Robert Gibbs

“ Well, I think the deteriorating economic picture underscores the President's desire to meet those challenges with a robust recovery and reinvestment plan that will create the jobs that we've lost -- save and create the jobs that we've lost and move our economy forward. ”

“ This White House is reaching out, as I've said many times, to anybody and everyone who wishes to work toward a process and a proposal that will get this economy moving again and creating the millions of jobs that we need to save or create to replace the millions that we've lost. ”

“ Well, I don't think we're where we want to be, because there is not a bill that has the President's signature affixed to it and assistance out the door to help Elkhart, Indiana, and Fort Myers and millions of other Americans that are affected by this.
I think you'll see the President, as he's done even before he was sworn in, work tirelessly to move this process step by step forward until we get a plan that will put people back to work. The one number that he's concerned about in all this is: Can we create 3 or 4 million jobs -- save or create 3 or 4 million jobs and put people back to work? ”

“ As I've said earlier, that sometimes old habits die hard, that changing the ways that the town works won't happen in the first three weeks of the administration. But I think the lesson the President has always drawn in his career is that we can disagree about ideas or policies without being disagreeable, and that the best way to move forward is by working together across party or ideological differences to get something done for the American people. ”

“ But the statistics today underscore more than ever, more than last month, more than the month before that, and certainly taken in total through the course of this recession, we see a jobs market that is deteriorating rapidly and that pace is accelerating; that we have to do -- and this Congress and this President have to do what is necessary now to move the process forward and to get this economy back on track. ”

“ In January, as you well know, the economy lost 598,000 jobs. With revisions from the past year, we lost 3 million jobs in this economy. We've lost, as I mentioned a second ago, since the beginning of this recession, which is dated to December of 2007, the economy has lost 3.6 million jobs. That is the biggest 13-month change in employment since 1939, which is the first year these statistics were started. In the last three months alone, this economy has lost almost half, almost 1.8 million of the 3.6 million jobs that have been lost over the 13-month course of this recession. ”

“ Many of these statistics, though, are not new to the American people. And I think there's absolutely no doubt that we must act quickly to get legislation moved forward in this process, to get a final piece of legislation to the President, so that the assistance that the American people need can quickly get out the door and start creating jobs and putting millions of people that have lost those jobs back to work. ”

“ Watching millions lose their jobs, and having in front of Congress -- and hopefully in front of him soon -- a plan to save or create millions more jobs and get people back to work, putting money in people's pockets, getting help for state and local governments so they don't have to lay off firefighters or teachers or police officers. ”

“ Well, I -- the President has spoken often about the continued involvement not just of those that were involved with his campaign and election in November, but all over the country -- weigh in on matters involving them and their government. It's often said you -- the government you get is equal to the government that you participate in. ”

“ And are these trips aimed at those members of Congress, either who go with him or coming -- back in Washington?
GIBBS: You can imagine the plane that we -- that I traveled on last night, and will travel on Monday or Tuesday, is a popular mode of transportation. I believe and I hope that members of Congress and members of the Senate will travel with the President on each of those trips.
This is not designed specifically to cajole or -- any member of Congress. It's an effort for the President to talk to the American people about what's at stake. ”

“ I think he hopes that regardless of your opinion that people participate actively in decisions that affect them and their neighbors, particularly on an issue as important as moving this economy forward. ”

“ GIBBS: I do. I think those numbers demonstrate that -- their involvement in the economy. They understand the crisis that -- that they understand the crisis that our economy is in. And they are anxious to see Washington move forward and get something done.
Mark.
[REPORTER] : Robert, is the President already feeling cooped up in the White House? (Laughter.) You said today that the President looks forward to getting out for a few hours. When he was at the charter school the other day, he told the kids that he likes getting out of the White House. ”

“ On Monday, the President will travel to Elkhart, Indiana, and do a town-hall meeting about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan, before doing a press conference on Monday night from the White House. Elkhart, Indiana, has, over the course of the past year, watched its unemployment rate go from 4.7 percent to 15.3 percent. ”

“ A lot of the people he's going to be meeting with take issue with his decision to stop the military commissions. They say that it's been through an extensive legal and legislative review, the Supreme Court has weighed in, and they don't understand what concerns the President has in this process. Could you explain what are some of the concerns the President has specifically about the military commissions?
GIBBS: Well, I think the main concern that the President has is the military commission's failure to bring those in detention to swift justice. ”