[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 43, Number 51 (Monday, December 24, 2007)]
[Pages 1616-1626]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's News Conference

December 20, 2007

    The President. Good morning. I hope you all enjoyed the holiday 
reception at the White House as much as Laura and I enjoyed it. We took 
an inventory of the silverware, and this year, only a few pieces were 
missing. So, like, if you see Gregory [David Gregory, NBC News], tell 
him to bring them back. [Laughter] I've decided to come in and visit 
with you because you're heading off on the holidays, and so are we, and 
we wish you happy holidays.
    I think recent days have been a moment that the country can be proud 
of. In the past few days, we have stopped a tax increase on the middle 
class families, we improved our energy security, we delivered relief to 
struggling homeowners, and we funded our troops. I want to thank the 
members of both parties for their hard work in these areas. I'm pleased 
that we have been able to end this year on a high note by moving beyond 
our differences and achieving important results for the American people.
    This week, Congress passed legislation to protect middle class 
families from the burden of the Alternative Minimum Tax, without raising 
taxes. Unfortunately, Congress passed this legislation after a lengthy 
delay. It's going to--the delay is going to add time it takes to process 
tens of billions of dollars in refunds. And so we will work hard--now 
that the bill is passed, we will work hard to minimize the impact of the 
congressional delay so that Americans can get their refund checks as 
soon as possible.
    Congress passed a good energy bill. The legislation I signed 
yesterday will reduce our country's dependence on foreign oil by 
increasing the supply of alternative fuel sources and increasing fuel 
economy standards. It demonstrates America's leadership in confronting 
climate change.
    Congress also passed legislation to help homeowners struggling to 
make their mortgage payments. The bill I'm going to sign this afternoon 
increases the incentives for borrowers and lenders to work together to 
refinance loans. It will allow American families to secure lower 
mortgage payments without facing higher taxes. This is a tax reform 
bill. It takes away the penalty that a homeowner--a tax penalty a 
homeowner will receive if he or she renegotiates the loan to a lower 
rate, to a lower value for the house.
    Finally, Congress reached agreement on a spending bill to fund the 
day-to-day operations of the Federal Government. They passed this bill 
without raising taxes. They eliminated many of the worst policy riders 
that would have never been approved through the ordinary legislative 
process. I appreciate that they included a down payment on the funding 
request for our troops on the frontlines in Afghanistan and Iraq without 
an artificial timetable of withdrawal. These brave men and women are 
risking their lives to protect us, and they deserve the full support of 
the U.S. Government.
    I'm disappointed that Congress resorted to passing all this spending 
in one massive, more than 1,400-page omnibus bill, rather

[[Page 1617]]

than considering and passing individual spending bills in the normal 
process. The omnibus bill was approved at the last minute, nearly 3 
months after the end of the fiscal year. When Congress wastes so much 
time and leaves its work to the final days before Christmas, it is not a 
responsible way to run this Government.
    Another thing that's not responsible is the number of earmarks that 
Congress included in a massive spending bill. Earmarks are special 
interest items that are slipped into big spending bills like this one, 
often at the last hour, without discussion or debate. Congressional 
leaders ran in the last election on a promise that they would curb 
earmarks. And they made some progress, and there's more transparency in 
the process, but they have not made enough progress. The bill they just 
passed includes about 9,800 earmarks. Together with the previously 
passed defense spending bill, that means Congress has approved about 
11,900 earmarks this year. And so I'm instructing Budget Director Jim 
Nussle to review options for dealing with the wasteful spending in the 
omnibus bill.
    I'm also disappointed that Congress failed to pass legislation to 
ensure that our intelligence professionals can continue to effectively 
monitor terrorist communications. Those of us in public office have no 
greater responsibility than stopping new attacks on our country. And 
this summer, Congress passed a bill that--called the Protect America 
Act, which strengthened our ability to collect foreign intelligence on 
terrorists overseas. The bill closed dangerous gaps in our intelligence; 
it was a good piece of legislation. It wasn't perfect, but it was good. 
Unfortunately, Congress made this law effective until February 1st of 
2008, as if the terrorist threat is going to go away on February the 
1st, 2008.
    The first priority of Congress when it returns in the new year must 
be to pass a good bill and get it to my desk promptly. They have a duty 
to give our professionals the tools necessary to protect the American 
people. The bill should include liability protection for companies that 
are facing multibillion-dollar lawsuits, only because they are believed 
to have assisted in the efforts to defend our Nation following the 9/11 
attacks. And it must ensure that our intelligence professionals have all 
the tools they need to keep us safe.
    I hope the Members of Congress enjoy their holiday break; I intend 
to enjoy mine. We have a great deal of work in the months ahead. Next 
year is an election year, but that does not relieve us of our 
responsibility to carry out the people's business. The American people 
did not elect us to govern in odd years and campaign in even years. They 
expect us to get things done. That's what we've accomplished over the 
past few weeks, and we need to carry this momentum into next year. I'm 
going to do my part, and I call upon the leaders of both parties on 
Capitol Hill to do their part.
    And now I'll be glad to answer some of your questions, starting with 
AP man [Terence Hunt, Associated Press].

Central Intelligence Agency Interrogation Tapes

    Q. Mr. President, there's ambiguity in the statement that you have 
no recollection about the existence and destruction of the CIA 
interrogation tapes. Why can't you say yes or no about the tapes and 
their destruction? And, regardless, do you think the destruction of the 
tapes was a responsible thing to do?
    The President. It sounds pretty clear to me when I say I have--the 
first recollection is when Mike Hayden briefed me. That's pretty clear. 
Secondly, I am confident that the preliminary inquiry conducted by the 
AG and the IG of the CIA, coupled with the oversight provided by the 
Congress, will end up enabling us all to find out what exactly happened. 
And therefore, over the course of these inquiries and oversight 
hearings, I'm going to reserve judgment until I find out the full facts.
    I know I'm going to be asked about this question a lot as time goes 
on. I'm just going to prepare you--until these inquiries are complete, 
until the oversights are finished, then I will be rendering no opinion 
from the podium.

President Vladimir Putin of Russia/Russian Elections

    Q. Vladimir Putin has just been named Time magazine's ``person of 
the year.'' And

[[Page 1618]]

he has signaled that he intends to become Prime Minister. You said once 
that he had been wily about his intentions, but now that he's made those 
clear, what does it say about the state of democracy in Russia?
    The President. You know, I'm looking forward to seeing him at the 
alumni meeting of the ``men of the year,'' or the ``persons of the 
year.'' I don't know when it's going to be, but--look, I presume--I 
haven't read the article, but I presume they put him on there because he 
was a consequential leader. And the fundamental question is, 
consequential to what end? What will the country look like 10 years from 
now?
    My hope, of course, is that Russia is a country which understands 
there needs to be checks and balances and free and fair elections and a 
vibrant press; that they understand Western values based upon human 
rights and human dignity are values that will lead to a better country. 
That's my hopes.
    Now, your speculation as to whether or not he'll be the Prime 
Minister: I don't know if he is; I haven't talked to him about it. And 
until that happens, I think we better just watch and see. What will be 
interesting next year is how the Russian President carries on his 
business--the new Russian President. In other words, we'll be together 
probably a couple of times next year, and it will be interesting to see 
how foreign policy is conducted and what the role of President Putin may 
be or not be. I just don't know yet, so we'll just wait and see how it--
what happens.
    John [John Yang, NBC News].

Cooperation With Congress/Legislative Agenda

    Q. Mr. President, a year ago when you had your year-end press 
conference, the Democrats had just taken control of Congress. They said 
that one of their main goals was to end the war in Iraq. They were 
talking a lot about very contentious times ahead. As you just said, the 
Congress has now passed again, without strings, money for the war, and 
you've achieved a lot of your goals and have gotten a lot of things you 
wanted from Congress without a lot of give-and-take with them by talking 
tough with firm veto threats. What does this say about the Democratic 
leadership, the way they're running Congress, and your relations with 
the leaders?
    The President. You know, I don't view--I just don't view life as 
zero-sum. I think all of us deserve credit for getting some things done. 
The President constantly has to make sure that the executive branch is 
involved in the process, and one way is to use the veto. And the veto 
wouldn't have been effective without close coordination and consultation 
with Republican leaders in the House and the Senate. And in that, we 
made the veto effective. It then meant that negotiations could proceed 
with the President involved.
    And so I really don't sit here and say, ``Well, you know, he won; 
they lost,'' or ``They won; he lost''--it's just not my nature--because 
I think what ended up happening was good for the country. I think it's 
good that we ended up with a spending bill that met 933, but also dealt 
with some emergencies. I think it's good that we funded our troops 
without an artificial timetable for withdrawal. I think it's good for 
the country that that happened.
    I know it's good that we passed an important piece of energy 
legislation. I proposed that in my State of the Union, but it required a 
Congress willing to work with the executive branch and to work among 
themselves to get the bill passed. So there's plenty of credit to go 
around.
    I know we live in an environment here in Washington where--I'm not 
saying you try to stir this up, but sometimes it's beneficial to 
constantly harp on, well, they don't get along here, or maybe they can't 
agree here. It's so-and-so versus so-and-so--it's an antagonistic world 
from some people's point of view. I try to make it less that way and to 
focus on high priorities.
    And we got a lot of priorities for next year. And one of my 
priorities--this is--I understand this is a bone of contention, but one 
of the priorities is to make sure they don't run up the taxes on people. 
And my attitude is, if you run them up on one area, it'll become a habit 
that will be hard to break, and then they'll try to run them up on other 
areas. And the reason I feel strongly about that is, I don't want to 
undermine the economy by raising taxes.

[[Page 1619]]

    There's some areas where we can work together, like reauthorization 
of No Child Left Behind, although I will warn Congress that--in that the 
current bill doesn't expire, if they try to weaken the current bill, 
I'll veto any attempt to weaken it. But I believe we can strengthen it. 
I spoke to Senator Kennedy on this issue and Congressman Miller and 
Senator Enzi and Congressman Boehner about how to strengthen No Child.
    I mean, there's a lot of things we can do together, I guess what I'm 
saying, John. And so I leave the year feeling good about our capacity to 
get some important things done. And of course I'm grateful that the 
troops got funded. One of the--one of my concerns from the last year was 
that Congress initially spent a lot of time on passing resolutions and 
sentiment and trying to put--trying to tell our commanders how to 
conduct the war. And it just didn't work. But they spent a lot of time 
on the subject, which meant when we came down to the end of the year, 
there was a lot of unfinished business. But we got it done.
    Yes, Bill [Bill Plante, CBS News].

Progress in Iraq

    Q. Mr. President, despite the military success of the surge, there's 
no evidence that one of its intended benefits, making it easier for the 
Iraqis to form a unity government, has had any effect. Refugees won't 
come home from Syria. There was an opinion poll this week which said 
that most of the Iraqis surveyed blamed us, said things would be better 
when the U.S. leaves. What benchmarks can the Iraqi Government meet that 
would change this? What do you want them to do?
    The President. Well, first of all, I don't agree with your premise 
that there's no politics taking place in Iraq. There is a functioning 
Government. They did pass a budget last year, and they're in the process 
of passing their budget this year. I am pleased to report that there's 
been two readings of a de-Ba'athification law to the Council of 
Assemblies.
    Well, Bill, I mean, if your standard is--if you're trying to judge 
the Iraqi Parliament based upon our own Congress's ability to get bills 
done--is that what you're saying--I'd be a little careful. It took our 
Congress till the last minute to get things done. I mean, the 
legislative process is not all that smooth at times. And they've got a 
lot of work to do; don't get me wrong. I mean, I am not suggesting that 
we shouldn't, as a Government, continue to press them. What I am 
suggesting, though, there is a functioning Government. Your statement 
was, security didn't provide room for a government to stand up and 
function. Well, it's happening. And so therefore--and therefore, we will 
continue to press them on de-Ba'ath law, Provincial election laws, power 
sharing with the central Government and the Provinces, and oil law.
    But as I've reminded you from this podium, they are distributing oil 
revenues to the Provinces. There is revenue sharing, and there's local 
reconciliation taking place. And a lot of times it's local politics that 
will drive national politics. Are we satisfied with the progress in 
Baghdad? No. But to say nothing is happening is just simply not the 
case.

2008 Presidential Election

    Q. I understand you do not want to discuss the Presidential 
campaign----
    The President. That's true----
    Q. ----let me ask you a question about----
    The President. ----so therefore, why don't you ask me about the 
Presidential campaign. I'll confirm it.
    Q. Let me ask you about all Presidential campaigns----
    The President. Sure. [Laughter]
    Q. You've been in office for 7 years now. You must have some pretty 
strong opinions about what it takes to sit in the Oval Office. What is 
important to you? Is experience in government important? Are a 
candidate's religious views important to you?
    The President. It's a good attempt to get me in the race. [Laughter] 
What's important to me will be this: the principles by which people will 
make decisions. People develop principles all different kinds of ways. 
But you can't be the President unless you have a firm set of principles 
to guide you as you sort through all the problems the world faces. And I 
would be very hesitant to support somebody who relied upon opinion polls 
and

[[Page 1620]]

focus groups to define a way forward for a President.
    And so my question to--if I were asking questions to people running 
for office, I'd say, what are the principles that you will stand on, in 
good times and bad times? What will be the underpinning of your 
decisions? What will it be? Because a President needs to be consistent, 
and a President needs to understand that what may look like a non-issue 
today could be a big issue tomorrow.
    And secondly I would say, how do you intend to get advice from 
people you surround yourself--who are you going to surround yourself? 
And what process will you have in place to ensure that you get the 
unvarnished opinion of advisers? Because whoever sits in that Oval 
Office is going to find this is a complex world, with a lot of issues 
coming into the Oval Office--a lot--and a great expectation in the world 
that the United States take the lead. And so my question would be, how 
do you intend to set up your Oval Office so that people will come in and 
give you their advice?
    And so those would be the two questions I'd ask. And----
    Q. It sounds like you think the principles are more important than 
experience or specific religious views.
    The President. No, sometimes you develop your principles as a result 
of experience. Sometimes you develop your principles based upon your--
how you were raised or your religious experiences. I just want to know 
whether or not somebody has got a sound set of principles from which 
they will not deviate as they make decisions that will affect the peace 
and security of our country.
    Bret [Bret Baier, FOX News].

Progress in Afghanistan

    Q. Thank you, Mr. President. Good morning. You've announced a review 
of the situation in Afghanistan. The last time the American people heard 
about a review of the war, it ended up in a surge of U.S. troops in 
Iraq. Can the U.S. expect a surge of U.S. troops in Afghanistan? And do 
you agree with many analysts who say that the real problem in 
Afghanistan--or a major problem is that the NATO allies are not getting 
it done or avoiding the fight there?
    The President. Part of the review is to assess how best to make sure 
our coalition partners realize there is a coherent strategy of which 
they are an integral part, all aiming to make sure that there is a 
presence that will assure the Afghan Government and the Afghan people 
that people will be trying to help them with their security.
    It is--it makes sense for us to constantly review our strategies in 
a variety of theaters. That's what good governance is: You analyze the 
situation a year after the previous strategy to determine whether or 
not--what worked and what didn't work. What did work was the--you might 
remember last year; I guess there was a lot of talk about the Taliban 
surge or the Taliban offensive. And General McNeill informed us that the 
only team that's going to be on the offense is American and NATO allies 
and other allies.
    And we were on the offense. And the Taliban got hit hard last year. 
The question, of course, is--just like in Iraq--is there a followup to 
the security gains? In other words, is life changing better for the 
average citizen? That's the question that we all got to be looking at. 
Unity governments are important, but does the average citizen realize 
that a free society is in his or her interest.
    And I visited with President Karzai on the SVTS the other day, and 
it's a question I basically asked him. I said, we were successful 
militarily; what's happened in your country that you can point to that 
indicates that you're taking advantage of better security in certain 
places?
    And he pointed out some interesting things. He talked about the--I 
think it's 5 million children now going to school. It was an interesting 
measurement for him. He says, ``I believe we're taking advantage of the 
security because more of our children are getting educated.'' He told us 
a story--I can't remember the exact Province--about when he was part of 
the struggle against the Taliban. Somebody got wounded; he took them to 
the hospital--there was nothing there. You know, it was like they called 
it a hospital. It was just kind of a rundown place where a person 
couldn't get much good health care. And now, all of a sudden, he talks 
about an expanding health care system and the infant mortality rate 
dropping. He talks about the

[[Page 1621]]

roads that are being built so that the average citizen there can get 
their crops to market. And we checked into his assertions, and they're 
true. So this is a society that is evolving.
    Now, it takes awhile for societies that have been brutalized by 
tyranny and wracked by war to meet expectations. So the questions I ask 
on Iraq and Afghanistan are: Is there progress? Are people feeling 
better about life? And of course we press their governments to work to 
come together and get budgets passed, or in Iraq's case, de-
Ba'athification law or oil laws. And those are all important. But also 
what's important is the human condition. And I believe we're making 
progress on both fronts.
    Yes, sir.

NATO Allies' Role in Afghanistan

    Q. One more, I'm sorry. On the NATO allies, do you believe that 
they're avoiding the fight, or at least some of them are?
    The President. Well, I would like to praise the Brits, the 
Canadians, the Dutch, the Danes, and other countries for their 
contribution--the Aussies--for their contribution of shooters, fighters, 
people that are willing to be on the frontline of this battle. These are 
brave souls. They're working side by side with the Afghan forces and 
U.S. forces to deal the Taliban a blow. And I've only got praise for 
them.
    I understand that some countries are in a position where they can't 
commit combat troops. And so the question is, are we able to leverage 
their position in Iraq in such a way that enables us to stay on the 
offense against the Taliban, help the Afghans to do so?
    And my biggest concern is that people say, ``Well, we're kind of 
tired of Afghanistan; therefore, we think we're going to leave.'' That 
would be my biggest concern. And so our objective is to help people meet 
a mission that they're comfortable with achieving, and convince them 
that this is going to take awhile. It's going to take time for this 
democratic experiment there in Afghanistan to work. And I believe it 
will.
    As you all know, I've said this many times from the podium: I do 
believe in the universality of freedom. I believe if people are given a 
chance to be free, they will do so. Now, I understand some don't believe 
that. It's kind of like we're the only ones that can be free. It's kind 
of the ultimate isolationism, isn't it? And the question then is, is it 
in our Nation's interest to help others realize the blessings of 
liberty? And I--clearly, the Bush foreign policy says it is, because I 
believe it's going to yield peace--and particularly important given the 
fact that we're in an ideological struggle against people who use murder 
to achieve political objectives.
    And we've faced these kind of people before in our past. And the 
question is, does it make sense to confront them? And if we forget the 
lessons of September the 11th as a nation, we will be naive or blind to 
the realities of the world. And the best way to confront these folks in 
the long term is to defeat their ideology with one based upon hope, and 
that's one based upon liberty. And that's what you're watching unfold. 
It's necessary work, and it's hard work, and it requires determination 
and effort and commitment. And so part of our efforts is to convince 
others, one, the nature of the world in which we live; two, that we're 
in an ideological struggle; and three, we will prevail because we've got 
the ultimate weapon against those who can't see anything but terror and 
murder as a way forward. And that is freedom.
    Yes, Holly [Holly Rosenkrantz, Bloomberg News].

National Economy/Home Loan Industry

    Q. Mr. President, prominent Republican economists, including Alan 
Greenspan and Marty Feldstein, are saying the Government should do more 
to head off a recession. Greenspan is suggesting you need Government 
money to prevent home foreclosures, and Feldstein is suggesting more tax 
cuts. Should the Government do more, and if so, what?
    The President. Well, we're constantly analyzing options available to 
us. My view of the economy is that the fundamentals are strong, that 
we've had strong growth for a reason--that we're competitive; we got 
flexible workplace; that we kept taxes low; exports are up.

[[Page 1622]]

    Like many Americans, I'm concerned, and I'm concerned about the fact 
that Americans see their costs going up. I know Americans are concerned 
about whether or not their neighbor may stay in their house. And so 
we're dealing with these issues.
    On the housing front, I made it clear we're not going to bail out 
lenders, and we're not going to help speculators. But we will help 
creditworthy people stay in their homes. And that's what Secretary 
Paulson has done, along with Secretary Jackson, in putting together 
what's called the HOPE NOW coalition, which has got lenders and 
financiers and consumer advocates all working together to develop 
standards to make it more likely a creditworthy person can refinance 
their home.
    See, the difficulty we face in the housing market is that the 
lender, the person who actually made the note, oftentimes doesn't end up 
owning the note. That note could be--in the recent past has been bundled 
and sold as an asset. And so there's no telling who owns the mortgage of 
the person who wants to renegotiate. And so we're helping deal with the 
new realities in a way that we believe is going to be effective.
    Secondly, the Congress can really help by passing a FHA 
modernization bill. The House passed a bill. The Senate passed a bill. 
They need to get together when they get back, quickly, and get it to my 
desk so that it makes it easier for the Federal Government, in this 
case, to help people refinance their homes.
    In terms of further stimulation, we'll consider all options. So 
we're watching carefully.
    Let's see here. Baker [Peter Baker, Washington Post].

Environment/Fuel Efficiency Standards/Alternative Fuel Sources

    Q. Thank you, Mr. President. Yesterday you joined together with 
House Speaker Pelosi and Senator Reid to sign the energy legislation and 
talk about the importance of the bill in curbing greenhouse gases, among 
other goals. However, your administration then told California that it 
couldn't implement its own plan to restrict tailpipe emissions. How 
important is fighting greenhouse gases to you? Why can't the States try 
to do more? And can you tell me anything about your conversation with 
Vice President Gore about climate change a few weeks ago?
    The President. Remind me about that here. Let me finish the first 
part of the question, and remind me you asked that.
    The question is how to have an effective strategy. Is it more 
effective to let each State make a decision as to how to proceed in 
curbing greenhouse gases, or is it more effective to have a national 
strategy? Director Johnson made a decision based upon the fact that we 
passed a piece of legislation that enables us to have a national 
strategy, which is the--increasing CAFE standards to 35 miles an hour by 
2020 and a substantial increase of alternative fuels--36 billion gallons 
by 2022.
    And so the Director, in assessing this law, and assessing what would 
be more effective for the country, says, we now have a national plan. 
It's one of the benefits of Congress passing this piece of legislation.
    I told Vice President Gore that I take the issue seriously. And 
we're developing a strategy that will deal with it--and an effective 
strategy. Yesterday's bill is a part of that strategy. When you replace 
as much gasoline on a mandatory basis as we're suggesting, it's going to 
do a lot to improve the greenhouse gases. And by the way, the bill I 
signed was a little weaker than the one I suggested, but nevertheless 
was happy to sign it.
    And one of the key components, by the way, to be successful on 
reformulated fuel standards is to spend research and development money 
on cellulosic ethanol, new ways to manufacture ethanol. We can't rely 
only on corn in order to meet these standards. And I understand a lot of 
people in the farm belt are getting concerned--unless, of course, you're 
a corn grower. But if you're feeding cattle or feeding hogs, the cost of 
business has gone up. And that's one of the tradeoffs you have to make. 
So what I want to assure people out there is that we're spending a lot 
of taxpayers' money in a way to figure out how to use wood chips or 
switchgrass in order to make ethanol. But this is a real national plan.
    Secondly, in order to be effective on a global basis, countries that 
emit greenhouse gases need to be at the table. One of the main reasons I 
was against Kyoto was that China wasn't at the table. I mean, we could

[[Page 1623]]

do all we wanted to do, but it wouldn't affect greenhouse gases over the 
long run unless a country like China had agreed to participate in a 
strategy.
    And so we went to the Bali Conference with that in mind and worked 
out a compromise that said, we're committed to a process that's going to 
unfold over the next 2 years. But we've also got a parallel process 
working to make sure major emitters sit at the table and come together, 
hopefully, on a goal that we all agree to. And it's a strategy that I 
laid out at the G-8 in Germany; it's a strategy that was explained to 
everybody there in Bali; and it's a strategy we think will be effective.
    And so, absolutely, I take the issue seriously. But I want to make 
sure that we're effective in what we do, and secondly, do not wreck our 
economy in whatever we do. See, it is hard to develop the technologies 
necessary to be able to make sure our standard of living remains strong 
and deal with greenhouse gases if you're broke. If you don't have any 
money, it is really hard to develop new technologies. And so we need to 
be prosperous for a lot of reasons, primarily so our citizens can have a 
good life, but also so that we're wealthy enough to make the investments 
necessary to deal with greenhouse gases.
    Finally, if you're truly serious about dealing with greenhouse 
gases, then it seems like to me you ought to be a strong supporter of 
nuclear power. Nuclear power enables us to generate electricity without 
emitting one unit of greenhouse gases. I am--to me, I am amazed that our 
country isn't more robust in supporting the advent of nuclear power. I 
certainly am, and applaud those efforts by Members of the Congress to 
provide incentives for the construction of new plants.
    But if you're somebody that says, ``Greenhouse gases are of vital 
national interest,'' then you ought to be saying, ``I'm for the 
development of nuclear powerplants.'' It is by far the best solution to 
making sure we have economic growth and, at the same time, be good 
stewards of the environment.
    So when you couple increasing CAFE standards with using alternative 
fuels--which deals with the automobile area--as well as a good strategy 
on electricity, then all of a sudden, you begin to see a strategy 
unfold. And by the way, the final thing is, is that we do have 250 years 
of coal. And I believe we can develop technologies that will enable us 
to use that coal in an environmentally friendly way.
    So what I'm suggesting to you is, is that we do have a strategy. Our 
strategy is to bring others to the table. Our strategy is to develop our 
own plan to meet the national goals--the international goals that I hope 
we'll be able to set later on this summer. And you've just heard some of 
the components of it.
    Yes, sir.

America's Image Abroad

    Q. Mr. President, thank you. If I could return a minute to the CIA 
tapes. I realize you don't want to discuss it at this point, but given 
your remarks about the struggle against ideology, how concerned are you 
that your administration once again faces criticism, questions from 
people around the world about the handling of a terrorist suspect?
    The President. You know, you're trying to get me to prejudge the 
outcome of this inquiry. And let's wait and see what happens. Let's wait 
and see what the facts are. And--look, we get criticized a lot for a 
variety of reasons. We're asking people to do hard things, for starters, 
which is intercept and find terrorists and to spread freedom. And 
there's isolationist tendencies in this world. People would rather stay 
at home. People would rather not aggressively pursue people overseas and 
aggressively pursue freedom. I understand that. We got people like that 
in our own country. That's why, in my State of the Union Address a 
couple of years ago, I talked about the perils of isolationism and 
protectionism. And the fundamental question facing whoever sits in the 
Oval Office is, will you use the influence of the United States to 
advance a freedom agenda to help others realize the blessings of liberty 
and yield peace?
    So I don't want people to get the wrong impression of our country, 
but I'm not surprised we get criticized on a variety of fronts. And--on 
the other hand, most people like to come to our country, and most people 
love what America stands for. And so it's like I say about the 
Presidency: People in America

[[Page 1624]]

like the Presidency, and sometime they like the President. Get it? 
[Laughter]
    Yes, ma'am.

Syria/Lebanese Presidential Elections/President's Trip to the Middle 
East

    Q. Mr. President, on the Middle East, will your trip to the Middle 
East--I know you're not going to Lebanon--will it help to stabilize 
Lebanon? As you know, President Sarkozy said that he spoke to President 
Asad, and he said his patience is running out.
    The President. Yes.
    Q. Was this coordinated with you? And are you willing to speak to 
President Asad to end the crisis in Lebanon?
    The President. No, it wasn't coordinated with me, and my patience 
ran out on President Asad a long time ago. And the reason why is, is 
because he houses Hamas; he facilitates Hizballah--suiciders go from his 
country into Iraq; and he destabilizes Lebanon. And so if he's 
listening, he doesn't need a phone call. He knows exactly what my 
position is.
    We are--our view on Lebanon--first of all, it's very important that 
Lebanon--Lebanon's democracy succeed. Secondly, as you know, we did work 
with the French on 1559 to get Syria out of Lebanon, and Syria needs to 
stay out of Lebanon. Syria needs to let the process in Lebanon work. And 
if they can't come to an agreement--I appreciate the sides trying to 
work on a common ground for a President, but if they can't come for 
agreement, then the world ought to say this: that the March 14th 
Coalition can run their candidate and their Parliament--majority plus 
one ought to determine who the President is. And when that happens, the 
world ought to embrace the President.
    I'm looking forward to going to the Middle East. I've got a couple 
of objectives. One is to advance the Palestinian-Israeli peace process. 
Secondly is to continue to work with our Arab friends on reconciliation 
with Israel. And finally, is to assure people in the Middle East that we 
understand--or we'll show a strong commitment to the security of the 
region and a commitment to the security of our friends.
    And it's going to be a great trip. I hope you're going with me.
    Q. I am, actually.
    The President. Good. [Laughter] So therefore, you use that as an 
opportunity to ask a followup. [Laughter]
    Q. Absolutely.
    The President. Didn't work. [Laughter]
    Mike [Mike Allen, Politico].

U.S. Foreign Policy/Freedom Agenda

    Q. Mr. President, you maybe saw that President Clinton said recently 
that one of the first actions of a new Clinton administration would be 
to send Presidents 41 and 42 on a worldwide good will mission to restore 
the country's good name abroad.
    The President. Yes----
    Q. I wonder if you think such a thing is necessary----
    The President. Well, 41 didn't think it's necessary. It sounds like 
it's going to be a one-man trip. [Laughter]
    Yes, Michael, do you want to try----
    Q. Mr. President, I wonder if you would consider doing such a thing 
during your Presidency, and do you think that----
    The President. That's what I do during my Presidency. I go around 
spreading good will and talking about the importance of spreading 
freedom and peace. Go ahead. I don't know what I'm going to do after I'm 
President. Michael, I've got an exciting 13 months ahead--and I know 
you're just waiting for me to say ``sprint to the finish line,'' so I 
won't. [Laughter] But it's--go ahead, Michael, try one more time.
    Q. Okay. Mr. President, you maybe saw that your former colleague 
from the National Governors Association, Mike Huckabee----
    The President. You're trying to get me in the race, Mike.
    Q. No, sir.
    The President. You're trying to drag me in the race. I know--what's 
your advice? Should I do it?
    Q. Do it.
    The President. Do it?
    Q. Go for it. [Laughter]
    The President. I plan on having some press conferences next year, 
and I suspect next year the questions will be even more plentiful about 
getting me to be the opiner in chief.
    Yes, go ahead, Mike.

[[Page 1625]]

2008 Presidential Election

    Q. Mr. President, this is a question about your foreign policy. You 
maybe saw that your foreign policy was described as arrogant, go-it-
alone. I wonder why you disagree with that, and if there's any danger in 
having----
    The President. That's a clever way of getting me in the race. Look, 
during the primaries and during the general election, I suspect my name 
may come up a lot, and what the American people need to do is to sort 
through the rhetoric and reality.
    And so this is a subtle attempt to get me to start commenting about 
the primaries, and I'm not going to do so. I will wait, reserve 
judgment, be patient, and after the primaries are over, will help my 
party unify, because I believe we will keep the White House. I believe 
ours is the party that understands the nature of the world in which we 
live and that the Government's primary responsibility is to protect the 
American citizens from harm. And I will continue to remind the American 
people that our professionals need to have the tools necessary to make 
sure that we find out who's thinking about attacking us, and if they 
are, do something about it. That's what we're going to do.
    We're also the party that understands that you can spend your money, 
Michael--all that money they pay you, you can spend it better than the 
Government can spend it. And therefore, we're going to keep taxes low. 
And we've got an economic--a plan that will keep this economy strong.
    And I'm looking forward to doing my bit. In the meantime, I'm out 
raising money for the Republican Party, trying to make sure that once 
the primaries are over--that you're trying to drag me into--that we're 
united and ready to go. And I'm confident we'll hold the White House, 
and I'm confident we can pick up seats in both the Senate and the 
Congress.
    Yes, sir.

National Economy

    Q. So far, Republicans haven't mentioned your name.
    Q. Yes, just a quick----
    The President. No, not you. This guy right here. USA Today. Wolf 
[Richard Wolf].
    Q. On keeping taxes----
    The President. ----yelled his name out--Wolf.
    Q. Thank you, Mr. President. On keeping taxes low, part of the way 
you seem to be doing it is by not paying for some of the things that 
passed in the last couple days--emergency spending on Iraq, the AMT fix. 
Can you tell us why it's not irresponsible to pass these costs along to 
our kids? And I'm also tempted to ask, at the top of this, you talked 
about the wasteful spending and an initiative that you were going to--
with Director Nussle. Can you give us a little bit of a hint on how 
you're going to go after----
    The President. No, I think we better--that will be an interesting 
nugget for next year. And secondly, we have been reducing the deficit. 
Progrowth economic policies work. By cutting taxes, the economy grows, 
which yields more revenues for the Treasury. And then the fundamental 
question is, can we bring fiscal discipline on the spending side? The 
argument that you've got to raise taxes to make sure your children don't 
pay debt only works if the Government doesn't follow suit and spend that 
money you raised on new programs.
    My view is, is that given more money, the Government will find new 
ways to spend it. And secondly, by raising taxes, we'll slow down the 
economic growth of this country, which will increase deficits over time.
    And so we're on a plan to reduce the deficit, and at the same time, 
fund our troops, and at the same time, keep taxes low. Progrowth 
economic policies has worked. And maybe somebody else thinks you can 
raise taxes and keep the economy growing; I don't. I think a sure way to 
hurt the economy is to run up taxes on people.
    This other thing that's interesting--and you hear these people in 
the campaigns--even though I'm not going to opine about the primary--but 
they do talk about taxing the rich. I just want people to remember that 
many small businesses pay tax at the individual income tax level because 
they're organized not as c-corps, but as limited liability partnerships 
and s-corps, which means that they pay individual tax rates. And when 
you say you're going to tax the rich, you're taxing a lot of people that 
are hard-working people, and you're taxing small businesses. Small

[[Page 1626]]

businesses create most of the growth in our economy, most of the job 
growth. And a sure way to stop that from happening is to take money out 
of their treasury.
    So I'm a strong believer that tax cuts work, and we need to keep 
taxes low.
    Yes, sir. Dow Jones man [Henry ``Jay'' Pulizzi, Dow Jones 
Newsletter]. How's the market?
    Q. I don't know. I'll check.
    The President. Okay. Good. Thanks.

U.S. Financial Markets/Foreign Investors

    Q. The mortgage crisis is leading some of the Nation's biggest 
financial institutions to seek investments from funds that are 
controlled by foreign governments. Is that something that concerns you?
    The President. No, I like to get our money back. I think the world 
that is open for investment and trade is a world that will lead to 
overall prosperity. It's interesting that they're going to have to do 
that. My attitude is, is that Wall Street needs to put all their--put it 
all out there for everybody to see. They need to have the--off-balance 
sheet this and put out there for investors to take a look at. And if 
there's some write-downs to be done, they need to do it now.
    And so I'm fine with capital coming in from overseas to help bolster 
financial institutions; I don't think it's a problem. I think what will 
be a problem is to say, we're not going to accept foreign capital, or 
we're not going to open markets, or we become protectionists. 
Protectionism would be a huge mistake for this country. And what's going 
to be an interesting test next year on whether or not we're going to be 
a country that trades with others and opens up markets is these free 
trade votes. I applaud the Congress for passing the Peruvian free trade 
deal. But we got some votes coming up with Colombia. That's going to be 
an interesting test to determine whether or not we remain--that we 
remain an open economy and that we expect others to treat us the way we 
treat them.
    And I spoke this morning to the President-elect of South Korea. And 
the people there are going to be watching very carefully as to whether 
or not our Congress understands the importance of the relationship and 
that they pass that free trade agreement with Korea. It's in our 
interests we do so.
    But, no, I understand that people are--when they write down their 
assets, they may need to get a little extra capital on their balance 
sheets. And it doesn't trouble me at all; it doesn't. What troubles me 
is the fact that they--is that some of this paper isn't worth what 
people thought it was, and it's going to have to work through the 
system.
    Listen, thank you all. Have a wonderful holiday season. Appreciate 
it.

Note: The President's news conference began at 10:01 a.m. in the James 
S. Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House. In his remarks, he 
referred to Gen. Dan K. McNeill, USA, Commander, International Security 
Assistance Force, NATO, Afghanistan; President Hamid Karzai of 
Afghanistan; President Bashar al-Asad of Syria; and President-elect Lee 
Myung-bak of South Korea. A reporter referred to President Nicolas 
Sarkozy of France. The Office of the Press Secretary also released a 
Spanish language transcript of this news conference.