I think that’s worth something. I think that’s the kind of leadership the people of Iowa want.

Q: Very good.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Bye-bye.

Read more: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20121024/NEWS09/121024003/After-editor-s-blog-President-Obama-releases-transcript-of-Register-interview?Frontpage&nclick_check=1