Obama Pushes Back On "Food Stamp President"

Nightline interview: "I don't put people on food stamps," President says...Video
President Obama on Thursday pushed back against what he called Republicans' "rhetorical flourishes" on the campaign trail, including presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich's oft-repeated accusation that he is the "food stamp president." Telling ABC's Diane Sawyer that he wants a second term "badly," the President said he will fight with "every fiber of my being" for a second term. He debunked Gingrich's food stamp claims point by point. (Above: A White House photo of the President and Sawyer)

The "exclusive" interview with Sawyer followed a speech on energy and the economy at the UPS South Las Vegas Hub.

"First of all, I don't put people on food stamps," President Obama said. "People become eligible for food stamps. Second of all, the initial expansion of food-stamp eligibility happened under my Republican predecessor, not under me. No. 3, when you have a disastrous economic crash that results in 8 million people losing their jobs, more people are going to need more support from government."

"The larger point is this: that there's going to be a debate over the next eight, nine, 10 months about how to move the country forward," he said. "They've got an argument. They will make it forcefully. I think it's an argument that is wrong."

Asked by Sawyer whether he believes there's an undercurrent of race baiting in the "food stamp president" criticism, Mr. Obama wouldn't comment. But he said the rhetoric from conservatives, including Gingrich, is an attempt by Republicans to engage in the kind of divisiveness that they profess to decry.

"The American people are going to make a judgment about who's trying to bring the country together and who's dividing it, who reflects the core values that helped create this country … and who is tapping into some of our worst instincts," President Obama said.

Press Secretary Jay Carney recently dubbed Gingrich's assertions about President Obama and food stamps "crazy." More than 46.3 million people received a total of $75.3 billion in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, also known as Food Stamps, in fiscal year 2011, the highest levels in US history, according to the USDA. That's about 1 in 7 Americans using Food Stamps. There were 31.9 million Americans on Food Stamps when President Obama was sworn into office in January of 2009, and the number of Americans using SNAP benefits has risen each month but one since December of 2008.



The President also discussed the Somali rescue operation, saying he thought of daughters Malia and Sasha, the ringtone of him singing Al Green, released by his campaign, and the Super Bowl. He billed the upcoming battle as "too close to call."

"I can't call it," he said. "When the Bears are not involved, I can't make predictions, I get in trouble."

The President had one fun food adventure in Las Vegas: He ordered a dozen take-out pizzas and 20 cannolis from Dom DeMarco's Pizzeria & Bar.

*Photo by Pete Souza/White House

Coffee And Snacks On Air Force One

This photo of President Obama aboard Air Force One en route to the Magic Kingdom is Photo of the Day on WhiteHouse.gov. The President sits beside a snack tray as speaks with Orlando, Florida Mayor Buddy Dyer, as Press Secretary Jay Carney rushes by, coffee cup in hand. The President visited the Disney World to promote US travel and tourism.

"I am excited to see Mickey," President Obama said at Disney World. "It’s always nice to meet a world leader who has bigger ears than me."

*Photo by Pete Souza/White House

White House: Gingrich Food Stamp Claims About President Obama Are "Crazy"

Historic levels of SNAP enrollment are not due to Obama economic policy, says Carney...
Press Secretary Jay Carney on Tuesday tagged GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich's ongoing assertion that President Obama is "the Food Stamp President" as "crazy." Former House Speaker Gingrich once again trotted out this idea, a central part of his 2012 campaign strategy, on Monday during a candidates' debate in South Carolina.

"The fact is that more people have been put on food stamps by Barack Obama than any president in American history," Gingrich said.

More than 46.3 million people received a total of $75.3 billion in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, also known as Food Stamps in fiscal year 2011, the highest levels in US history, according to the USDA. That's about 1 in 7 Americans using Food Stamps. There were 31.9 million Americans on Food Stamps when President Obama was sworn into office in January of 2009, and the number of Americans using SNAP benefits has risen each month but one since December of 2008.

"You know as well as I do that that's crazy," Carney said about Gingrich's assertions, during today's daily White House press briefing. Carney credited the uptick in enrollment to an economic situation that President Obama inherited.

"When this President took the oath of office in January of 2009, our economy was in freefall," Carney said. "We were hemorrhaging jobs at the rate of nearly 800,000 a month...The result of that terrible recession was a dramatic increase in unemployment and a dramatic increase -- or an increase, rather, in the number of people who need assistance -- needed assistance."

Enrollment in the SNAP program has become easier during the Obama Administration, due to program changes. USDA credits part of the uptick in enrollment to citizens using Food Stamps following natural disasters in 2011. Let's Move Faith and Communities, a subcomponent of First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! campaign, encourages faith and community groups to help those in need of food assistance enroll in the SNAP program.

The transcript of Carney's Food Stamp remarks:

Q Jay, is Newt Gingrich correct in calling our President "the food stamp President"?

MR. CARNEY: The fact of the matter is this country is emerging from the worst recession since the Great Depression, the greatest economic and financial crisis of our lifetimes. When this President took the oath of office in January of 2009, our economy was in freefall. We were hemorrhaging jobs at the rate of nearly 800,000 a month. The economy was contracting -- or had contracted in the previous quarter, the last quarter of President Bush's term in office, by nearly 9 percent. The result of that terrible recession was a dramatic increase in unemployment and a dramatic increase -- or an increase, rather, in the number of people who need assistance -- needed assistance.

I would simply say that those are the facts, and the economic policies that helped create that situation are ones that, in the case of the candidate you just mentioned, he supported and they're the kinds of policies that he advocates to this day. This President takes a different approach.

Q But the language that the speaker uses is that these are people that President Obama put on the food stamps.

MR. CARNEY: Well, you know as well as I do that that's crazy.

Q -- more people have been put on food stamps by Barack Obama than any President in history. It is true that since Barack Obama has been President it’s gone up 45 percent -- the number of people on food stamps. So what is inaccurate about what Speaker Gingrich said?

MR. CARNEY: Well, I answered this question already, Norah. I think everyone understands that this economy took a body blow in 2007, 2008, from which we are still recovering, and that that resulted in an economy that was contracting, that was shrinking at an historic pace, an economy --

Q -- 2131 that the number of people has gone up more than any other President. You’re just saying it’s not the President’s fault?

MR. CARNEY: Well, I’m saying that it was the result of the worst recession since the Great Depression that was brought on by economic policies that certainly predate this President, and that this President has been working very hard with his team to try to fix, and working with Congress to try to fix and correct, so that we can grow, as we have been growing on his watch, so that we can create private sector jobs, as we have been doing -- 3.2 million private sector jobs in the last many months.

And that's the direction that we need to be going in. Not the direction that we were headed into when he took office three years ago almost to the day, when the economy was in freefall, when there was talk of another Great Depression, there was talk of unemployment as high as 25 percent potentially. Because of the actions that this President took working with Congress, we averted that absolute calamity. But the impact of the recession has been severe, and it’s been severe on the most vulnerable Americans, and it’s been severe on middle-class Americans who have had to struggle to make ends meet as a result of it.

And that's why this President’s focus is so keenly on helping those Americans deal with this economy, emerge from the recession on sounder economic footing, and why he believes that the folks who benefitted the most from the previous 10 years, who saw their share of the nation’s wealth increase dramatically while middle-class Americans saw their incomes shrink or stagnate, that they need to pay their fair share -- which goes back to the Buffett rule, and the idea that someone making millions of dollars should not pay a lower effective tax rate than somebody making 50 grand or 75 grand.
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Down The Rabbit Hole: White House Says "Alice" Themed Mad Hatter Tea Party Wasn't A Secret

Not giving reporters full details about White House events "is different from trying to hide anything," says Press Secretary Jay Carney...
The White House on Monday had Press Secretary Jay Carney and communications assistant Eric Schultz as the knights on patrol to refute details in Jodi Kantor's forthcoming book "The Obamas." Both asserted that the White House did not keep secret the Alice in Wonderland "Mad Hatter Tea Party" hosted by President Obama and First Lady Obama for Halloween 2009, which featured the State Dining Room decorated by film director Tim Burton, and film star Johnny Depp on hand as the Mad Hatter. Carney and Schultz both said the event was well covered by media, and thus the White House was not trying to cover it up. It was well covered, but the fact is that no White House aides told reporters on the record that Burton and Depp were partying on October 31, 2009, with the First Family. Nor did they mention that so, too, were the rest of Burton's entourage, including "Alice" herself, actress Mia Wasikowska. (Above: The First Family with Depp, Burton and Wasikowska)

"There are outlets that have reported this as a “secret” party, which is just silly," Carney said during the daily press briefing, and called this "irresponsible" journalism. He even claimed that "it was contemporaneously known" that Depp and Burton attended the party.

Then how to explain that their presence at the White House has been headline news across the mediasphere since the excerpt from Kantor's book was first posted? Even Depp and Burton's "hometown newspaper"--The Hollywood Reporter--reported the story as fresh news on Monday. Schultz did his pushback on the White House blog, in a post titled "Gossip in Wonderland."

In 2009, there were also no details from White House aides about Deep Roy--the famous Oompa Loompa from Burton/Depp's Willy Wonka film--being at the White House. No one from the White House mentioned that Depp was standing on a table in the State Dining Room entertaining the children of military families and White House staff, as well as First Daughters Malia and Sasha and their pals. (Above: Depp, Burton, and the "Alice" gang with First Dog Bo in one of the White House reception rooms; Deep Roy is hugging Bo)

No one at the White House went on the record about bone-shaped meringue cookies and fruit juice masquerading as "vials of blood" for ghoulish treats, which Kantor reported.

Power struggles...
Kantor, who interviewed 33 current and former aides for her book, didn't report that the Halloween event was totally secret--just the Mad Hatter part, concealed, she wrote, due to fear of backlash during tough economic times.

“White House officials were so nervous about how a splashy, Hollywood-esque party would look to jobless Americans — or their representatives in Congress, who would soon vote on health care — that the event was not discussed publicly," Kantor wrote. "And Burton’s and Depp’s contributions went unacknowledged."

In her book--which I have read--Kantor details a power struggle between the East and West Wings, with Mrs. Obama clashing with the President's Senior Advisors, in particular former Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and former Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. Kantor writes that the West Wing was in a constant state of anxiety over the kind of elegant, lavish entertaining the East Wing was doing, and thus former Social Secretary Desiree Rogers' hard work to create the Halloween event--including inviting Burton and Depp--had to be kept off the record.

"This time, the in-house debate about entertaining had resulted in an awkward stalemate," Kantor wrote. "Rogers and the East Wing had put a great deal of effort into the party, but the more they did, the more internal anxiety they caused."

Through the looking glass...
Carney and Schultz's efforts to debunk the idea that the party was secret were disingenuous. They both pointed to the fact that there was a pool report about the event, and a briefing by Gibbs previewing the event, as well as photos posted to the official White House Flickr and a White House video of the Halloween party (these are here). But NONE of these mention or contain images of Burton, Depp, or the Tea Party. Schultz praised the pool report as "extremely detailed and colorful." It was indeed, yet it lacked the crucial information that is now making headline news.

After being quizzed by reporters about why no Mad Hatter details were revealed, Carney at last came up with a reason.

"We do a lot of these things--July 4th, other events here--events that are geared towards military families and their kids, where the purpose isn’t to publicize them externally for you guys, but to have a nice event for them here, which is different from trying to hide anything," Carney said.

The Obama Administration bills itself as "the most transparent Administration in history," and has spent plenty of time praising itself for the fact that the names of visitors are publicly posted on logs that are available at WhiteHouse.gov. But neither Burton nor Depp's names show up in the official White House visitor log for October 31, 2009. A White House aide on Monday told Buzzfeed.com "that's because performers don't always go through the formal White House entrance procedure."

It should also be noted that none of the reporters in the briefing room were aware that, as Carney asserted, there were photos of Depp and Burton at the White House that were "instantly available."

"To who?" and "where?" reporters called out when Carney said this. Obama Foodorama was sent the photos appearing here early on Monday, and no one working here had ever seen them before.

In the rear-view mirror...
The White House is now mopping up an info situation left over by staff who are long gone. Not only are Gibbs, Emanuel, and Rogers in the Obamas' rear-view mirror, but so are the First Lady's own former Chief of Staff, Communications Director, and Press Secretary from 2009, as well as other aides. There were other instances during 2009 when White House reporters later discovered they had not been given the full information about an event. It was Year One for the Administration, and staff was "still figuring out where the light switches are," as Mrs. Obama herself said last year.

The Mad Hatter Tea Party is just one of hundreds of social events the President and First Lady have hosted. As such, it is minor in the grand scheme of things. Still, selectively doling out information to reporters speaks to an overall approach to "transparency" that's sometimes as filled with cobwebs as the North Portico was in 2009.

Schultz's White House post on the topic, "Gossip in Wonderland," is here. He does not mention Depp, Burton, or anyone in Burton's entourage by name. He does mention rabbit holes. Perhaps that is where the information reporters aren't told is stored. (Above: Another group shot of Depp, Burton, and their entourage at the White House)

The White House video from Halloween 2009:



*The photographer for these photos is unidentified