Charles Gibson Interviews David Axelrod, Senior Adviser to the President
Gibson interviews David Axelrod, senior adviser to the president.
Feb. 24, 2009 -- Transcript of Feb. 24, 2009 interview between ABC News World News anchor Charles Gibson and President Obama's Senior Adviser David Axelrod.
CHARLES GIBSON, ABC ANCHOR: David, this is not a State of the Union, but is there going to be some sort of characterization or impression in the president's mind what the state of the union may be?
DAVID AXELROD, SENIOR ADVISER TO THE PRESIDENT: Well, I don't think people need a lot of elucidation on what the state of the union is. They know what the state of the union is. They know we've got some difficulties right now.
What they're looking for from the president is a sense of where we go from here, how we change our circumstances, how we reclaim the momentum in our economy and put people back to work and deal with the issues we're facing.
And that's what he's going to use the speech to do.
GIBSON: So is the primary audience -- these are always interesting speeches, is the primary audience in the room, i.e., the Congress? Or is it the country?
AXELROD: Well, obviously it's important to speak to members of Congress. They have to be our partners in this endeavor of lifting the country out of the morass that we're in. But fundamentally this is a chance to speak to the American people, to be direct and open and blunt about where we are and where we need to go.
And I think he wants to take advantage of that opportunity.
GIBSON: So this will be an economic speech?
AXELROD: It largely will, Charlie. These are extraordinary times. The economic challenges we face are as great as any we've seen since World War II and the Depression. And people are concerned and they need to hear from the president about how we address these issues and how we move the country forward.
GIBSON: A president has to worry about macroeconomic issues and about how the country as a whole is doing. People in cities across the country are worried about microeconomic situations, their own job, their own company, their own mortgage, et cetera.
Does he have to link the two?
AXELROD: That's a really great question, because I do think sometimes in all of the banter about where we are in the economy, about banks and Wall Street and car companies and so on, we lose the fundamental impact this has on the American people.
So when you're talking about a credit crisis, you're not talking about -- just about Wall Street, you're talking about the ability of a person to get a loan to buy a house, a car, to send their kid to college, to finance their payroll if they're a small business.
And all of this affects people where they live. And that's what's important here, what's important is to give the American people the best opportunity they can -- they can have.
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