'Meet the Press' transcript for April 26, 2009

MR. GREGORY:  I want to stop you on one point.

MR. GIBBS:  And that it makes...

MR. GREGORY:  You say you can't determine efficacy of these programs.  As you know, Vice President Cheney and others have said this is not a subjective question, the CIA has additional memos indicating what was gained from these practices.  And I know there's a process under way to review whether those additional memos should be released.

MR. GIBBS:  Right.

MR. GREGORY:  Is it the president's view that they should be released?

MR. GIBBS:  The president is, and the administration have taken the free--the request to declassify these memos that Vice President Cheney made March 31st. They're in the very same process that if somebody else determined that a memo should be declassified.  They're being looked at by the administration. They'll be examined by the director of central intelligence, the national security adviser.  It's a process that takes about three weeks.  But I...

MR. GREGORY:  But what does he want?  Because it seems to me you could really put this to rest if you...

MR. GIBBS:  Well...

MR. GREGORY:  ...released what they claim they found.

MR. GIBBS:  Look, I, I think the president, as you know, is a big believer in transparency.  I think one of the things that will have to be examined, David, is whether there are additional memos that have to be released that give a broader picture of what's gone on in enhanced interrogation techniques.  There have been many op-eds, an op-ed written by the executive director of the 9/11 Commission in The New York Times on Friday which cast a lot of doubt on whether or not these techniques worked.  And this--these were all the decisions that the president had to make in, in weighing whether or not to release these memos.

MR. GREGORY:  Right.

MR. GIBBS:  But the president and his team and, as I said, many people that work outside of this administration but understand national security and how to keep our country safe, have said quite clearly that the use of these techniques was a rallying cry for the very same people that wanted to kill us, that wanted to do us harm.  It made us less safe.  It made us more susceptible.  And that the president has undertaken very specific actions, one, to end these enhanced interrogation techniques and improve our image around the world so that we can pursue our national interest.

MR. GREGORY:  You're saying unequivocally that under President Obama none of these techniques would have been pursued.

MR. GIBBS:  The, the president, on the first full day of his administration, signed an executive order that banned the use of enhanced interrogation techniques.

MR. GREGORY:  And at the time he would have done something differently, he would not have done the same things?

MR. GIBBS:  Well, I, I can't speak to what, what was going on in 2002.  But I think the president believes very clearly, believed in 2002 and believes in 2009...

MR. GREGORY:  Right.

MR. GIBBS:  ...that our country doesn't have to choose between keeping our people safe and the values that make us America; that there are things that this country just simply doesn't do, David.  We don't step over that line. That's what this president firmly believes, because he understands that we can both protect our values and keep the men and women of our country and the men and women in uniform safe.  Another thing I would mention that I've heard General Jones, our national security adviser, and others say in meetings, that it is difficult to keep the men and women in uniform defending our country safe if--because of the use of these enhanced interrogation methods.

MR. GREGORY:  Let me ask you about 100 days.  This is a marker that the media pays a lot of attention to, and certainly within the administration you look at it as well.  At 100 days, how does the president think or want Americans to judge him?  Based on what?

MR. GIBBS:  I think in all honesty, David, he would want the American people to spend a good eight or 10 seconds reflecting on those 100 days but understand, as I know many of them do, they're not grading us at what we did on the 23rd or 29th or 35th day, but what are we doing and what is the president of the United States doing each and every day to make the American people safer, to improve our economy, to stabilize our financial system, to make their lives a little bit better, help send their kids to college.  I think the American people understand that this is, as many in our administration have described, a little bit of a Hallmark holiday.  But we're focused not on what might have happened in the first 100 days, but what has to happen to lay that foundation for long-term economic growth and moving our country forward.

MR. GREGORY:  And before you go, this is also 100 days for you as press secretary, the president's spokesman, the face of the White House.  I've covered a few press secretaries, and you have your own distinct style, particularly when it comes to calling out the president's critics.  And you did that when CNBC's Rick Santelli was--offered a very high energy critique of the president's housing plan.  Let's have a look at that.

(Videotape, February 20, 2009)

MR. GIBBS:  I would encourage him to read the president's plan and understand that it will help millions of people, many of whom he knows.  I'd be more than happy to have him come here and read it.  I'd be happy to buy him a cup of coffee, decaf.  Let me do this, too.  This is a copy of the president's home affordability plan.  It's available on the White House Web site.  And I would encourage him, download it, hit print and begin to read it.

(End videotape)

MR. GREGORY:  Your colleagues would say you have a pugnacious style at the podium.  How do you approach this job and what do you find challenging about it?

MR. GIBBS:  Well, first of all, David, let me say this is the funnest, most rewarding job that I've ever had, and it may well be the funnest and most rewarding job that I ever have.  It is a lot of work each and every day.  You spend hours reading each morning to get ready to answer questions on any number of topics.  David, the easy days are when you know that one topic is going to dominate the entire briefing.  It's easier to get prepared.  It's the days that there are 10 or 15 subjects that you know people around the room are going to be interested in.  It's important to have access to and talk regularly with the president of the United States.  I'm asked each and every day what he thinks, and I have to have a good line of communication with him and other senior advisers in the White House to understand the decision-making process and what goes about in their daily activities.  It's the most fun I've ever had, it truly is.  Sometimes I may have a little bit too much caffeine, but it's a, it's a great job.  I, I wouldn't trade it for anything.

MR. GREGORY:  As they say in the press room, no more questions.  Robert Gibbs, thank you very much.

MR. GIBBS:  Thanks, David.

MR. GREGORY:  Coming next, our exclusive interview with His Majesty King Abdullah of Jordan on the Middle East peace, Iran, terrorism and the debate over torture.  Plus, our roundtable on the Obama administration's first 100 days with presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin and editor of Newsweek magazine, Jon Meacham, here only on MEET THE PRESS.

(Announcements)

MR. GREGORY:  King Abdullah of Jordan, plus our roundtable with Jon Meachman and Doris Kearns Goodwin after this brief commercial break.

(Announcements)

MR. GREGORY:  We're back.  King Abdullah of Jordan spent the last week here in Washington with a full agenda:  meeting with the president, the secretary of state, congressional leaders and a full military arrival ceremony at the Pentagon.  Before returning to Jordan on Friday, he stopped here at MEET THE PRESS for an exclusive interview.

Your Majesty, welcome back to MEET THE PRESS.

KING ABDULLAH II:  Thank you very much.

MR. GREGORY:  President Obama is now the third U.S. president that you have worked with.  You spent time with him this week and even during the campaign. Tell me your impressions here as he comes upon 100 days in office?

KING ABDULLAH II:  Well, I--from I think day one that I, I, I met him, a very impressive man.  A lot of depth.  A lot of, I think, instinctive understanding of the challenges that the world faces.  And obviously I'm here in Washington to talk about relaunching negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, and Israelis and Arabs, and we had a meeting of the minds, very fruitful discussions.  And I think he has a clear understanding of, of what the challenges are.

MR. GREGORY:  How do you compare him to the president you worked the most with, and that's President Bush?

KING ABDULLAH II:  Well, I think, again, President Bush had the instinctive understanding that we have to solve the core issue of the Middle East, which is the Israeli-Palestinian ones.  We're here relaunching an initiative that allows Arabs to reach out to Israel if we can move on the two-state solution, which is critical for stability and peace for our region.

MR. GREGORY:  But is it fair to say that at the end of President Bush's term in office you grew more impatient with him and his team and his approach?

KING ABDULLAH II:  I think he was dedicated to moving the process forward.  I think I was getting frustrated with the team that didn't have a sense of urgency.  But a lot has changed in the world--the economic crisis for one, recently--that if we don't sort of get a win somewhere, 2009, 2010 is going to be very difficult.

MR. GREGORY:  Speaking about President Bush, last December he spoke about the frustration along the path of his presidency, but also the state of the Middle East as he saw it.  This is what he said.

(Videotape, December 5, 2008)

FMR. PRES. GEORGE W.  BUSH:  Despite these frustrations and disappointments, the Middle East in 2008 is a freer, more hopeful and more promising place than it was in 2001.

(End videotape)

MR. GREGORY:  Do you agree with that?

KING ABDULLAH II:  Yes, but nowhere near what we need as the endgame.  I mean, it's all relative at the end of the day.  Until you solve the problem, you're going to get an up and down on how free or stable it is.  But we still haven't solved the core issue.  So you can't say that, that the, the future for the Middle East is any brighter.  Unless we solve the core issue of the Israeli-Palestinian, Israeli-Arab challenges, then we will always be an area of instability that costs all of us.

MR. GREGORY:  But it's interesting that you raise that point as that being the core problem.  You ask most Americans and certainly the government, the core problem out of the Middle East right now is terrorism, is al-Qaeda.  And President Obama spoke about that very issue and seemed to be speaking to voices like yours when he was recently in France.  Listen to that.

(Videotape, April 3, 2009)

PRES. OBAMA:  Al-Qaeda is still bent on carrying out terrorist activity.  It is--you know, don't fool yourselves.  Because some people say, "Well, you know, if, if we changed our policies with respect to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or, or if we were more respectful towards the Muslim world, suddenly these organizations would stop threatening us." That's just not the case.

(End videotape)

MR. GREGORY:  He seems to be contradicting you a bit.

KING ABDULLAH II:  Not at all.  What, what, what he's trying to say and, and what I'm trying to say is the challenge that we have in front of American public is connecting the dots.  Any crisis that you want to talk about, whether it's al-Qaeda, Iraq, Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, all comes back to the sore, the emotional issue that is Palestine and Jerusalem.  Any conflict that you pick in the Middle East today, all roads lead back to Jerusalem is probably be a better way of, of explaining it.  So until you deal with the Palestinian issue it is more difficult to deal with al-Qaeda, whether it's Pakistan, all these other problems that you're facing.

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