Obamas Talkshowauftritt im Wortlaut

Von Präsidentenalltag bis zur Wirtschaftskrise - beim Auftritt in Jay Lenos Talkshow ließ der US-Präsident kein Thema aus. Hier das gekürzte Wortlautprotokoll, das das Weiße Haus danach herausgab. Es ist auf Englisch, nicht jeder wird sofort alles verstehen - aber es lohnt sich trotzdem.

Jay Leno: The 44th President of the United States, please welcome President Barack Obama. (Applause.) … Now it's only, what, 59 days now, right?

Barack Obama: Yes, 59 days.

Über die Wirtschaftskrise

Leno: Let me ask you about this. I know you are angry –- because, you know, doing what I do, you kind of study body language a little bit. And you looked very angry about these bonuses. Actually, stunned.

Obama: Stunned. "Stunned" is the word. Well, and part of what happened over the last 15, 20 years is that so much money was made in finance that about 40 percent, I think, of our overall growth, our overall economic growth was in the financial sector. Well, now what we're finding out is a lot of that growth wasn't real. It was paper money, paper profits on the books, but it could be easily wiped out. And what we need is steady growth; we need young people, instead of -- a smart kid coming out of school, instead of wanting to be an investment banker, we need them to decide they want to be an engineer, they want to be a scientist, they want to be a doctor or a teacher. And if we're rewarding those kinds of things that actually contribute to making things and making people's lives better, that's going to put our economy on solid footing. We won't have this kind of bubble-and-bust economy that we've gotten so caught up in for the last several years.

Leno: So you have –- obviously we have a lot of people with a few dollars -- couple of hundred, couple of thousand -- but there's millions of them. Okay, obviously that's a tremendous financial forest. What should they do? Put their money in the bank? Should they be spending money? Should they hide it under their mattress?

Obama: Look, first of all, everybody should have complete confidence in the banks. They're deposits are protected. They shouldn't be putting it in their mattresses. I will leave it up to others to provide individual, personal financial advice. But I will say this, that if you're working right now, obviously you've got to be prudent and you've got to recognize that the economy has been in a tough way. But, you know, we’ve still got kids who are going to need a coat for winter or a computer for school. You know, that young family is still going to at some point need to buy a house. And right now cars, for example, we know that typically you need about 14 million cars for this population –- and right now only 9 million are being sold every year. So at some point those inventories are going to run down and people are going to start buying cars again.

Über die Autoindustrie

Leno: Now, you mentioned cars a minute ago. You went to the electric car, you went to look at some batteries today.

Obama: I did. It's spectacular what is being down now with plug-in hybrids, where not only are you getting the hybrid technology, but now you can plug it in at home in your garage. And potentially we could see cars getting 150 miles to a gallon of gas. And when you get home you could potentially sell the energy in your car back into the grid, back to your utility and get money. So we’re going to be investing billions of dollars in research and development around these technologies. I know that you were mentioning you've got a hydrogen car –

Leno: I've got the GM hydrogen car. That's a whole new –

Obama: That's a whole new level of technology. That's what's going to create the auto industry of the future. That's where we're going to win back manufacturing. But right now we’re behind. These batteries are being made in Japan –- just like wind power is being made in Europe. We need to bring that here, and that's part of what my budget and part of what our Recovery Act is all about.

Über das Präsidentsein

Leno: Let me ask you some personal things. Now, how cool is it to fly in Air Force One? (Laughter.)

Obama: Now, let me tell you, I personally think it's pretty cool. Especially because they give you, you know, the jacket with the seal on it. (Laughter.)

Leno: Oh, yeah. See, I still get the little wings when I fly.

Obama: So you have the jacket. I will tell you, though, Malia and Sasha, my daughters, they're just not as impressed. The first time we went on Marine One -– right, you've got the Marines in front and they're saluting you. And we go up and we're passing the Washington Monument, circling around on the way to Camp David –- and Sasha looks over and she says, "Are those Starbursts?" (Laughter.) There's, like, the candy in the little canister. (Laughter.) That's –- "Can we have some?" (Laughter.) So they're splitting up the Starbursts and we're flying over the Lincoln Memorial. So they got a whole 'nother level of cool. (Laughter.)

Über Bowling und Basketball

Leno: Now, are they going to put a basketball –- I imagine the bowling alley has been just burned and closed down.

Obama: No, no. I have been practicing all –- (laughter.)

Leno: Really? Really?

Obama:I bowled a 129. (Laughter and applause.)

Leno: No, that's very good. Yes. That's very good, President.

Obama: It's like -- it was like Special Olympics, or something. (Laughter.)

Leno: No, that's very good.

Obama: No, listen, I'm making progress on the bowling, yes.

Leno: And how about, are you going to put in a basketball court?

Obama: Oh, yes. Yes. Well, we have a basketball court already at Camp David. We just had a little rim that was inadequate –- (laughter) –- at the White House. But there are tennis courts, so we’re going to just get those –- you know, those rims that you can roll in and out. And then we’ll just put them on either –-

Leno: Let me ask you, when people –- President, would you like to play? Yes, I would. Do they throw the game? Come on. (Laughter and applause.)

Obama: I don’t see why they would throw the game -- except for all those Secret Service guys with guns around. (Laughter.)

Leno: Yes, exactly.

Obama: I will say that I don't think I get the hard fouls that I used to. Usually I don't –-

Und über den noch immer ausstehenden Präsidentenhund

Leno: All right, one last question. Now, when is the dog coming? I keep hearing about the dog. It seems to me –- when was the dog supposed to be there by? I thought it was, like, as soon as --

Obama: Listen, this is Washington –- (laughter) –- that was a campaign promise. (Laughter.)

Leno: Oh, wow. Wow. Man. (Laughter and applause.)

Obama: I'm teasing. The dog will be there shortly. (Laughter.)

Leno: How soon?

Obama: We have actually sort of been laying the groundwork here. We’ve got a trip, I've got to go to the NATO summit. When we get back, dog will be in place.

Leno: Wow. And it's, what, a Portuguese water head? (Laughter.) What is it, what kind of dog is it?

Obama: It's not that. (Laughter.)

Leno: It's not that.

Obama: It's not a "water head." (Laughter.)

Leno: Whatever they are, I don't know what they are.

Obama: That sounds like a scary dog. (Laughter.) Sort of dripping around the house. (Laughter.)

Leno: I don't know what it is.

Obama: No, no. We're going to get a dog that is –- that I think the girls will have a great time –- I think I'm going to have a lot of fun with it. You know, they say if you want a friend in Washington, get a dog. (Laughter.)

Leno: Exactly. President, I must say, this has been one of the best nights of my life. Thank you very much, sir. President of the United States. (Applause.)