Barack Obama and Eric Shinseki

“ And one of the things I've asked my economic team to review is: Have we done everything that we can to make sure that credit is flowing to businesses, and to families, and to students who are trying to get loans, and homeowners who have been making their payments on their homes but are still finding their properties' values so depressed that it becomes very difficult for them to make their mortgage payments? ”

“ A word to my fellow veterans: If confirmed, I will work each and every day to ensure that we are serving you as well as you have served us. We will pursue a 21st-century V.A. that serves your needs. We will open doors, new doors of opportunity so you can find a good job, support your families when you return to civilian life. And if we will always — we will always honor the sacrifices of those who have worn the uniform and their loved ones. ”

“ When it comes to the situation here in Chicago with the workers who are asking for the benefits and payments that they have earned, I think they're absolutely right. And understand that what's happening to them is reflective of what's happening across this economy. When you have a financial system that is shaky, credit contracts; businesses large and small start cutting back on their plants, and equipment and their workforces. ”

“ And with the national security team I announced this week and the extraordinary and courageous Secretary of Veterans Affairs I am announcing today, I am confident that we will never hesitate to defend our security, that we will send our troops into battle only when we must, and that, in the words of Abraham Lincoln, we will truly care for all "who shall have borne the battle." ”

“ We don't have to do our troops and our veterans a favor, we have a sacred trust to repay one. That starts with recognizing that for many of today's troops and their families, the war doesn’t end when they come home. Far too many are suffering from the signature injuries of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan – Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury. And far too few are receiving the screening and treatment they need. The servicemen and women who embody what's best about America should get the best care we have to offer, and that is what we will provide when I am President. ”

“ As we seek a new national security strategy that uses all elements of American power, we must also remember those who run the greatest risks and make the greatest sacrifices to implement that strategy – the men and women who wear the uniform of the United States of America. ”

“ We are not going to simply write a bunch of checks and let them be spent without some very clear criteria as to how this money is going to benefit the overall economy and put people back to work. We're not going to be making decisions on projects simply based on politics and lobbying. We're going to make it based on what objective criteria is available to us - to see what's going to make the biggest difference in the economy and what will have some long-term benefits. ”

“ The automakers have come forward and put a more serious plan on the table, but more needs to be done. And I think that Congress is doing the exact right thing by asking for a conditions-based assistance package that holds the auto industry's feet to the fire - gives them some short-term assistance, but also insists that that assistance leads to some very difficult choices involving all the stakeholders in the auto industry, including management, Labor, shareholders, creditors, and so on. ”

“ And that doesn't just include traditional infrastructure, like roads and bridges, it includes making down- payments on making our economy more energy efficient. School construction, laying broad-band lines, instituting medical information technologies that can drive down costs - all of these things are designed to have long-term payoffs for taxpayers, not just for individual businesses.
And having said that, it's also going to be important, though, that the way we design this stimulus package - this economic recovery plan, is one that changes how we do business. ”

“ But, keep in mind that I'm going to be coming in insisting that part of the restructuring plan for any auto industry, going forward, includes the kind of things that had been part of the non-TARP 136 money previously, which is making sure that they're retooling for energy efficiency.
So, in that sense, the same conditions that had been set earlier, those are going to be there, moving forward. We have to have an auto industry that understands they can't keep on doing things the same way. ”

“ What I've also said is that it makes no sense for us to shovel more money into the problem if you have not seen an auto industry that is committed to restructuring - restructuring that, frankly, should have been done ten years ago, twenty years ago, thirty years ago. ”

“ But, it's also important for us to make sure that the plans and programs that we design aren't just targeted at maintaining the solvency of banks, that they're designed also to get money out the door and to help people on Main Street. ”

“ There's been some talk about, 'well, how big is this package going to be;' and, 'how are we going to pay for it?' Let me repeat what I've said earlier, there is a bipartisan consensus among economists - you can talk to Conservative as well as Liberal economists, that right now our biggest challenge is putting people back to work and stabilizing the economy. ”

“ And, number two, I think it is important for us to make sure that, moving forward, any economic plan that we put in place helps businesses to meet payroll so that we're not seeing these kinds of circumstances again. ”

“ And, number two, there have been a number of stories quoting gun dealers around the country saying that gun sales are up since you were elected, because some people fear that it'll be harder to get guns, even though you campaigned saying you weren't going to take people's guns away. ”