RICHMOND, Va. (WAVY) - This is a transcript of President Barack Obama's exclusive interview with WAVY.com's Andy Fox:
Q: How Important is Virginia in this election?
President: "If we win Virginia then we will win the election. I believe that."
Q: You want to cut the military and that means lost jobs, and that hurts Hampton Roads. Why do you want to do that?
President: "The military has gone up enormously since 2001, and rightfully so. As long as the defense sequester (defense sequester refers to the $500 billion cut out of the defense budget over the next nine years) doesn't go through we will continue to have a strong military, stable military presence and operations here in Virginia."
Q. So you don't think jobs will be lost in Hampton Roads?
President: "I do not think, unless the sequester doesn't go through, that you will see the type of economic impact that some people are talking about."
"What we have said, as long as you are willing Republicans to ask the wealthy to pay a little bit more then we don't have to worry about these draconian defense cuts."
"What I've called on Congress to do is to make sure taxes don't go up for people who make $250,000 or less. Folks like me who can afford to do a little bit more (need to do more) and in part that allows us to reduce our deficit and maintain a strong military."
Q. Do you support another BRAC Commission to close bases like NAS Oceana?
President: "No, I do not think now is the time. The BRAC, we just went through with base closings. I think the strategy we now have does not call for that."
Q. You said on the stump, "If you're willing to work hard then you can find a job." However, millions of people have been working hard to find a job and can't find one because there aren't any jobs to get. What level of responsibility is his for that?
President: "My responsibility as President is for everything to some degree. We've gone through the worst financial crisis since the great depression. We are still working our way out of that. We have created 4.4 million jobs and 500,000 manufacturing jobs, so we are moving in the right direction. Virginia's unemployment is lower than the rest of the Country, but what is true we've got more work to do...and the choice this election is what kind of middle class do you want?"
"You've got Mr. Romney and his allies in Congress who want another $5 trillion in tax cuts...I believe in keeping taxes for the middle class, but also
investing in education, changing our tax codes for the companies investing here in Virginia as opposed to overseas. I want to make sure we are rebuilding our infrastructure, and putting construction workers back to work who have been hard hit. The housing bubble going bust, and all of that. I want to make sure we have a strong middle class in the Country."
Q. Your campaign has been criticizing Mr. Romney and his company Bain Capital for outsorcing jobs while Romney was in charge. He said that is not true and he want you to apologize. First of all will you apologize?
President: "No. We will not apologize. Mr Romney claims he's Mr. fix-it for the economy because of his business experience, so I think voters entirely legitimately want to know what is exactly his business experience."
"And as the head of a private equity firm his job was to maximize profits and help investors. There is nothing wrong with that. On the other hand that company also was investing in companies that were called by the "Washington Post" 'the pioneers of out sourcing.' Mr. Romney is now claiming he wasn't there at the time except his filings with the SCC listing says he was the CEO, Chairman, and President of the company. As President of the United States, I've learned and we just talked about it, anything that happens on my watch is my responsibility. Harry Truman said 'the buck stops with me' and I think understandably people are going to be interested in are you in fact responsible for this company you say is one of your primary calling cards for your wanting to be President."
Q. You speak about the disconnect with voters with negative campaign Ads. You have mentioned the Romney ads, but you, sir, have been running negative ads too. Your critics call this hypocritical.
President: Here's the challenge we have...we have outside groups that have been pouring tens of millions of dollars of ads against me for the last three and half years. They didn't even wait for the campaign to start running them. The reason a lot of people don't know that our health care bill, for example, if you got health insurance what we are doing is making your health care insurance more secure. The reason people don't know that is because we were outspent 10-1 on negative ads against the health care law. So our job in a campaign is to raise the issues. If you look at all our advertising, what we are focused on is a contrast between two visions and ultimately the way a democracy is going to work is people are going to ask themselves which vision do I prefer,
and you don't hear me complaining a lot about what's been said about me. Lord knows a lot has been said about me over the last three and half years. I understand the nature of our democracy has always been a little bit messy, but the central core message of our campaigning every advertising is how do you build a strong middle class, and how do you make sure people who work hard and are doing the responsible thing are able to succeed, and I believe we have a message to deliver that."
Q. What did you think when you saw Mr. Romney blasting "Obama Care" at his meeting with the NAACP?
President: (laughs) It doesn't sound like it was too severe, and someone on his campaign said we expected that...I am glad to see he is competing for every vote. I think that is the way it should work. I don't think that any constituency is a lock for anybody, and I go into neighborhoods where I know I am not going to get the majority of the vote. i am glad to see he is doing the same thing...that's what this election is all about.
Q. Finally, I asked this President from Illinois about that other President from Illinois, Abraham Lincoln
President: "Here is a general rule as President of the United State: Do not compare yourself to the best President we have ever had."
Reporter Andy Fox: Thank you Mr. President.
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Source: http://www.wavy.com/dpp/news/local_news/wavy-one-on-one-with-president-obama-af
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