Underdog ObamaPresident Obama said he is the “underdog” in the 2012 campaign, given the tough economic conditions facing the country. Despite his position as the incumbent, the president said in an interview with ABC News that he is “used to being the underdog,” referring to the beginning of his 2008 run for president. “But at the end of the day people are going to ask who's got a vision for the future,” he said. The high unemployment rate and struggling economy also led President Obama to say that the American people are “not better off” than they were four years ago. The comment was in response to a question that referenced the famous question Ronald Reagan used in his campaign against Jimmy Carter in 1980. "They're not better off than they were before Lehman's collapse, before the financial crisis, before this extraordinary recession that we're going through. I think that what we've seen is that we've been able to make steady progress to stabilize the economy but the unemployment rate is still way too high," he said. Obama: No regrets over Solyndra![]() President Obama Monday said he does not regret a half-billion dollar government loan to the now-bankrupt solar energy company Solyndra and vigorously defended his administration’s policy of providing assistance to similar entities. “No I don’t,” the president said when asked directly if he regretted the $535 million federal loan guarantee in 2009. “Because if you look at the overall portfolio of loan guarantees that had been provided, overall it’s doing well. And what we always understood is that not every single business is going to succeed in clean energy.” The comments came in an interview with ABC and Yahoo News. Obama specifically touted Solyndra in a visit to its California headquarters in 2010 but the company closed shop just over a year later, putting more than 1,000 people out of work and leaving the government unlikely to get back all the money it loaned. ![]() US President Barack Obama (Center R) speaks during a Cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, DC, October 3, 2011. AFP PHOTO / Saul LOEB (SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images) Obama pushes jobs at Cabinet meeting![]() President Obama just addressed a small group of reporters at the start of his Cabinet meeting this morning and once again called on Congress to pass his jobs plan as soon as possible. Here's a transcript of his remarks:
![]() 2010 US Supreme Court Class Photo. Pictured - bottom row (left to right) - Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia, John G. Roberts, Jr. (Chief Justice), Anthony M. Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Top row - (left to right) Sonia Sotomayor, Stephen G. Breyer, Samuel Alito, Jr., Elena Kagan Morning Briefing: Supreme Court back in session![]() On the first day of a new Supreme Court term, the White House is surely looking ahead to some big legal battles that will be decided by the court in the coming months. It’s possible that the Court could hear cases this term with major consequences to many hot-button issues of the day, including health care, immigration, gay marriage and affirmative action. CNN’s Supreme Court Producer Bill Mears has a good breakdown here. Regardless of the political atmosphere stirred up by the Supreme Court’s decisions in the coming months, the economy is sure to be the biggest issue in next years elections. So the White House is most certainly keeping its eye on the world markets, including the latest developments in Greece, which released a budget proposal over the weekend that fell short of the deficit targets the struggling country needed to meet in order to qualify for new bailout money from its European Union neighbors. CNN Money has two good stories on the effects of the latest developments in Greece – check out this and this. Here are some other stories the White House is likely reading this morning: Senators court 2012 voters with China currency [Reuters] Oil Down On Strong Dollar [Wall Street Journal] Iraq police siege in al-Baghdadi ends with nine dead [BBC] Ala. immigration law marked by Hispanic school absences [USA Today] POTUS day ahead: Cabinet meeting![]() President Obama spends most of today behind closed doors except for what promises to be a brief on-camera appearance at the beginning of his late-morning cabinet meeting. First thing in the morning, the president will receive the Presidential Daily Briefing in the Oval Office, followed by a meeting with senior advisors. Both of these meetings are closed to the press. At 11 AM, the President will meet with his cabinet in the Cabinet Room, where the media will be allowed in to get some pictures at the very top of the meeting. In the afternoon, the President will hold two meetings – the first with the three student winners of the Google Science Fair, and the second with the U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of the Netherlands. There will be a briefing by Press Secretary Jay Carney at 12:30 PM. Here’s the full schedule:
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