Obama Talks Iran, Economy Before Super Bowl
EmailWASHINGTON, D.C. — President Barack Obama sat down with NBC’s Matt Lauer today in a brief interview aired before the Super Bowl. For the last three years the president has done exclusive game-day interviews with whichever network is airing the NFL championship game.
Besides talking about the game itself, Lauer asked Obama about the more serious headlines of the day: The U.S. economy and Iranian posturing in the Middle East.
During 2009′s Super Bowl interview, also conducted by Lauer, the president said that if the Troubled Asset Relief Program’s goals didn’t come to fruition within three years his presidency could be a “one-term proposition.”
Today he said recent positive economic numbers earned him the possibility of re-election.
“I deserve a second term,” Obama said. “But we’re not done.”
In December, 200,000 private sector jobs were added and the unemployment rate of 8.5 percent was the lowest since 2009. According to the Department of Labor, a total 1.6 million jobs were added in 2011, up from 2010′s total of 940,000.
“We’re not finished,” he said. “And we’ve got to not only boost up American manufacturing, so that not just the auto industry, but all American manufacturing is building again, and selling overseas.”
The president also reaffirmed his call for increased American energy production, both oil and clean alternatives.
On the subject of Iran, Obama told Lauer he believed Israel hadn’t yet decided how to handle the increased tension with Tehran over its nuclear weapons program. However, he said the dialogue between Washington and Tel Aviv would ensure no surprises.
“We have closer military and intelligence consultation between our two countries than we ever have,” he said. “And my number one priority continues to be the security of the United States, but also the security of Israel.”
Questioned over suggestions that Iran could retaliate by striking inside the United States, the president said he didn’t see any evidence Tehran had the capability. And that while the administration’s goal was to handle the Middle East state diplomatically, nothing was off the table.
“I’ve been very clear that we’re going to do everything we can to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, and creating an arms race, a nuclear arms race, in a volatile region.”
Yesterday the Iranian navy began month long exercises near the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran has threatened to close the critical oil tanker route in protest of Western sanctions. The move comes on the heels of comments made earlier this week by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei threatening the US and Israel against any strike at the nation’s nuclear program.
As to the Super Bowl itself, Obama said that was a conflict he couldn’t speculate on.
“You know, I can’t call it. I think this is going to be one of those where it comes down to a turnover, or some ball on somebody’s helmet.”
Obama traditionally only roots for Chicago teams and wouldn’t pick a favorite this year. The Obama family is having a quiet, private party to themselves to watch the big game.
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“And my number one priority continues to be the security of the United States, but also the security of Israel.”
Mr. President, the security of Israel should not be our “top priority”, period. Keeping our young men and women out of unnecessary wars and regional conflicts halfway across the globe should be. Iran poses no threat to the US, and Israel can take care of itself. Israel already HAS nuclear weapons; and any strike from Iran would result in a “mutually assured destruction” scenario. Iran is crazy, but they’re not stupid. To be concise, we have no reason to intervene militarily in this scenario whatsoever. We have not been attacked, they pose no ranged threat to us, and there is nothing to gain from such an intervention. And the mere mention of this being Obama’s “top priority” is worrying indeed. The only possible outcome would be making the region far more volatile than it presently is. Let Israel handle itself with limited support from the US, but no American boots on the ground.
Posted by: klatuberatanicto | February 5, 2012, 10:20 pm 10:20 pm
Obama is a complete liar or he is just stupid, it is not clear which one. Stupidity is defined as repeating the same action and expecting a different result. Doesn’t he understand that Iran will never give in to pressure? Iran will simply not give up its rights. Iran is not Libya. Alternatively, he knows all this but is just lying so that he can start another war while pretending that he is seeking a “diplomatic” solution. Fat chance when he is throwing everything but the kitchen sink at Iran.
Posted by: George | February 5, 2012, 10:59 pm 10:59 pm
Romney and the Republicans are in the pockets of the super wealthy.
Financial disclosures last week showed Obama’s campaign in 2011 raised 60 percent of funds, or $58.5 million, from donors who gave less than $200.
The campaign of the Republican front-runner Mitt Romney in 2011 raised only 9 percent of its total funds, or $5.2 million, from donors who gave less than $200.
Posted by: Terry | February 6, 2012, 12:15 am 12:15 am
Hmmm…. Who to vote for? A republican or a fake democrat who never saw a republican policy he didn’t adore and claim as his own?
Republicans are out of their minds. Democrats have abandoned their base and their positions in order to become republican-lite. Neither of them represent the 99%. I think I’ll go third party this time.
Posted by: whatever | February 6, 2012, 5:28 am 5:28 am
whatever, that is the same as voting for Romney.Our straight- A President gets 60% of his campaign funds from the little guys, not like richboy Romney.Our President wants to drag the Catholics into the 21st century,while Romney, a Mormon, would let them do what ever they want.I want separation of Church and State, not a White House in Rome or Salt Lake City.
Posted by: gobama | February 6, 2012, 9:10 am 9:10 am
So is ABC “news” trying to limit the comments on articles that question Obama’s unconstitutional attack on religious freedom through Obamacare??? Check out the article about Gingrich questioning the issue and the comments seem to be disabled?? Is this why ABC, CBS, NBC have become more like Entertainment Tonight rather than actually reporting unbiased news??
Posted by: whathappened08 | February 6, 2012, 9:50 am 9:50 am
TERRY and GOBAMA, yea and all those little $35000 dinner donations come from little people, like Soros, Buffet, the Hollywood crowd, wallstreet, campaign funds from bundlers (who receive paybacks). GOBAMA, you speak of separation of church and state, that will be gone, the state gives you healthcare laws and then tells everyone how they have to be applied. What will be next, we all have to buy Chevy Volts, or use a bicycle to get to work, only the rich will be allowed to drive.
Posted by: Lizzie | February 6, 2012, 9:54 am 9:54 am
GOBAMA said–.”Our President wants to drag the Catholics into the 21st century,while Romney’—-and how exactly do you do that ??? Violate the Constitution?? Control what people think?? Passing out SOMA??? Honestly are Democrats/Independents really this gullible???
Posted by: whathappened08 | February 6, 2012, 9:58 am 9:58 am
“the comments seem to be disabled”
I’d say just about 99% of the comments from Republicans seem disabled…. or at least impaired. But you can’t blame ABC for this. If anything, listening to people like Rush Limbaugh probably cause most of the damage.
I happen to agree you, I don’t think Obama should force Catholic orgs to pay for procedures that conflict with religious teachings. But, that’s a separate issue.
Posted by: blip | February 6, 2012, 10:02 am 10:02 am
Posted by: Terry | February 6, 2012, 12:15 am 12:15 am
From The Business Journals (January 2012):
The Washington Post reported that the “Obama campaign was allowing donors to use largely untraceable pre-paid credit cards that could potentially be used to evade limits on how much an individual is legally allowed to give or to mask a contributor’s identity.” The problem with these pre-paid cards is that is makes it impossible to determine if foreign nationals are contributing to a campaign, or if single donors are giving multiple small donations, thus exceeding the contribution limits, or even if an outside group is purchasing these cards for individual donors to evade the reporting requirements.
The Obama campaign received 47% of its donations from donors giving less than the $200 limit that would require automatic reporting. In comparison, John McCain’s 2008 Presidential campaign received 26% of his donations from less than $200 donors.
The FEC launched an audit of the Obama 2008 campaign in April of 2011, but no results of the investigation have been released to the public. According to reports in Roll Call, during the 2010 cycle, the Obama campaign led all organizations when it came to sending refunds to individual donors. Following the election, it disclosed disbursement transactions totaling more than $5.7 million in refunds.
“The FEC claims these audits take three to four years—or even longer—to complete. That’s unacceptable,” said Lance Davis, Executive Director of U.S. Citizens Association. “President Obama has been in full campaign mode for at least the last year. We’re in 2012 now. Is the Obama campaign still accepting questionable contributions and where are they coming from?” Mr. Davis continued.
Posted by: Stacey | February 6, 2012, 10:06 am 10:06 am
Obama didn’t deserve the first term………he has demonstrated his total inability to run the country in any kind of sensible and credible manner.
A second term is simply crazy, as any kind of possibility. That would demonstrate the stupidity of the people of this country.
Posted by: Rick McDaniel | February 6, 2012, 10:37 am 10:37 am
I thought that was up to the people to decide? My bad!
Posted by: newcountryman | February 6, 2012, 10:54 am 10:54 am
What Obama should have said is he would hope the people believe he’s taking us in the right direction and will show this by electing me for a second term. But that’s too much to expect I suppose from such an obvious narcissist. I “deserve” it?
Posted by: newcountryman | February 6, 2012, 11:01 am 11:01 am
Gobama (9:10 AM); “Trying to drag the Catholic curch into the 21st century”? You are a piece of work, sir. You obviously missed the whole point with why this is so wrong AND unconstitutional. If you would just sometimes take off those blinders and look at the issues rationally, you’d improve how you come across, because now you are really sounding……..well, never mind. If probably won’t help.
Posted by: newcountryman | February 6, 2012, 11:07 am 11:07 am
Last year, there was a big story about an Iranian operative who was on American soil to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador. Holder came out to take credit for thwarting the attempt. Last week, James Clapper addressed Congress about how Iran was more willing to conduct an attack in America. Now, the President tells us that there is no credible evidence. I guess since he’s the “smartest President ever”, we need to forget what our intelligence agencies tell us and just accept his word.
The same thing goes for everything that’s happening around us. As we see the unemployment rate drop this month, why hasn’t anyone addressed the 1.2 million Americans that dropped out of the labor force? Because the President can’t go on saying everything he did turned to gold. Just like the tired speech about saving the auto industry, even though Ford never took bailout money and has taken market share from GM and Chrysler. And the media lets him gt away with it and is even compliant about helping him spread the misinformation.
Posted by: djaymick | February 6, 2012, 11:08 am 11:08 am
“Our President wants to drag the Catholics into the 21st century,while Romney, a Mormon, would ‘LET THEM DO WHAT EVER THEY WANT’. I want separation of Church and State.” Are you even able to see the logical flaw in your statement here Gobama? And I’m not even religious.
Posted by: newcountryman | February 6, 2012, 11:15 am 11:15 am
AIG still owes the U.S. taxpayer $50 Billion. GM, $25 Billion. The U.S. treasury has now written off something like $1.3 Billion from Chrysler. But it’s a total success. I guess it’s how you define “success”.
Posted by: newcountryman | February 6, 2012, 11:21 am 11:21 am
Let’s see he deserves another term because he has taken us deeper and deeper into debt paying off his donors and unions, food stamp recipients are up 45%, unemployed up 1.1 million, gas prices up 83%, Americans in poverty up 6.4 million, home values down , and our global competitiveness down from 1st place to 5th place, blaming everyone but himself, no transparency, hates the religious groups, hates the military, fast & furious, Solyndra, no drilling, no jobs, etc. Is this man delusional?
Posted by: Freedom | February 6, 2012, 11:28 am 11:28 am
I don’t see why people keep saying the economy has improved.
Food cost have doubled,gas prices doubled,housing market is down,social security says cost of living is down but with food prices,utility prices and other prices skyrocketing there is no way it is possible,even though there are new jobs being created supposedly most states are still showing rise in unemployment.
Are all politicians stoned or something
Posted by: scott | February 6, 2012, 12:16 pm 12:16 pm
Yes, it is our official position that the economy is terrible! And we will continue to do everything in our power to keep it that way until the election.
Posted by: GOP | February 6, 2012, 12:42 pm 12:42 pm
irans economy , wow spin doctor at work here, how about the usa economy mr pres obama , our froeign policy has just been measured in syria , egypt with 19 american detainees. tliban over runnig afghanistan , pakistan as a foe, and iran threating with nukes.
ok now at home ,opps they were taking away by the banks that you bailed out, give me a job and a home is what the cry is of the nation. come on , the respect for your resolve as vanished with my hope.
Posted by: ray | February 6, 2012, 4:17 pm 4:17 pm
And you miss my point, Gobama. The difference between Romney and Obama is minute at best. Neither of them are representing the 99%. And that thing about Obama only getting his money from the little people is completely untrue. All you have to do is look back at 2008 when he claimed he was getting his money from the little people the first time and check out all those corporations and the big dollars they gave him. Go look the list of all those Wall Street companies. Its a total lie that he’s getting the majority of his campaigns from us.
Posted by: whatever | February 6, 2012, 5:53 pm 5:53 pm
Posted by: whatever | February 6, 2012, 5:53 pm 5:53 pm
You would find out differently through a little research, instead of guessing . . .
Financial disclosures last week showed Obama’s campaign in 2011 raised 60 percent of funds, or $58.5 million, from donors who gave less than $200.
The campaign of the Republican front-runner Mitt Romney in 2011 raised only 9 percent of its total funds, or $5.2 million, from donors who gave less than $200.
Posted by: Jake | February 6, 2012, 9:03 pm 9:03 pm
Obama does not “deserve” anything! He must prove to be worthy of a second term and he has been a failure at resorting the economy and jobs! Thanks to his rookie leadership, war with Iran has never been closer!
Posted by: BIG JIMMY | February 6, 2012, 10:24 pm 10:24 pm
I looked. You’re flat out wrong.
Posted by: whatever | February 6, 2012, 11:52 pm 11:52 pm