Bipartisan Super Bowl Party

As the Steelers and Cardinals faced off in Tampa, congressmen and senators from the teams home states crossed party lines – and team loyalties – to join President Obama at the White House.,Senators Arlen Specter (R-Pa) and Bob Casey (D-Pa) attended the Super Bowl Party, along with representatives Charlie Dent (R-Pa.), Mike Doyle (D-Pa.), Patrick Murphy (D-Pa.), Trent Franks (R-Az.), and Raul Grijalva (D-Az.). Other attendees included Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn), Reps. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), Artur Davis (D-Ala.), Rosa DeLauro (D-Ct.), Paul Hodes (D-NH), and Fred Upton (R-Mi.), and Delegate Eleanor Holmes-Norton, (D-DC).,Before the game, the President sat down with NBC’s Matt Lauer to talk about everything from the economy and Iraq to family life in the White House. We pulled a few highlights – the full transcript is below.,
On whether a "substantial number" of troops serving in Iraq will be home for the next Super Bowl:,
I think that we have a sense, now that the Iraqis just had a very significant election, with no significant violence there, that we are in a position to start putting more responsibility on the Iraqis, and that’s good news for not only the troops in the field, but their families who are carrying an enormous burden.,On bipartisan support for the stimulus package:,You know, we’ve had a dysfunctional political system for a while now, and the fact that we have been able to move what is by all accounts a historic piece of legislation through this quickly and that the Senate is having a serious debate about it and we still expect it to be on my desk for signature before President’s Day is quite an achievement. But it’s going to take time for people to start getting used to the fact that we don’t have to score political points on every issue. Once in a while, we can take the politics out of it and just focus on getting the job done for the American people.,On limiting executive compensation:,We’re going to have to make sure that it’s part of the package that we put forward in terms of how we spend money in the future…. Nothing is worse than finding out after the fact -- when it’s too late that money has been wasted. We’re going to make sure that on the front end, this stuff has been evaluated.,On closing Guantanamo Bay:,It’s the right thing to do.  Ultimately it will make us safer. You’ve already seen in the reaction around the world a different sense of America by us taking this action. Now, is it going to be easy?  No…. But I have absolute confidence that ultimately we’re going to be able to find a mechanism…. If we don’t uphold our Constitution and our values, over time that will make us less safe and that will be a recruitment tool for organizations like al Qaeda.,On the First Family’s adjustment to life in the White House:,People think I’m cool -- nobody is cooler than my two girls. They just seem to take whatever comes with, you know, happiness and steadiness….The best deal of this whole thing, is it turns out I’ve got this nice home office. And at the end of the day I can come home....I’m seeing them now more than any time in the last two years, and that’s been great for the whole family.,On realizing the weight of the office:,There have been a couple of times -- some wonderful, some sobering.  Whenever you take that walk down the Colonnade and you go to the Oval Office, I do think you get this sense of the history that you’re now a part of.  Some sobering moments -- having to sign letters for troops who have died and sending letters to their families -- where you realize every decision you make counts. And you don’t have time to -- you don’t have time to spend a lot of time on inconsequential stuff.,On the security features for his Blackberry:,The works.  The works.  It turns into a car if I have to make a quick getaway.,INTERVIEW OF THE PRESIDENT
BY MATT LAUER, NBC
Map Room, The White House
February 1, 2009, Q We’re here in the Map Room at the White House, with the 44th President of the United States. President Obama, it’s great to be with you. How you doing?, THE PRESIDENT: I’m doing great, Matt, thank you., Q So you’ve been President 12 days. So let me ask the question that’s on everyone’s mind right now: How’s it going living with your mother-in-law? (Laughter.), THE PRESIDENT: Fortunately, I love my mother-in-law and --, Q I’m just asking, I’m not trying to start trouble., THE PRESIDENT: She is actually -- she defends me whenever I screw up. So Michelle, you know, she’s about to come down hard, my mother-in-law comes in, intercedes so --, Q Everything’s copacetic., THE PRESIDENT: The longer she stays, the better off I’m going to be., Q I was driving over here, Mr. President, I was thinking about this enormous transition that you’ve been through -- taking on the reins as Commander-in-Chief, Mrs. Obama becoming the First Lady. But you’ve got a daughter, ten, and a daughter, seven, and this is a huge game-changer for them, as well. How are they doing?, THE PRESIDENT: You know, they -- I said this, I think, in an earlier interview -- people think I’m cool -- nobody is cooler than my two girls. They just seem to take whatever comes with, you know, happiness and steadiness. And they’re loving school, they’re making friends -- in fact, they’ve got some friends from school over today -- and they’ve already joined some clubs. And Sasha, you know, I think maybe to endear myself to her, she decided she wanted to join a basketball team, so what more could I want?, Q Are you getting to take part in some of the routines? I was thinking, you’ve been on the road basically for two years -- although you got home a lot. Now you’re all under the same room, basically, for 12 days. Are you there for breakfast, do you get to read them a story at night, tuck them in bed? How’s it going?, THE PRESIDENT: It’s the best deal of this whole thing, is it turns out I’ve got this nice home office. And at the end of the day I can come home -- even if I’ve got more work to do -- I can have dinner with them, I can help them with their homework, I can tuck them in. If I’ve got to go back to the office, I can. But I’m seeing them now more than any time in the last two years, and that’s been great for the whole family., Q President Bush said in his last press conference here at the White House, he said he wasn’t sure when it would happen for you, but there would be a moment -- perhaps in the Oval Office -- when you would stop and realize, I am the President of the United States. I’m curious, have you had that moment?, THE PRESIDENT: There have been a couple of times -- some wonderful, some sobering. Whenever you take that walk down the Colonnade and you go to the Oval Office, I do think you get this sense of the history that you’re now a part of. Some sobering moments -- having to sign letters for troops who have died and sending letters to their families -- where you realize every decision you make counts. And you don’t have time to -- you don’t have time to spend a lot of time on inconsequential stuff. You’ve got to focus on, at this point, putting people back to work, but also reminding yourselves that you’ve got hundreds of thousands of people around the world who are putting themselves in harm’s way and you’re the Commander-in-Chief., Q You talk about sobering moments -- even as a senator and member of the Foreign Relations Committee you were getting intelligence briefings, on the campaign trail also, and during the transition. But now, from what I understand, every day you go down there and there’s that intelligence briefing on your desk, and it’s got to contain some pretty sobering stuff.,There are millions, tens of millions of people watching this broadcast right now, Mr. President. If they were to have access to the same information you have now on a daily basis, how much less sleep would we all be getting?