THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Thank you, everybody. Good evening. You know, I had an entirespeech prepared for this wonderful occasion, but now that I\'m here I think I\'m going to trysomething a little different. Tonight I want to speak from the heart. I\'m going to speak off thecuff. (Teleprompters rise.) (Laughter and applause.)
Good evening. (Laughter.) Pause for laughter. (Laughter.) Wait a minute, this may not beworking as well as I -- (laughter.) Let me try that again.
Good evening, everybody. (Applause.) I would like to welcome you all to the 10-day anniversaryof my first 100 days. (Laughter.) I am Barack Obama. Most of you covered me. All of you votedfor me. (Laughter and applause.) Apologies to the Fox table. (Laughter.) They\'re -- where arethey? I have to confe I really did not want to be here tonight, but I knew I had to come -- justone more problem that I\'ve inherited from George W.Bush. (Laughter.)
But now that I\'m here, it\'s great to be here. It\'s great to see all of you. Michelle Obama is here, theFirst Lady of the United States. (Applause.) Hasn\'t she been an outstanding First Lady? (Applause.) She\'s even begun to bridge the differences that have divided us for so long, becauseno matter which party you belong to we can all agree that Michelle has the right to bare arms. (Laughter and applause.)
Now Sasha and Malia aren\'t here tonight because they\'re grounded. You can\'t just take Air ForceOne on a joy ride to Manhattan. (Laughter.) I don\'t care whose kids you are. (Laughter.) We\'vebeen setting some ground rules here. They\'re starting to get a little carried away.
Now, speaking -- when I think about children obviously I think about Michelle and it reminds methat tomorrow is Mother\'s Day. Happy Mother\'s Day to all the mothers in the audience. (Applause.) I do have to say, though, that this is a tough holiday for Rahm Emanuel because he\'snot used to saying the word \"day\" after \"mother.\" (Laughter.) That\'s true. (Laughter.)
David Axelrod is here. You know, David and I have been together for a long time. I can stillremember -- I got to sort of -- I tear up a little bit when I think back to that day that I called Ax somany years ago and said, you and I can do wonderful things together. And he said to me thesame thing that partners all acro America are saying to one another right now: Let\'s go to Iowaand make it official. (Laughter and applause.)
Michael Steele is in the house tonight. (Applause.) Or as he would say, \"in the heezy.\" (Laughter.) What\'s up? (Laughter.) Where is Michael? Michael, for the last time, the RepublicanParty does not qualify for a bailout. (Laughter.) Rush Limbaugh does not count as a troubledaet, I\'m sorry. (Laughter.)
Dick Cheney was supposed to be here but he is very busy working on his memoirs, tentativelytitled, \"How to Shoot Friends and Interrogate People.\" (Laughter.)
You know, it\'s been a whirlwind of activity these first hundred days. We\'ve enacted a majoreconomic recovery package, we paed a budget, we forged a new path in Iraq, and no Presidentin history has ever named three Commerce Secretaries this quickly. (Laughter.) Which remindsme, if Judd Gregg is here, your busine cards are ready now. (Laughter.)
On top of that, I\'ve also reversed the ban on stem cell research, signed an expansion -- (applause) -- signed an expansion of the children\'s health insurance. Just last week, Car and Driver named meauto executive of the year. (Laughter.) Something I\'m very proud of.
We\'ve also begun to change the culture in Washington. We\'ve even made the White House aplace where people can learn and can grow. Just recently, Larry Summers asked if he could chairthe White House Council on Women and Girls. (Laughter.) And I do appreciate that Larry is heretonight because it is seven hours past his bedtime. (Laughter.) Gibbs liked that one. (Laughter.)
In the last hundred days, we\'ve also grown the Democratic Party by infusing it with new energyand bringing in fresh, young faces like Arlen Specter. (Laughter.) Now, Joe Biden rightly deservesa lot of credit for convincing Arlen to make the switch, but Secretary Clinton actually had a lot todo with it too. One day she just pulled him aside and she said, Arlen, you know what I always say -- \"if you can\'t beat them, join them.\" (Laughter.)
Which brings me to another thing that\'s changed in this new, warmer, fuzzier White House, andthat\'s my relationship with Hillary. You know, we had been rivals during the campaign, but thesedays we could not be closer. In fact, the second she got back from Mexico she pulled into a hugand gave me a big ki. (Laughter.) Told me I\'d better get down there myself. (Laughter.) WhichI really appreciated. I mean, it was -- it was nice. (Laughter.)
And of course we\'ve also begun to change America\'s image in the world. We talked about thisduring this campaign and we\'re starting to execute. We\'ve renewed alliances with importantpartners and friends. If you look on the screen there, there I am with Japanese Prime Minister TaroAso. There I am with Gordon Brown.
But as I said during the campaign, we can\'t just talk to our friends. As hard as it is, we also have totalk to our enemies, and I\'ve begun to do exactly that. Take a look at the monitor there. (Laughter.) Now, let me be clear, just because he handed me a copy of Peter Pan does not meanthat I\'m going to read it -- (laughter) -- but it\'s good diplomatic practice to just accept these gifts.
All this change hasn\'t been easy. Change never is. So I\'ve cut the tension by bringing a newfriend to the White House. He\'s warm, he\'s cuddly, loyal, enthusiastic. You just have to keep himon a tight leash. Every once in a while he goes charging off in the wrong direction and gets himselfinto trouble. But enough about Joe Biden. (Laughter.)
All in all, we\'re proud of the change we\'ve brought to Washington in these first hundred days butwe\'ve got a lot of work left to do, as all of you know. So I\'d like to talk a little bit about what myadministration plans to achieve in the next hundred days.
During the second hundred days, we will design, build and open a library dedicated to my firsthundred days. (Laughter.) It\'s going to be big, folks. (Laughter.) In the next hundred days, I willlearn to go off the prompter and Joe Biden will learn to stay on the prompter. (Laughter.)
In the next hundred days, our bipartisan outreach will be so succeful that even John Boehner willconsider becoming a Democrat. After all, we have a lot in common. He is a person of color. (Laughter.) Although not a color that appears in the natural world. (Laughter.) What\'s up,John? (Laughter.)
In the next hundred days, I will meet with a leader who rules over millions with an iron fist, whoowns the airwaves and uses his power to crush all who would challenge his authority at the ballotbox. It\'s good to see you, Mayor Bloomberg. (Laughter.)
In the next hundred days, we will housetrain our dog, Bo, because the last thing Tim Geithnerneeds is someone else treating him like a fire hydrant. (Laughter.) In the next hundred days, I willstrongly consider losing my cool. (Laughter.)
Finally, I believe that my next hundred days will be so succeful I will be able to complete them in72 days. (Laughter.) And on the 73rd day, I will rest. (Laughter.)
I just -- I want to end by saying a few words about the men and women in this room whose job itis to inform the public and pursue the truth. You know, we meet tonight at a moment ofextraordinary challenge for this nation and for the world, but it\'s also a time of real hardship for thefield of journalism. And like so many other businees in this global age, you\'ve seen sweepingchanges and technology and communications that lead to a sense of uncertainty and anxietyabout what the future will hold.
Acro the country, there are extraordinary, hardworking journalists who have lost their jobs inrecent days, recent weeks, recent months. And I know that each newspaper and media outlet iswrestling with how to respond to these changes, and some are struggling simply to stay open.And it won\'t be easy. Not every ending will be a happy one.
But it\'s also true that your ultimate succe as an industry is eential to the succe of ourdemocracy. It\'s what makes this thing work. You know, Thomas Jefferson once said that if hehad the choice between a government without newspapers, or newspapers without agovernment, he would not hesitate to choose the latter.
Clearly, Thomas Jefferson never had cable news to contend with -- (laughter) -- but his centralpoint remains: A government without newspapers, a government without a tough and vibrantmedia of all sorts, is not an option for the United States of America. (Applause.) So I may not -- I may not agree with everything you write or report. I may even complain, ormore likely Gibbs will complain, from time to time about how you do your jobs, but I do so withthe knowledge that when you are at your best, then you help me be at my best. You help all ofus who serve at the pleasure of the American people do our jobs better by holding us accountable,by demanding honesty, by preventing us from taking shortcuts and falling into easy politicalgames that people are so desperately weary of.
And that kind of reporting is worth preserving -- not just for your sake, but for the public\'s. Wecount on you to help us make sense of a complex world and tell the stories of our lives the waythey happen, and we look for you for truth, even if it\'s always an approximation, even if -- (laughter.)
This is a season of renewal and reinvention. That is what government must learn to do, that\'swhat businees must learn to do, and that\'s what journalism is in the proce of doing. And whenI look out at this room and think about the dedicated men and women whose questions I\'veanswered over the last few years, I know that for all the challenges this industry faces, it\'s not shorton talent or creativity or paion or commitment. It\'s not short of young people who are eager tobreak news or the not-so-young who still manage to ask the tough ones time and time again.These qualities alone will not solve all your problems, but they certainly prove that the problems areworth solving. And that is a good place as any to begin.
So I offer you my thanks, I offer you my support, and I look forward to working with you andanswering to you and the American people as we seek a more perfect union in the months andyears ahead.
Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you. (Applause.)
