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Press Briefing by Press Secretary Dana Perino
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For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary November 10, 2008

Press Briefing by Press Secretary Dana Perino James S. Brady Press Briefing
Room

˙ /news/releases/2008/11/20081110-2.wm.v.html ˙˙Press Briefings
˙˙Audio


11:09 A.M. EST

MS. PERINO: Welcome. Okay, I have a couple of things for you and then I
will go to questions.

This morning the President is visiting the National Naval Medical Center
and meeting with military personnel recovering from injuries sustained in
Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. This is the
President's 10th visit to that center.

This afternoon -- which is why I think all of you are here -- the President
and Mrs. Bush will greet the President-elect and Mrs. Obama on the South
Portico at 2:00 p.m. They will proceed into the Diplomatic Reception Room,
where the Obamas will meet Admiral Stephen Rochon, the Director of the
Executive Residence and the Chief Usher.

Following the greeting Mrs. Bush and Mrs. Obama will resume their own
schedule. They will have a social meeting in the Residence, after which
Mrs. Bush will give Mrs. Obama a tour of the First Family's living
quarters, including the bedrooms used by children of previous Presidents.
We expect that the conversation will include topics such as raising a
family in the White House and the support of the Executive Residence staff,
which has been really unbelievable for the President and Mrs. Bush and they
are very grateful for it.

The President and the President-elect will walk down the colonnade here
into the Oval Office, where they will meet privately -- and the pool will
cover both the arrival and then the colonnade walk.

A little preview for you for tomorrow, the President's speech at the
Intrepid. The President will commemorate Veteran's Day at a ceremony that
will rededicate the USS Intrepid Museum in New York. It came -- the
Intrepid came to New York after the aircraft carrier left active service in
1982. And about two years ago it began a major restoration, and this
ceremony is the official reopening.

Nearly 55,000 Americans served aboard the Intrepid, and some of them will
be in the audience for the speech. The President will pay tribute to them
and to all those who have served our country in uniform through the
generations. The President will talk about the new generation of Americans
serving in uniform today, including five outstanding service members, one
from each branch of the Armed Forces, who flew up with him to New York.

He will talk about the responsibility our nation has to support our
veterans and their families, and highlighting both some of the steps our
administration has taken and also the work of private charities like the
Intrepid Relief Fund and Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund. These are two
organizations that are part of the same family of foundations as the
Intrepid Museum.

Above all, he will thank our veterans for all they have done to keep our
country safe and our liberty secure throughout our history. We are looking
forward to celebrating that day tomorrow.

With that I'll go to questions.

Q Two separate topics. First, if you could just give us a sense of what the
President goal's are today with President-elect Obama? What does he take
into the meeting? What would he like to accomplish in that conversation?
And then separately, I'll ask about AIG.

MS. PERINO: President Bush is very much looking forward to this meeting. He
first invited the President-elect the night that he called him to
congratulate him on winning, so on election night. And this is a meeting
that typically takes place between Presidents and Presidents-elect. It's
happening a little bit earlier for us and that was, one, because we are so
committed to making sure that the transition is as smooth as possible, to
get he and his team here so that they can start having private
conversations amongst themselves is important to us. Also our calendar made
it such that we wanted to get him here sooner than later. So at their
convenience, they were able to come today.

This is going to be a private meeting, and there's not a lot that we can do
to preview it. I don't think any of us can understand what it's like
between -- for two people who are now -- are going to be in a very small
club, who understand what it's like to be the Commander-in-Chief, to be the
leader of our great country. And so they'll have a private conversation.
I'm sure they'll talk about a range of issues. But we'll let that be
private, and I'll try to provide you some sort of readout afterwards.

Q On AIG, why did the government feel like it needed to take this action?
And why is it appropriate to allow AIG to participate in the stock purchase
program but, say, not automakers?

MS. PERINO: You'll remember in September it was the Federal Reserve that
first began lending to AIG in order to prevent the collapse of this firm,
as the Federal Reserve Chairman and the Secretary of the Treasury
determined that the collapse of that company would have a systemic -- would
pose a systemic risk to the entire economy. That action was taken before
passage of the rescue package that the Congress finally passed in late
September.

Today the Treasury Department and the Treasury announced -- I'm sorry,
Treasury and the Federal Reserve announced a restructuring of that help
that they're providing to that company. The previous plan they've
determined was not adequate to deal with the problems that AIG had. So
using the new tools available and additional actions of the Fed, this
restructured package will allow AIG to continue to restructure themselves
in a way that will not hurt the overall economy.

AIG is a large, interconnected firm. Both Secretary Paulson and Chairman
Bernanke have determined that a failure by the firm would cause damage to
our financial system, the U.S. economy, and the global economy. AIG being
clearly within that financial service sector is what Congress had in mind
when it passed the rescue package. There was not discussion of specific
help to auto companies during that debate, and so the Congress's intent was
to help financial institutions. That doesn't mean that Congress wasn't also
thinking about the auto industry, because that's how we got the legislation
to allow us to provide for loans to the auto industry as they try to retool
themselves to make cars that consumers are more interested in buying in a
more economic, fuel-economy way.

So the Treasury Department did a conference call this morning. There's a
lot of technicalities that go along with this decision that I'm not as well
versed in as certainly the experts are that have been working on this.
Congress is going to come back into town next week. If they decide to try
to do something more on the auto industry we would listen to them. We do
think that because we rushed and tried to make sure we got those loan
regulations done as quickly as possible last week -- we put those forward I
think it was Wednesday night. The Energy Department is now accepting
applications for those loans and we'll continue to work with Congress on
the others.

Q Dana, can I just get back to the meeting for a second. I guess, in terms
of generally characterizing the tone of what a meeting between the current
President and the President-elect would be like, is it more of a sort of
"Welcome to the White House, this is what it's like and what you can
expect," and sort of general? Or are they going to be discussing specific
issues and hot spots and that kind of thing?

MS. PERINO: If I had a crystal ball I could tell you; I just don't know.
I'm sure that they'll talk about a range of issues. Obviously, there is the
Mrs. Obama and Mrs. Bush meeting, which is going to talk about how they
will make their life here and how they will make the house a home and all
the help that they will be -- at their disposal in order for them to do
that.

And then the President and the President-elect will have a chance to talk.
I'm sure they'll talk about a range of issues. I'll try to get you
something later, but it's just very private and I'm sure this won't be the
only time that they speak. I'm sure that between our staffs and also
between the two of them that they'll talk on the way forward.

I know one thing that the President will want to talk about is what he's
been talking about in the phone call that he had with the President-elect
and in his radio address and in the two statements he gave to you all last
week, which is the transition of power this time around is so critically
important -- one, in regards to the economy, and two, in regards to the
attacks -- the threat of attack that we currently live under.

And we all know that as we've seen in other countries that that period of
transition can be one where a country is vulnerable to attack. And we
really want to make sure that we work with them through joint exercises,
through providing briefings, so that when we hand the baton to them they're
able to move forward and continue to protect the country.

Q One follow on this -- and I know there's a general sort of reticence
about getting a place on the couch -- but I'm just wondering with the
arrival of the President-elect here, is there in some way -- for the
President, for the staff, or for senior aides -- is everything becoming a
little more real, even in a way that the election wasn't, today?

MS. PERINO: Sure, I think that that is fair to say. We all realize how many
days we have left to be here to be able to continue to do the work that the
President has asked us to do, both in our daily jobs and also in the
transition. And one of our most important jobs right now throughout the
administration, throughout the White House and the executive office of the
President is to make sure that we have a very smooth transition, one that
is professional and unprecedented.

I think the President and the President-elect have both set a tone of
cooperation, one of a spirit of partnership to be able to move forward. Of
course they have differences on policies, but they both love their country
equally and their love of country they're going to put first, and then
they'll work together to make sure that they have everything that they need
going forward.

Q Dana, on Friday, Barack Obama voiced his strong support for a second
stimulus. Does that kind of statement change the White House's view on
that? Is that something you expect them to discuss today?

MS. PERINO: It's possible that they'll discuss it. Again, I'm not going to
presuppose what the two might discuss, but obviously the economy is going
to be something that will be top of line for both of the leaders.

The Democrats have not yet determined how they will move forward and
whether they'll move forward next week. And before we speculate on what
they might hypothetically put forward, I think it's best to let them
continue to talk.

One thing we have heard a lot about in this election is the pledge of
bipartisan cooperation. And I think that the Democrats, instead of just
asking what the administration can do, would be wise to be talking to their
Republican counterparts in Congress so they can find out what those members
of Congress are thinking about as we move forward to try to continue to
help the economy.

Q Going back to the autos for just a minute, Speaker Pelosi and Senate
Majority Leader Reid over the weekend sent Paulson a letter which seemed to
suggest that their interpretation of TARP would include the auto industry
as a critical part of the financial markets and the economy. How does the
White House react to that, especially since they're suggesting legislative
intent of the TARP?

MS. PERINO: Well, the letter was sent to Secretary Paulson, the Treasury
Department is still reviewing it and hasn't responded yet -- but I'm sure
that they will and when they do, that will be public.

I would remind you, though, that the letter doesn't specifically say that
that was their congressional intent. It asked the Secretary of the Treasury
to review the legislation and study the feasibility of using TARP funds for
that purpose. So I think that it's important that you recognize that
distinction and let the Treasury Secretary review those discussions.

Q A follow-up. You mentioned the DOE loans, have you heard from Energy on
whether any of the automakers, suppliers have come forward on that?

MS. PERINO: I think that they have, but we'll check for you and get back to
you.

Q You know, you talked about this a little bit ago, about the differences
in policy, obviously, that these two men have. There was a lot of heated
rhetoric on the campaign trail. Not to belabor the point, but how does that
affect the dynamic when -- you know, the President obviously understands, I
know, he's a politician, he understands full well what it's like on the
campaign trail, but could you just elaborate a little bit on how the heated
rhetoric --

MS. PERINO: It's always amazed me how President Bush is able to let heated
rhetoric like that just slide off his back and move forward and do what he
thinks is right for the country.

Obviously right now the most important thing we can do is ensure a smooth
transition to Barack Obama and his team, and that's what he's committed to
doing. He just lets those things go and will be focused on helping the next
team have what they need.

I think it's probably something that's hard for all of us to understand,
but President Bush has been involved in politics since the mid-'60s, when
he watched his father run for Congress. And then their whole political life
has been about a rough and tumble campaign. This President was not involved
in the campaign, we studiously stayed out of it, even when it was very hard
for us sometimes to let attacks go unanswered. But we did that because he
thought it was the right thing to do for the Republican Party.

Now in the next few weeks I think you'll be able to see us revisit some of
those issues and put a marker down for history of what this President stood
for and why he made the decisions that he did.

Mark.

Q Dana, what does the President think about hearing John Podesta talk about
a range of executive orders -- be ready to reverse administration policy on
so many things -- basically right away?

MS. PERINO: Well, every President has the prerogative to change policies;
that's nothing unusual. That happened in our administration, too. And what
I will tell you is that policies that this President made have been
carefully considered; all of the due diligence has been done on a range of
these issues.

One of them I saw mentioned was on stem cells. And unfortunately, the
President's position on stem cells has been misconstrued over the years,
with the suggestion that President Bush but a ban on research for embryonic
stem cell research. That is not true. I think that -- I don't know if I
need to go over it again with all of you here, but I would ask that people
think about that carefully. The President made a very important choice
after a lot of careful deliberation -- in fact, it's detailed in Karen
Hughes' book, "Ten Minutes from Normal," there's a whole chapter dedicated
to the decision-making process that went into that decision.

Since that decision, scientists from all over the world and especially here
in our own country have shown their innovation and their abilities to do
embryonic stem cell research and make huge leaps in achievement without
destroying embryos. So I think that we'll just keep all of that in mind as
we move forward. But we would say that our regulations that we put forward
through executive order or through the rule making process has been
carefully considered and have checked all of the boxes when it comes to the
due diligence that are required for all of them.

Q So is your advice against a wholesale reversal of these orders?

MS. PERINO: I'm not here to advise or not advise the next team, I'll just
remain neutral in that regard. But I will defend what the President has put
forward.

Q Another specific that's been talked about is trials for detainees in
Guantanamo Bay inside the U.S. You've spent a lot of time at that podium
and the President has talked about this a lot, about the danger of that
potentially happening. What about that prospect, a meeting?

MS. PERINO: I don't know what their plans are. I do think it's interesting
that some -- for many years, a couple of years we've been seeing reported
in the press that it would just be easier just to close Guantanamo Bay, and
we've tried very hard to explain to people how complicated it is.

When you pick up people off the battlefield that have a terrorist
background, it's not just so easy to let them go. We've tried to repatriate
many of them back to their homes. We've gone from about 655 detainees down
to about 250 now. We continue to try to repatriate them to places that we
know that they will be safe and that they'll be kept from harming others.
About 7 percent of the detainees that we returned to their home countries
have actually struck again. Some have been recaptured. One of them could
not be recaptured because he was a suicide bomber who killed 40 people in
Mosul.

These issues are complicated, and we have put forward a process that we
think would work in order to put them on trial through military tribunals.
We have also asked Congress to take another look at the issue that resulted
from the Boumediene decision because it is not just -- it's not so easy
just to say that you're going to close Guantanamo Bay.

And now in the last week or so, all of a sudden some of our critics in the
media are now putting forward how complicated it would be and how difficult
it will be for the next President to make these decisions. All of a sudden
it's really complicated. So we take the point. It is complicated and we've
been trying to do our best to try to close it.

Q Doubtful, but do you have any comment on the New York Times story about
the secret orders for the U.S. to raid into other countries to go after al
Qaeda?

MS. PERINO: You are correct -- no comment. (Laughter.)

Q Does it get to the point of a presidential level -- we know -- we've
confirmed that the Defense Secretary in fact signed an order -- Defense
Secretary Rumsfeld in 2004. Does each of those incidents raise to a
presidential level?

MS. PERINO: I cannot comment on our methods of going after al Qaeda
terrorists. What I can tell you is that we're committed to doing so and
bringing them to justice one way or the other.

Andre.

Q Is this the first substantive meeting between the President and Senator
Obama -- one on one?

MS. PERINO: One on one? Yes.

Q Another one on First Lady -- she's talking to the diplomatic wives today.
What's that about?

MS. PERINO: I just -- yes, I just saw Ambassador Brinker. She was on her
way over to the East Wing; there's a lunch today for the spouses of our
diplomats who are here --

Q American diplomats?

MS. PERINO: I believe so. I can check with the First Lady's office and get
you details on it.

Q And lastly, the foreign ministers of our two countries met in Sharm el
Sheikh. Basically our foreign minister -- they resolved to resume the
dialogue on strategic issues. Does that approach have the blessing of the
White House?

MS. PERINO: If Secretary Rice moved forward with something you can bet that
it had the blessing of President Bush.

Peter.

Q Aside from the meeting that the President is having and the intelligence
briefings, in what other ways is the administration preparing the incoming
administration for the vulnerabilities that you mentioned earlier?

MS. PERINO: Vulnerabilities? Well, it runs the gamut, and I'd really refer
you to the Department of Homeland Security because Secretary Chertoff, for
the past year, has been working to set this up to make sure that, for
example, that the senior career official that is in a certain department or
office of the Secretary would by ready to step in and fill that position
for a while, if needed -- if it takes a while to get somebody named to a
particular post, or if it takes a while to get somebody through
confirmation. So that's one area.

We're also going to plan to do possibly some exercises to make sure the
continuity of operations is understood by the next team coming forward,
because that's obviously something we take very seriously. There's also
response to natural disasters that we can go over with them. There's a
whole range of issues at the Energy Department as well, not to mention
bio-terror issues that the Health and Human Services Department would look
at. So it runs the gamut of all different issues that we need to continue
to prepare them on.

The President-elect's team has been very organized and very helpful, and
they've identified a lot of people so that they'll be able to get a lot of
overlap between now and January 20th when we leave.

Q On something else, what might you want to tell the next Press Secretary
about this outfit and about your job?

MS. PERINO: Well, that it's a high honor and privilege to be here every
day, and it's --

Q Really? (Laughter.)

MS. PERINO: It is -- even on Sundays, when you're driving me crazy with
emails. You know who you are. (Laughter.)

Q Will you tell them, don't give out your email address?

MS. PERINO: Actually, that's a good idea. We could start that. You could
enforce the duty officer.

I don't know, but I hope I'll have a chance to meet with him or her. They
haven't been officially announced yet so I won't do that for them. We will
provide everything that we possibly can from here. I think we've
established a good, cooperative relationship in figuring out how to get you
the information as quickly as possible so that you can do your jobs. And
I'm sure that because of how professional and top-notch their organization
was on their campaign, that that will carry over into the White House too.

John.

Q On the automakers again, can you say whether the White House would prefer
for Congress to take some affirmative action to clarify that the TARP money
can be used for --

MS. PERINO: I won't say either way. I'll just say that Congress will have
an opportunity when it returns next week to consider it. If it wants to do
anything in addition for the automakers, we'll certainly listen to ideas
they have on how to accelerate the loans to viable companies, as laid out
in the legislation. I think right now we need to let them to continue to do
their work. And hopefully, in the spirit of bipartisanship that they've
pledged, that they'll continue to talk to their Republican counterparts as
well.

Go ahead, sir.

Q Will there be a seat at the table at the forthcoming economic conference
for the incoming administration?

MS. PERINO: We've been in contact with the Obama team on a whole host of
issues, and one of them is on the economic summit that's taking place this
Friday and Saturday. They have indicated, I believe, that they don't plan
to attend. But we are keeping them updated on all of that. And in addition
to that, just so that you know, I think on Wednesday we'll be able to bring
in a couple of experts to preview for you here -- an on the record, maybe
off-camera briefing -- so that you'll have some information leading up to
that Friday/Saturday meeting.

Q Dana, is the Oval Office meeting today just the two men for the whole
meeting?

MS. PERINO: As far as I -- yes, absolutely.

Q For the entire session?

MS. PERINO: Although, I believe that the Chief of Staff and John Podesta
will also try to meet. But it would be separate and probably in the Chief's
office.

Q Translation?

MS. PERINO: Transcript? (Laughter.)

Q Translation? It was a joke --

MS. PERINO: Go ahead.

Q Have the President's daughters spoken at all to the Obama family about
that transition -- life in the White House?

MS. PERINO: Not that I'm aware of, but you could call the First Lady's
office and check.

Okay, go ahead.

Q Thank you very much. Two questions. President Franklin Roosevelt had
"nearly 1,000 press conferences," according to Time Magazine in April of
1945. And my question --

MS. PERINO: What does Knoller say? (Laughter.)

Q My question is, since that averages more than one press conference a
week, could you tell us the total number of press conferences held by
President Bush?

MS. PERINO: I couldn't tell you. But it's certainly not been that many.

Q The New York Times reported, "Mr. Obama has indicated he will hold a news
conference once a month, but nothing has been set." Does the President, as
an upcoming private citizen, hope that his successor will try to emulate
FDR in the number of his press conferences?

MS. PERINO: I don't think the President will be providing any advice as to
how many press conferences he has.

Q Well, he certainly would like to see it, wouldn't he?

MS. PERINO: He'll be in Crawford. I don't think he'll be worried about it
too much.

April.

Q Dana, could you tell us about Admiral Rochon's role in -- first, his role
here, and then his role in bringing the new First Family in, in January?

MS. PERINO: I think I would refer that question to the First Lady's office
since they know him best. And they can talk to you a little bit more about
-- in depth about it.

Q Well, let me ask you this. President Bush has been one who likes to break
barriers as far as hiring women -- on gender, race, age, all sorts of
issues. What was his thought about bringing in Admiral Rochon, who is an
African American, to run the residence of the White House? Because now you
have the President-elect who is African American, an African American who
is running the residence -- it's historic all the way around. Can you talk
to us about that?

MS. PERINO: I don't know why President Bush made that decision, but what I
do know about the President is that he doesn't make decisions about
positions based on somebody's race or gender. So maybe when you have a
chance to talk to him over the next couple months you can ask him that
question. I don't know.

Q Dana, given that the -- back on the auto industry for a second -- there's
a lot of concern in Detroit and among the automakers that if Congress
doesn't act this administration might not be able to do anything. Would
there be anything that the administration could do if Congress does not
come back for a lame duck --

MS. PERINO: I think we have -- we have to move forward with what we can do
with the statutes that Congress has authorized us to put forward. And as I
said, Congress will have a chance to meet next week, and if they decide to
move forward with something additional, we will be able to listen to their
ideas. But I think this is too early to say.

Q Thank you.

END 11:34 A.M. EST
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