White House Gaggle Notes

White House Gaggle with Press Sectary Jay Carney

Week Ahead:

On Monday, President Obama will travel to Memphis, TN, where he will deliver the commencement address to the graduating seniors from Booker T. Washington High School, the winner of the 2011 Race to the Top High School Commencement Challenge.  He will also visit with families impacted by the flooding, state and local officials, first responders and volunteers.  In the afternoon, he will return to Washington and welcome the University of Connecticut’s mens basketball team in honor of winning this year’s NCCA championship.   In the evening he will attend two DNC events in Washington D.C.
On Tuesday, the President will meet with His Majesty, King Abdullah II of Jordan at the White House. Later that day, he will host a White House reception in honor of Jewish-American heritage month.
On Wednesday, President Obama will travel to New London, CT and the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, where will deliver a commencement address. He will alsogo to Boston to attend DNC events.
On Thursday, President Obama will travel to the Department of State to deliver a speech on the Middle East.
Friday, May 20th, President Obama meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.

Osama Bin Laden

When asked about interrogation of Osama bin Laden’s wives, Carney said that the we have had access to them, but he has no more information about it. Carey also said that the U.S. appreciates the cooperation we have received the Pakistani government in this matter.
In terms of retaliation since the successful mission against bin Laden, Carney said we are at a state of high vigilance. “We take very seriously the fact that Al Qaeda is weakened but not dead.” It is entirely possible that terrorists might try to respond with revenge attacks in some way. “You can be sure that our intelligence community is focusing very hard on that, “Carney continued.  

George Mitchell

Carney was asked why President Obama’s special Middle East peace envoy George Mitchell was leaving, and he responded that he does not have any information about that, but the President will have a paper statement regarding this later today.
This President’s commitment to the region remains as firm as the day that he took office.

Middle East Speech  

Carney does not want to take this away from the President by saying too much, but he did say that we have gone through a remarkable period in the last few months in the Middle East and North Africa. “But we’ve gone through a remarkable period in the first several months of this year in that region, in the Middle East and North Africa, and the President obviously has I think some important things to say about how he views the upheaval and how he has approached the U.S. response to the events in the region. I am sure it will be a fairly sweeping and comprehensive speech about what we have all been privileged enough to witness since January,” Carney said.
Carney also went back to the President’s speech in Cairo, and how Obama views the future of the region through the prism of democratization and the urning of the people in the region for greater political freedom and desire for responsive government that addresses their grievances.
I am sure he will call on the government in the region to respond to those demands as he has done in the past, through peaceful political dialogue not just because it’s the right thing to do for the people in the region, but for the interest of stability.    

Libya

Carney was asked about today’s meeting with representative of the Libyan Transitional National Council, TNC, with senior administration officials, including National Security Adviser Tom Donilo. Carney also said that there are no plans for President Obama to stop by that meeting.
“ We believe that the TNC is a credible and legitimate interlocutor for the Libyan people and the questions on recognition is one of many policy issues still under review. And we are continuing to assess the capabilities as we deepen our engagement with the opposition. Ultimately, of course, it will be the people of Libyans and not the international community that will chose their leadership. But we do applaud the TNC for their leadership,” Carney said.
When asked about the whereabouts of Col. Ghaddafi, Carney said that there is nothing he can share with us.
The administration believes that if we could access and use the blocked government funds from  Libya it could be a great humanitarian help to the Libyan people.  Secretary Clinton is working with Congress on legislation to allow us to access those assets.

Syria

Each of the countries in the Middle East and Northern Africa are different and the circumstances of the unrest and the governments response has been different as well, Carney said.  The U.S. continues to condemn the violence against the Syrian people.  “It has been made abundantly clear that the Syrian government’s security crackdown will not restore stability and will not stop the demands for change in Syria. The Syrian government continues to follow the lead Iranian ally and resorting to brute force and fragrant violations of human rights  and  suppressing peaceful protests.”  

Mitt Romney

When asked about Mitt Romney’s speech yesterday and comments on that; Carney said that the administration is focused on implementing the Affordable Health Care Act.  
We have said before that then Gov. Romney signed into law in Massachusetts is in many way similar to legislation that resulted in the Affordable Health Care Act. “We obviously feel that Massachusetts took a smart approach to health care reform”, Carney said.