03-18-2010, 10:36 AM
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Confirmed User
Industry Role:
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Rock Hill, SC
Posts: 5,370
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Transcript continued
Quote:
BAIER: We're getting the wrap-up sign here.
OBAMA: Yes.
BAIER: Can you be a transformative president if health care does not pass?
OBAMA: Well, I think that — look, I came in at a time when we probably had the toughest economic challenges since the Great Depression. A year later, we can say that, although we're still a long way from where we need to be, that we have made the economy stronger. It's now growing again. We have created a financial situation that is vastly better than it was before.
And so we're now in a situation in which the economy is growing, moving. We're reforming areas like education. We're taking steps on energy. We're doing a whole bunch of things out there that are going to create the foundation for long-term economic growth.
BAIER: So if it doesn't pass, does that diminish your presence?
OBAMA: Well, if it doesn't pass, I'm more concerned about what it does to families out there who right now are getting crushed by rising health care costs and small businesses who were having to make a decision, "Do I hire or do I fix health care?" That's the reason I make these decisions.
BAIER: Mr. President, I'm getting wrapped up, and I don't want to interrupt you, but to finish up, do you think this is going to pass?
OBAMA: I do. I'm confident it will pass. And the reason I'm confident that it's going to pass is because it's the right thing to do. Look, on a whole host of these measures, whether it's health care, whether it was fixing the financial system, whether it's making sure that we passed the Recovery Act, I knew these things might not be popular, but I was absolutely positive that they were the right thing to do and that, over time, we would be vindicated in having made those tough decisions.
I think health care is exactly the same thing. We — I've got a whole bunch of portraits of presidents around here, starting with Teddy Roosevelt, who tried to do this and didn't get it done. The reason that it needs to be done is not its affect on the presidency. It has to do with how it's going to affect ordinary people who right now are desperately in need of help.
(CROSS TALK)
BAIER: I apologize for interrupting you, sir. I tried to get the most for our buck here.
(CROSSTALK)
BAIER: Thank you very much for your time.
OBAMA: Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Thank you.
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