Politico: Adviser Says Former President Is Eager for More Obama Assignments
End of the Road for Sotomayor?
ABC's Dennis Powell reports from Washington: The long road to confirmation is nearing an end for Sonia Sotomayor. It's been more than two months since President Obama nominated the Bronx-born judge to the Supreme Court and all indications point to...
Obama: No new taxes in a recession
by Mark Silva
"You don't raise taxes in a recession,'' President Barack Obama said today, maintaining that none of the new taxes that he proposes for higher-income Americans will take effect until the recession has passed.
How is it all playing in hard-hit Elkhart, Indiana, the president was asked today in a live television news interviewin which he agreed that Elkhart's prospects are entwined with his own.
"Our whole goal... is to rescue the economy from the brink,'' Obama told NBC News' Chuck Todd during an interview in a Monaco recreational vehicle factory in Wakarusa that aired on MSNBC and will be shown on The Nightly News. "But the most important thing we're going to have to do is help Elkhart County reinvent itself...
"If I'm successful, I'll be able to look back at the end of four years and be able to say Elkhart has not just been able to come back, but also'' take the steps needed to build for the future, the president said.
The interviewer posed some questions for the president from people in Indiana, such as: Why are big companies getting government bailouts ahead of the people?'
"I think peoples' frustrations are legitimate,'' Obama said. "If you look at the actions we took early, it didn't have to do with the stimulus. It had to do with a bank bailout... $700 billion that started not under my administration... The stimulus or the recovery bill is all about tax cuts to Americans, ordinary families.... It's about making sure that states aren't laying off people to make the recession worse.
(Photo of President Obama at RV manufacturing plant in Wakarusa, Ind., today by Michael Conroy / )
"I know that when people think about how government has spent its money, it gets a lot of publicity about the banks, the auto companies,'' Obama said, but they are committed to making sure that "ordinary people have some relief.''
Asked about unemployment benefits that are running out, he said, "Obviously the unemployment rate is still elevated... so we've got to make sure that there is still a safety net for folks in place... When the unemployment numbers come out,'' he said of the monthly jobs report due Friday, "I think we'll have to evaluate this very carefully.''
What about raising taxes? What about people who worry about raising taxes during a recession?
"You don't raise taxes in a recession,'' Obama said. "We have not proposed a tax hike for the wealthy that would take effect in the middle of a recession,'' he said of his plans for financing healthcare reform, with taxes for higher-income Americans planned after 2011.
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