President Obama's November 7, 2010 "60 Minutes" Interview

On Sunday, President Obama was interviewed on "60 Minutes."

Here are four excerpts from the transcript that I found especially noteworthy.  I may comment upon them in the future as I find them, in various ways, to be (at least) somewhat provocative:

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President Obama:  "And so, you know, the playing field now is a lot bigger and a lot more competitive than it used to be. And people rightly worry that if we don't make some fundamental fixes to the economy, that America may not be the preeminent economic power that it's been in the past.

Now, I have confidence that it will be. Because we still have the best universities. The best scientists. The most productive workers in the world. We've got the most entrepreneurial culture. And the strongest capital markets in the world. So, I'm still confident that America will see the 21st Century as the American century just as the 20th Century was. But that won't happen unless we make some big fundamental changes. And that's why even in the midst of crisis, we still spent time on things like education reform. Because if we don't deal with 'em now, we're gonna fall behind."

also:

"I think that the way to think about it is the dangers of a second big recession are now much reduced. The danger of us tipping into a great depression, I think most economists would say, is not there on the horizon."

also:

President Obama:  "I think we have to make sure that people understand and business understands that my overarching philosophy is not one in which we have constantly increasing government intervention."

also:

President Obama:  "And especially an economy this big, there are limited tools to encourage the kind of job growth that we need. But I have fundamental confidence in this country. I am constantly reminded that we have been through worse times than these, and we've always come out on top. And I'm positive that the same thing is gonna happen this time.

You know, there are gonna be setbacks, and we may take two steps forward and one step back, but the trajectory of this country is always positive. And that's something that that prevents me from getting too discouraged."
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