Barack Obama's Teleprompter blog
Whew, That Was Close
Boy, we dodged what could have been a pretty embarrassing moment tonight, and this is a good example of why we rehearse these things. We went through Big Boy's opening statement - using me - and it ran about two minutes, 30 seconds, which in my opinion is way too short. This the "Obama Show" not the "Question Show" after all (I'm still fighting with Gibbsy over whether I'll be used tonight or not, btw).
Then we had the reporters start asking their questions. It was a slow process, because they just got them this morning, and they were reading them off the file cards trying to make them sound like they were just asking them off the top of their heads. So David Gregory asks about whether Big Guy likes the 90% tax.
"Yes," says The Boss. "Yes I do. Uh, Americans earn much too much compared, say, to, uh, the Venezuelans or the Chinese. We must make our economy competitive with our fellow citizens of the world. I am confident that a 90% tax on income will get us there."
Gibbsy stopped the rehearsal right then and there and clarified for The Boss that it wasn't a 90% tax on income, only on AIG retention bonuses. Everyone in the room seemed disappointed when they heard that.
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