Obama connects Asia trip, U.S. economy
Posted: Sunday, November 15, 2009 1:09 AM by Chuck Todd
From NBC's Chuck Todd
SINGAPORE -- The president is not having an easy time connecting his travels in Asia with the current domestic economic angst gripping the nation. But that doesn't mean he isn't trying. According to prepared remarks the president was to deliver to the Asaign Pacific Economic Conference Sunday morning in Singapore, the president touched on the growing deficit as well as the jobs issue.
(BTW, the reason I have to cite "prepared remarks" is no U.S. editorial presence was allowed into this meeting so we all have to rely on the White House speech transcript).
On the deficit, he was to tell Asian leaders he plans to "reign in our government's debt."
"Like many of you, we passed a measure to stimulate demand that has temporarily enlarged our deficit. And this was on top of the trillion dollar deficit we faced upon taking office. But as the economy recovers, I intend to take serious steps to reduce America’s long-term deficit – because debt-driven growth cannot fuel America’s long-term prosperity."
The deficit continues to be a growing issue of concern according to recent polls so it should be no surprise the president is rhetorically tackling it. The question is what does he do beyond talk? One can see some sort of deficit "summit" coming or special commission. But can he truly start tackling the debt problem without tackling Social Security or defense spending or, well, taxes? The deficit for both parties is an easy issue to rhetorically show concern on, but actually reducing it means doing something that will be unpopular with at least half the country.
Meanwhile, the president, in this APEC speech, also intended to touch on trade and what many believe is too big of an imbalance. Specifically, he laid out some principles regarding the Doha agreement.
"What can fuel that prosperity is a strategy where the United States consumes less and exports more. This won’t just lead to more balanced growth – it has the potential to create millions of new, well-paying jobs. For example, if we can increase our exports to APEC countries by just 5%, we can increase the number of U.S. jobs supported by exports by hundreds of thousands.
...
Today, the United States is ready and willing to compete more extensively in APEC markets. We’ve increased our exports to Asia at a healthy rate over the last decade, but not as much as other regions have – and we intend to change that. We also know that to stand still is to lose ground, because other nations are already pursuing agreements with this region that will give their exports preferred access; agreements that will put our workers and our businesses at a competitive disadvantage.
To that end, we are working toward an ambitious and balanced Doha agreement – not any agreement, but an agreement that will open up markets and increase exports around the world. We are ready to work with our Asian partners to see if we can achieve that objective in a timely fashion – and we invite our regional trading partners to join us at the table."
The president announced that the U.S. would host the 2011 APEC conference in the president's home state of Hawaii. The 2010 meeting is set for Japan.
