Obama in his own words: Des Moines Register Interview

[Karl]

After editor's blog, President Obama releases transcript of Register interview

8:48 AM, Oct 24, 2012 |

Zoom

FILE - President Barack Obama spoke to a crowd of more than 2,000 on Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2012, at Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa. (Bryon Houlgrave/The Des Moines Register)

Written by

Copyright Register & Tribune Co. 2012

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

Q: Good morning, Mr. President -- Laura Hollingsworth, with the Des Moines Register.

THE PRESIDENT: Hi, how are you?

Q: Very well. We haven’t spoken in four years. We’re excited to be able to talk with you.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I’m so glad to talk to you. And I understand Rick is joining us as well.

Q: Rick Green is right next to me, our editor, yes.

THE PRESIDENT: Great.

Q: Good morning, Mr. President. How are you sir?

THE PRESIDENT: I’m doing great and looking forward to being back in Iowa.

Q: Good, see you later this week.

Q: You’ve been here a lot. (Laughter.)

THE PRESIDENT: It’s home away from home.

But I know that our time is limited and you guys have a lot of questions. I thought maybe it would be useful for me to just summarize how I see a second term very quickly, and then you guys can pepper me with questions. Does that sound okay?

Q: Thank you very much.

THE PRESIDENT: Obviously, I’m very proud of what we’ve accomplished over the last four years. A lot of it was responding to the most severe economic emergency we’ve had since the Great Depression. And whether it was saving the auto industry, stabilizing the financial system, making sure that we got into a growth mode again and started putting people back to work, we have made real progress.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/art...ster-interview

[Gamma]

did he get it? the endorsement i mean....

[Karl]

Let me check!

[Karl]

As far as I can ascertain the paper has not endorsed either candidate.

[Karl]

Des Moines Register backs Mitt Romney

did he get it? the endorsement i mean....

LAND O'LAKES, Fla.—Mitt Romney won a major newspaper endorsement on Saturday, as the Des Moines Register's editorial board formally backed the GOP candidate's bid for the presidency.

It was the first time in 40 years the influential battleground state paper endorsed a Republican in the general election, dating back to its support of Richard Nixon in the 1972 election. The Register previously backed Romney in the 2012 GOP primary.

In an editorial published on the newspaper's website Saturday night, the Register called both Romney and President Barack Obama "superbly qualified," citing their service in government and the fact they are both "devoted husbands and fathers."

But according to the paper, it determined Romney was better positioned to "forge the compromises in Congress" necessary to turn the economy around, create jobs and get the federal budget back on track.
"Romney has made rebuilding the economy his No. 1 campaign priority--and rightly so," the Register's editorial read.

At the same time, the paper noted Obama's "best efforts to resuscitate the stumbling economy have fallen short."

"Nothing indicates it would change with a second term in the White House," the paper said. "Barack Obama rocketed to the presidency from relative obscurity with a theme of hope and change. A different reality has marked his presidency. His record on the economy the past four years does not suggest he would lead in the direction the nation must go in the next four years."

The Register noted that Romney is likely to face the same kind of political opposition that has challenged Obama's first term agenda. But the paper expressed hope that Romney might be able to forge the same kind of alliances that helped him govern as a Republican in Massachusetts.

"Voters should give Mitt Romney a chance to correct the nation's fiscal course and to implode the partisan gridlock that has shackled Washington and the rest of America--with the understanding that he would face the same assessment in four years if he does not succeed," the paper wrote.

It's unclear how the Register's support will influence the race in Iowa, where polls have found Romney and Obama in a statistical dead heat. Romney scheduled to campaign in the state Monday. He spent two days in the state earlier this week.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/d...-election.html