Obama talks A-Rod, stimulus, Iraq in first prime time press conference

President Barack Obama made his strongest argument yet for his stimulus package Monday night in his first prime time press conference.

During prepared remarks before he took questions, Obama promised his proposal would save or create 4 million jobs, a number slightly higher than previous estimates used just weeks ago.

He also picked apart each of the major Republican criticisms about his stimulus proposal, which has received virtually no GOP support in Congress. The bill passed the House with no Republican votes and so far has garnered only three Republicans to support it in the Senate, although Democrats have enough votes to ensure it would survive any potential filibuster attempt. But Obama brushed off crticism that bipartisanship had failed or that he underestimated the ways of Washington.

"I'm happy to get good ideas from across the political spectrum, from Democrats and Republicans," President Obama said. "What I won't do is return to the failed theories of the last eight years that got us into this fix in the first place, because those theories have been tested, and they have failed. And that's what part of the election in November was all about."

The president acknowledged that some critics have genuine philosophical differences about the role of government in the economy, but he said the government was the last resort available to rescue the economy. "At this particular moment, with the private sector so weakened by this recession, the federal government is the only entity left with the resources to jolt our economy back to life," Obama said.

Once again, the president tried to humanize the dire economic news by referring to his trip to Elkhart, Ind. earlier in the day for a rare presidential town hall meeting. "Elkhart is a place that has lost jobs faster than anywhere else in America," President Obama said.

Citing numbers that showed the unemployment rate had soared from 4.7 percent to 15.3 percent in the Elkhart area in one year, Obama said "companies that have sustained this community for years are shedding jobs at an alarming speed, and the people who've lost them have no idea what to do or who to turn to."

To continue the pressure on Congress, Obama will be flying to Ft. Myers, Florida today for his second consecutive town hall meeting to talk about the economy. The White House is using the images of ordinary Americans talking to Obama to connect his message to the voters and to go over the heads of recalcitrant Republican lawmakers who are reluctant to sign onto his proposal. He will be joined in Florida today by Gov. Charlie Crist, a Republican, who has indicated his support for a stimulus bill.

Speaking directly to critics who argue that the government should do nothing, Obama said the nation was experiencing its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. "And if there's anyone out there who still doesn't believe this constitutes a full-blown crisis, I suggest speaking to one of the millions of Americans whose lives have been turned upside down because they don't know where their next paycheck is coming from."

For nearly 60 minutes, the president took questions from reporters who mostly asked about the economy, the stimulus package and the proposed bank bailout to be announced by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner today. Obama did not disclose the details of the bank bailout, which was supposed to use part of the $350 billion from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) but would also reportedly rely on private equity from Wall Street and available resources from the Federal Reserve to finance the purchase of toxic assets from financial institutions and encourage them to begin lending again.

The tone of the press conference, held in the East Room of the White House, was very different from previous press conferences in the Bush White Hosue. The president took questions from the usual suspects at the major news networks but also took a question from Sam Stein of the Huffington Post, a left-wing Web site created by liberal commentator Ariana Huffington.

The press conference also touched on foreign policy, with the president discussing his policy toward Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan. "I do not have yet a timetable for how long that's going to take. What I know is I'm not going to make -- I'm not going to allow al Qaeda or [Osama] bin Laden to operate with impunity, planning attacks on the U.S. homeland," Obama said.

There was also a question about Alex Rodriguez's admission that he had used performance enhancing drugs as a player for the Texas Rangers. Obama called it "depressing news" which he said "tarnishes an entire era, to some degree." But he also said "it's unfortunate, because I think there are a lot of ballplayers who played it straight."

The message he took from the story: "You know what? There are no shortcuts, that when you try to take shortcuts, you may end up tarnishing your entire career, and that your integrity's not worth it."