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It was just a matter of time before a reporter asked President Obama this question on the Asia trip: "Do you feel that the election has weakened you on the global stage?"
No, Obama told CNN's Dan Lothian.
Wrapping up the G-20 economic summit, the president added:
I think what we've seen over the last several days as we've traveled through Asia is that people are eager to work with America, eager to engage with America on economic issues, on security issues, on a whole range of mutual interests.
And that's especially true in Asia, where we see such enormous potential. This is the fastest-growing part of the world. And we've got to be here and we've got to work.
And I'm absolutely confident that my administration over the next two years is going to continue to make progress in ensuring that the United States has a presence here not just for the next couple of years but for decades to come.
(Posted by David Jackson)
President Obama didn't formally endorse Nancy Pelosi's bid to remain House Democratic leader today, but he sure did say nice things about the outgoing Speaker.
"I think Speaker Pelosi has been an outstanding partner for me," Obama told reporters today in South Korea.
He did not address reports that some Democrats -- who saw their party lose at least 60 House seats in last week's elections -- are leery of seeing Pelosi stay in leadership. Republicans who take control of the House early next year made Pelosi's stewardship a major issue in many congressional races (using the phrase 'Fire Pelosi').
At a G-20 news conference in Seoul, our friend Jake Tapper of ABC News asked Obama if the Democrats "would benefit from new blood, new leadership" in Congress.
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President Obama said today his top priority is to extend the George W. Bush tax cuts for middle class Americans, and he will talk with Republicans next week about what to do with the tax rates for wealthier Americans.
"I continue to believe that extending permanently the upper-income tax cuts would be a mistake and that we can't afford it," Obama told reporters at the G-20 summit in Seoul, South Korea. "And my hope is, is that somewhere in between there we can find some sort of solution."
He added: "I'm not going to negotiate here in Seoul. My job is to negotiate back in Washington with Republican and Democratic leaders."
The tax cuts expire at the end of the year, and are the top priority of the lame duck Congress that meets next week.
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President Obama said today that the global economy is on "the path to recovery," though he assailed one of the world's largest economies -- China -- for what he called currency manipulation.
"All of us need to avoid actions that perpetuate imbalances and give countries an undue advantage over one another," Obama said at the end of the G-20 summit in Seoul, South Korea.
After speaking with reporters, Obama left for Japan, the last stop on his 10-day Asia trip.
The world risks more economic problems if countries don't do more to end unfair trade practices and currency manipulation, and he singled out China. He said Beijing "spends enormous amounts of money" to keep its currency artificially low, and called it an "irritant" to the United States and other nations.
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As President Obama meets with global colleagues at the G-20 summit in Seoul, South Korea, he is taking heat for the Fed's decision to pump $600 billion into the American economy -- from Germany's finance minister to Sarah Palin.
As writer Judy Bachrach reports in World Affairs, Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega likened the Fed policy to "throwing money out of a helicopter."
And German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble said the policy is no better than Chinese efforts to keep its currency artificially low: "What the U.S. accuses China of doing, the USA is doing by different means."
Palin, meanwhile, wonders if Obama is trying to encourage inflation. "A little inflation goes a long way towards driving down the value of the enormous national debt Obama has run up," she wrote on her Facebook page.
For his part, Obama pointed out the Federal Reserve Board is an independent body, and "doesn't take orders from the White House.'
Read more »Former president George W. Bush is all over television and radio, promoting his memoir Decision Points.
Enjoy it -- or revile it -- while you can.
Bush, who laid low for most of President Obama's first 22 months in office, has told interviewers he will return beneath the radar when his book tour ends. Don't expect him to be a public presence in the manner of such other former White House occupants as Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.
"I have peace in my heart, I truly do, and I have zero desire to try to battle for reputation," Bush told USA TODAY's Judy Keen. "One of the sacrifices one makes when you run and win the presidency is you lose your anonymity forever. I'm trying to regain my anonymity."
Read more »On Veterans Day, The Oval would like to extend a thank you to all our veterans, and the families of those whose sons and daughters gave their lives for the United States.
We'd also like to present a tribute courtesy of actor Montgomery Clift, who, as Pvt. Robert E. Lee Prewitt, plays Taps for his friend Pvt. Angelo Maggio (Frank Sinatra) in the 1953 film classic From Here To Eternity.
Our friends at NPR, meanwhile, have an interesting history of Taps, which apparently began during the Civil War:
"The origin of taps is a little fuzzy, but there's one version that is generally accepted as the official story. It came from a Civil War bugler who was the first person to play the go-to-sleep tune for Union troops.
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President Obama and Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao discussed the value of Chinese currency today, amid a report that China will let its yuan appreciate in value in exchange for more power with the International Monetary Fund.
Jim O'Neill of Goldman Sachs told Bloomberg Television that the U.S. and China are discussing a "grand bargain" on the currency issue; Obama and other U.S. officials have said China enjoys an unfair trade advantage because it keeps the value of its currency artificially low.
Reports Bloomberg:
Read more »China's yuan, known as the renminbi, reached the strongest level against the dollar since 1993 ahead of a Group of 20 leaders meeting this week in Seoul. The gain came after the IMF's executive board approved a plan that would make China the third-strongest member in the organization, a position described by the fund's chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn as allowing Beijing to take more "responsibility" in the global economy.
"People forget, but the currency has risen by 3 percent since the summer and has risen nearly 25 percent over five years," said O'Neill, chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset, in an interview on Bloomberg Television. It's not a "fluke" that China is given a bigger share at the Washington-based IMF, and "that's part of the grand bargain," he said.
When President Obama announced his new Afghanistan strategy -- on Dec. 1, almost a year ago -- he said July of 2011 would be the beginning of a U.S. withdrawal from the war that began in 2001.
The "beginning."
When the end date might be has been a source of intense debate, but now Obama administration officials are tossing out a new possibility: 2014.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen said this week that Afghanistan should be ready to defend itself by 2014.
"As a target at this point that makes sense," Mullen told reporters during a trip to Australia, though he added that "we're clearly not there yet."
Afghanistan is Topic A when Obama attends a NATO summit later this month in Lisbon, Portugal.
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The White House continues to send out signals that it will consider an extension of all the George W. Bush tax cuts -- including ones for the wealthy, perhaps on a temporary basis.
White House adviser David Axelrod told The Huffington Post that extending all the cuts would at least benefit the middle class, and that the Obama administration must deal with newly emboldened Republicans who won last week's elections.
"We have to deal with the world as we find it," Axelrod said. "The world of what it takes to get this done."
(White House officials warn that the HuffPo headline -- "White House gives in on Bush tax cuts" -- is overdrawn; no decisions have been made. Obama sits down next week with Republican and Democratic congressional leaders, and tax cut extensions are high on the agenda.)
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