"We Will Recover" - Obama Holds Second Primetime Press Conference

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Mar 25, 2009 2:20PM

President Obama held his second primetime press conference on Tuesday night, offering a positive outlook in a somber tone. Even as he addressed the issues surrounding AIG and the economy - and the fallout of anger over those AIG bonuses - he offered caution while striving for unity:

The road to that prosperity is still long, and we will hit our share of bumps and setbacks before it ends. But we must remember that we can get there if we travel that road as one nation, as one people.

You know, there was a lot of outrage and finger-pointing last week, and much of it is understandable. I'm as angry as anybody about those bonuses that went to some of the very same individuals who brought our financial system to its knees, partly because it's yet another symptom of the culture that led us to this point.

But one of the most important lessons to learn from this crisis is that our economy only works if we recognize that we're all in this together, that we all have responsibilities to each other and to our country

During the Q&A period, Obama took questions from some smaller media outlets - like Stars & Stripes - rather than outlets like the New York Times and was short when a reporter asked him why he took so long to express outrage over the AIG bonuses.

QUESTION: So on AIG, why did you wait -- why did you wait days to come out and express that outrage?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: I --

QUESTION: It seems like the action is coming out of New York in the attorney general’s office. It took you days to come public with Secretary Geithner and say, look, we’re outraged. Why did it take so long?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, it took us a couple of days because I like to know what I’m talking about before I speak.