Obama Aims for Fast Private Sector Exit

LAURA MECKLER JONATHAN WEISMAN

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama said he wants to get the government out of the private sector as fast as possible -- but that as long as his administration is acting as a major shareholder for large sectors of American commerce, from cars to finance, he won't hesitate to shape decisions at those firms.

Reuters

President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference marking his 100th day in office in the East Room at the White House on Wednesday.

In his most extensive public comments to date on the principles guiding government-ownership stakes, Mr. Obama said at a news conference Wednesday that "I don't think that we should micromanage." But he added that, in the name of protecting taxpayer dollars, the government would help troubled companies make "tough decisions based on realistic assumptions."

"Like any investor, the American taxpayer has the right to scrutinize what's being proposed," he said at news conference marking his 100th day in office. "I don't know how to create [an] affordable, well-designed, plug-in hybrid, but I know that if the Japanese can...then doggone it, the American people should be able to do the same."

Initially, White House advisers derided the focus on this 100-day mark, but wound up embracing it with a town-hall meeting in Missouri followed by the prime-time questions and answers.

In addressing the government's role in the private sector, Mr. Obama said his administration had no choice but to step in as the financial and auto sectors were collapsing and that "our first role should be shareholders that are looking to get out."

"I don't want to run auto companies. I don't want to run banks. I've got two wars I've got to run already. I've got more than enough to do. So the sooner we can get out of that business, the better off we're going to be," he said. "I want to disabuse people of this notion that somehow we enjoy, you know, meddling in the private sector."

Obama's Opening Statement

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President Obama urged common sense practices to stifle the spread of flu and discussed the government's economic recovery act, which created 50,000 jobs and provided a tax cut. Video courtesy of Fox News.

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The federal government currently controls insurance company American International Group Inc. and mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and is likely to soon have a large stake in General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC. The U.S. may also soon hold stocks in various banks.

On the issue of torture, the president said he had read classified memos that former Vice President Dick Cheney said would prove that the "enhanced interrogation methods" had produced life-saving intelligence. But he said that those methods, which he labeled torture, were not justified even if that was true.

"We could have gotten this information in other ways -- in ways that were consistent with our values, in ways that were consistent with who we are," he said.

On immigration, Mr. Obama suggested that a comprehensive overhaul of the system wasn't likely this year, even though he said he would try to make progress toward that goal. He said his administration is working to better secure the border in hopes of building support for the broader changes. He said the administration also should crack down on employers who recruit undocumented workers and not just arrest the workers themselves.

Asked about abortion, Mr. Obama reaffirmed his position in support of legal abortion and also spoke of his interest in reducing the number of abortions. But he said the Freedom of Choice Act, which he strongly endorsed while running for president, "is not my highest legislative priority." The bill would codify Roe v. Wade's protections handed down by the Supreme Court.

On swine flu, Mr. Obama said public-health officials have assured him that closing the border with Mexico is not advisable. "It would be akin to closing the barn door after the horses are out, because we already have cases here in the United States," he said.

In rare praise for his predecessor, Mr. Obama said the systems put into place under the Bush administration appeared to be working well.

The president also took the opportunity on three occasions Wednesday to deliver a public-health message, as a kind of doctor-in-chief. "So wash your hands when you shake hands," he said at his news conference, "cover your mouth when you cough. I know it sounds trivial, but it makes a huge difference."

Mr. Obama acknowledged that government attorneys had continued to press the Bush administration's aggressive national security theories in court, but said that inheriting cases in midstream, the new team didn't "have time to effectively think through…an overarching reform," he said.

He seemed to agree with a federal appeals court in San Francisco, which on Tuesday rejected the government's effort to dismiss on "state secrets" grounds a lawsuit filed by former detainees alleging torture.

The administration is "searching for ways to redact, to carve out certain cases…so that a judge in chambers can review information without it being in open court," Mr. Obama said. The appeals ruling said that the government cannot shut down the suit on a blanket national security claim, but rather must show why any particular evidence qualifies as a state secret.