Black Enterprise Exclusive: Interview with President Barack Obama

On a chilly winter night, I received a call on my BlackBerry that most journalists wait for their entire career. “I’m just calling to let you know that Black Enterprise will be the first black publication to get an interview with the president,” the White House representative told me. I would later find out that be would be the first magazine to gain an exclusive with Barack Obama since he took oath on Jan. 20. “It’ll be a phoner. You’ll get 15 minutes. It’s an interview the president really wants to do.”

As I heard those words, my lips curled into a smile. Initially, I thought the call was in response to my efforts to be selected as one of 300 or so attendees of President Obama’s first White House press conference (BE managed to gain access to that event as well). But this news exceeded my expectations. Since the inauguration, I had become part of the White House press corps–albeit newly minted–taking three-hour commutes via train from our New York headquarters to Washington, D.C. to cover the administration’s press briefings and executive order ceremonies, including Domestic Policy Council Director Melody Barnes’ review of the administration’s economic agenda with black media; and the introduction of the Economic Recovery Advisory Board, comprising business and economic leaders that will make policy recommendations. Our extensive coverage, constant inquiries, interview requests–which began the day after the election–and our patience paid off.

But this would not be a vanity interview. My intent was to answer the overriding question that came from our steady stream of reader e-mails: Just how was the Obama administration going to tame the turbulent economy and help millions regain their financial footing? As I prepared for the interview, the president was in the midst of battling for his mammoth American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, legislation that aims to employ and retain nearly 4 million workers through the creation of “shovel-ready” infrastructure jobs and public works projects; provide displaced workers with relief through the extension of unemployment and health insurance benefits; and promote consumer spending through a series of tax breaks. His ambitious program was initially stalled by political wrangling in the House and Senate after a number of personal overtures to GOP legislators were rebuffed. The Republican leadership, for the most part, derided the package as a “wasteful” exercise in big government and stressed the inclusion of more tax cuts (which the final bill included). Although only three Republicans voted in favor of the act, the nation’s chief executive produced his first presidential milestone: In less than a month in office, he signed the $787 billion economic recovery package, purportedly the largest overhaul of the U.S. economy in history.

The action, the president asserts, represents only “one leg of the stool” in his mission to revamp the economic and financial system. At press time, the Treasury Department unveiled a bank rescue plan including provisions to create “stress tests” to ensure the financial stability of banks with more than $100 billion in assets as well as facilitate more than $1 trillion in lending to consumers and businesses; Obama established a $275 billion housing initiative that would, among other goals, help millions of struggling homeowners modify their mortgage loans and stabilize home prices; and he created a White House task force to review the restructuring plans of domestic automakers that received federal bailout assistance. “All of those are going to be one piece in this bigger puzzle of how to get the economy moving again,” the president told BE.

It’s Monday, Feb. 9. Equipped with two digital recorders, I arrive 40 minutes early for my scheduled 1:00 p.m. interview. After securing credentials, I walk down the hallway of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, adjacent to the White House, to the media relations office. As I wait for the interview–which started about 20 minutes late–I watch the president’s latest offensive play in the battle for public support for the stimulus package. Assuming the role of communicator—in-chief, he takes his message to the residents of Elkhart, Indiana, a town with an unemployment rate that jumped from 4.7% to a staggering 15.3% in a year. For a little more than an hour, he addressed a packed gymnasium at Concord High School, outlining his economic agenda, answering unscreened questions, and comforting some of the displaced. It’s an approach he would repeat over the next week in such economically battered cities as Fort Myers, Florida, and East Peoria, Illinois–headquarters of equipment manufacturer Caterpillar Inc., which announced layoffs of more than 20,000 workers in late January.

As the president’s motorcade leaves Concord High and heads to Air Force One, I receive his call on a speakerphone in one of the office cubicles. “Good afternoon, Mr. President, this is Derek Dingle from Black Enterprise magazine.”
“Good to talk to you again, Derek.”
“It’s great to talk to you as well.”
Mindful of the tight 15 minutes allotted, I asked him several direct questions that ranged from his characterization of his first month in the Oval Office to his administration’s commitment to minority business. He answered each question in Obamaesque style–crisp, clear, and thoughtful. The tenor of his answers conveyed a man focused on the enormous challenges that are a part of his presidential inheritance and an iron will to correct course. And while he believes an activist government can be a powerful tool for helping solve the problems of citizens in need, he maintains that Americans must fully participate in their own economic salvation. “People have to continue to innovate, look for new customers, try to find creative ways to turn crisis into opportunity, retool for the future. But I want them to know that help is on the way.”

The following are edited excerpts of this BE exclusive:

On meeting his challenges as president: Obviously, we have some enormous challenges but I’m very confident about the team that I’ve put in place. I think the economic recovery and reinvestment package is one critical component of an overall recovery package. We’re also going to have to strengthen the banking system so credit is going to businesses again, and deal with housing and the foreclosure issue. We’ve got to lay the groundwork for some long-term investment in energy, healthcare, and education that can ensure long-term economic growth. So, we’ve got the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression and obviously the jobs numbers that we’ve been seeing confirm how it’s affecting ordinary families all across America. But I’m confident that if we handle this properly that we can use it as an opportunity to put our economy on firmer footing for the long term.

On measuring the impact of the stimulus plan: If we invest in areas like clean energy and weatherizing homes,

then not only are we creating immediate jobs for people who may have been in the housing sector or young people who are currently out of work and need to be trained in the construction trades, we’re also helping families whose homes are weatherized save on their energy bills. We are also weaning ourselves off of Middle Eastern oil. Those kinds of combinations of measures that deal with the short-term crisis but also lay the foundation for long-term economic growth are absolutely critical.

On how quickly American citizens will gain relief: Those things that we can do administratively, we’re going to do right away. Obviously on housing, for example, we’ve got to make sure that we get it right and help actually gets to homeowners. There are a lot of complexities involved in terms of figuring out how people who have mortgages that are now with service providers as opposed to being held by a bank are negotiated. So we’ve got to get it right, but we intend to get help out the door as fast as possible.

On critics who say the package is too big: Keep in mind that there are other critics who say it’s too small and doesn’t do enough. But the bottom line is that we are going to be losing about $2 trillion worth of output over the next two years if we do nothing. To the critics, I would just say talk to Democratic and Republican economists, conservative and liberal economists, from every school of economic thought. There is almost uniform consensus that not only do we need a stimulus package but it needs to be big enough to actually jolt the economy in place.

On ensuring transparency and accountability: We want to make sure that we have an independent board that is providing transparency, accountability, and oversight before the money goes back out the door and while the money is being spent. We’ve also set up a Website called Recovery.gov that will provide people with means of accessing the White House to report back on how this money is impacting the community. People are going to be able to track who is getting the money, how it’s being spent, how many jobs are being created in

particular communities around the country. We think it’s very important that this is a completely open process. This can lay the framework for how we proceed on a whole host of other projects in the future in a way that builds trust in our government.

On minority businesses gaining access to contracts: Most states, if not all, have provisions in place that ensure that minority- and women-owned businesses and small businesses are participating. We expect states to abide by their local rules. And obviously federal rules are going to pertain as well when it comes to, for example, making federal buildings more energy efficient. We’re going to be very clear about making sure that goals are set that ensure participation of every type of business imaginable.

On small business development: I am committed to revamping the Small Business Administration. It’s become an afterthought agency and not as focused as it needs to be on its mission, which is helping small businesses grow and helping startups. We’ve [nominated] a terrific new director of the SBA, Karen Mills, who is going to be very aggressive in getting out of federal buildings and reaching out to the business community to figure out exactly what they need in terms of help. Obviously the biggest problem small businesses have right now is access to credit. As part of our financial rollout, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner will be talking about a series of measures working with the Treasury as well as the Federal Reserve Bank, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., and other institutions to open up credit flows to small businesses. We’re also going to expand and hope to use some of the SBA programs that are currently in place for emergency situations, so that small businesses have a place to go to keep their doors open and deal with all the problems they’re having making payroll.

On reaching out to the public: I guarantee that during the course of this year we are going to get out of Washington with great frequency. I think one of the most important things I can do is to highlight what is happening outside of Washington so that the folks who are in Washington understand who they are working for.