| Q: Unfortunately, I hate to disappoint you, President Obama, I'm actually Chinese. (Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT: Well, it’s wonderful to see you.
Q: But I think I get to represent the entire Asia. THE PRESIDENT: Absolutely.
Q: We're one family here in this part of the world.
THE
PRESIDENT: Well, your English is better than my Mandarin also.
(Laughter.) But -- now, in fairness, though, I did say that I was going
to let the Korean press ask a question. So I think that you held up
your hand anyway.
Q: How about will my Korean friends allow me to ask a question on your behalf? Yes or no?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, it depends on whether there’s a Korean reporter who would rather have the question. No, no takers?
Q: (Inaudible.)
THE PRESIDENT: This is getting more complicated than I expected. (Laughter.)
Q: Take quick, one question from an Asian, President Obama.
THE
PRESIDENT: Well, the -- as I said, I was going to -- go ahead and ask
your question, but I want to make sure that the Korean press gets a
question as well.
Q: Okay. My question is very simple. You
mentioned interpretation. I know part of the difficulty being the
American President is that some of the decisions that you take, actions
you make will be interpreted in a way that are not what you thought they
would be or what you meant they would be. For instance, some of the
actions you’ve taken were interpreted as anti-business, domestically, in
the United States. And as someone just mentioned, some of the actions
taken by the U.S. government that you represent as well were interpreted
as sacrificing other countries’ interests for America’s own benefit. So
you find yourself constantly being interpreted in a thousand different
ways. How do you address these interpretations?
THE PRESIDENT: With
a wonderful press conference like this that gives me the opportunity
hopefully to provide my own interpretation. But, look, you make a valid
point. We live in a connected world. Everything I say, everything my
administration does, anything one of my aides does is interpreted in one
fashion or another. In America we call it spin. And there’s a spin
cycle that is going on 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And I think
that in this media environment, it is in some ways more challenging to
make sure that your message and your intentions are getting out in a
consistent basis.
But I think that if I’m consistent with my actions
and I’m consistent with my goals, then over time hopefully people look
at my overall trajectory and they can draw accurate conclusions about
what we’re trying to do.
With respect to business, for example, we’ve
had in the United States some battles between myself and some in the
business community around issues like financial regulation or health
care. At the same time, I’ve said repeatedly and I said on this trip,
we can’t succeed unless American businesses succeed. And I’m going to
do everything I can to promote their ability to grow and prosper and to
sell their goods both in the United States and abroad. And the fact
that the economy is now growing and trade is expanding and the stock
market is up I think is an indication that I mean what I say. And
hopefully by the end of my administration businesses will look back and
say, you know what, actually the guy was pretty good for business --
even if at any given point in the road they may be frustrated.
So -- all right, now I’m stuck with this last one but I think I’ve got to go fly a plane.
Read more: http://www.america.gov/st/texttrans-english/2010/November/20101112083910su8.591425e-02.html?CP.rss=true#ixzz15Dh5Is4X |
