By Ross Colvin and Jeff Mason
LOS ANGELES, March 19 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama sought on Thursday to tamp down public anger over the AIG bonus scandal and refocus Americans' attention on the bigger picture -- his administration's efforts to fix the economy.
'We can be as mad as we want, but ... we gotta work through this huge mess that was made in the financial system,' Obama told a town hall-style meeting in Los Angeles attended by 1,100 people who had stood in line for hours to hear him speak.
'I understand how mad everybody is about this AIG bonuses business. I'm mad. But fixing the system requires us understanding that if banks are not ... lending then businesses will not be able to invest and we will not be able to create jobs,' Obama said.
This week's furor over the $165 million in bonuses paid out at American Insurance Group, and questions over how Treasury officials handled the issue, has been an unwelcome distraction for Obama as he tries to rally broad support for ambitious reforms contained in a record $3.5 trillion budget for 2010.
No one asked Obama about the AIG bonuses during the town hall meeting and he mentioned it only briefly as he focused instead on his efforts to end the mortgage foreclosure crisis, which triggered the economic meltdown in the United States.
'We know that fixing that crisis -- breaking that cycle of falling home values and rising foreclosures -- is the key to fixing our economy,' he said.
California has the world's eighth-biggest economy, but it has been hit hard by the recession. With one of the highest home foreclosure rates in the United States and a 10 percent unemployment rate its woes are emblematic of the wider economic crisis afflicting the country.
California's housing prices have declined more than 27 percent from their peak in 2006, the highest in the nation, according to White House figures. California also ranks third highest in mortgages that are seriously delinquent.
The administration launched a new website on Thursday to provide information about its $275 billion home foreclosure plan, which the Treasury says aims to help 7 to 9 million homeowners.
Thursday's town-hall meeting in a community center in Los Angeles was Obama's second such gathering in two days. On Wednesday, Obama traveled to the town of Costa Mesa and struck a populist tone before an audience of some 1,300.
With Obama's 2010 budget drawing fire from opposition Republicans and some Democrats for being too expensive, Obama's trip to California was part of a campaign to sell his spending plans and explain the steps he is taking to lift the nation out of recession and overhaul health-care and education.
As part of the campaign, Obama will appear on 'The Tonight Show with Jay Leno', the first sitting president to appear on a late-night talk show, on Thursday and hold a news conference next week.
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was also in attendance at the Los Angeles meeting. Schwarzenegger has split with some fellow Republican governors by accepting state aid under Obama's $787 billion economic stimulus plan.
(Editing by Anthony Boadle)
((ross.colvin@reuters.com; Reuters Messaging: ross.colvin.reuters.com@reuters.net; Tel: +1 202 236 4061)
Keywords: OBAMA/
COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
LOS ANGELES, March 19 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama sought on Thursday to tamp down public anger over the AIG bonus scandal and refocus Americans' attention on the bigger picture -- his administration's efforts to fix the economy.
'We can be as mad as we want, but ... we gotta work through this huge mess that was made in the financial system,' Obama told a town hall-style meeting in Los Angeles attended by 1,100 people who had stood in line for hours to hear him speak.
'I understand how mad everybody is about this AIG bonuses business. I'm mad. But fixing the system requires us understanding that if banks are not ... lending then businesses will not be able to invest and we will not be able to create jobs,' Obama said.
This week's furor over the $165 million in bonuses paid out at American Insurance Group, and questions over how Treasury officials handled the issue, has been an unwelcome distraction for Obama as he tries to rally broad support for ambitious reforms contained in a record $3.5 trillion budget for 2010.
No one asked Obama about the AIG bonuses during the town hall meeting and he mentioned it only briefly as he focused instead on his efforts to end the mortgage foreclosure crisis, which triggered the economic meltdown in the United States.
'We know that fixing that crisis -- breaking that cycle of falling home values and rising foreclosures -- is the key to fixing our economy,' he said.
California has the world's eighth-biggest economy, but it has been hit hard by the recession. With one of the highest home foreclosure rates in the United States and a 10 percent unemployment rate its woes are emblematic of the wider economic crisis afflicting the country.
California's housing prices have declined more than 27 percent from their peak in 2006, the highest in the nation, according to White House figures. California also ranks third highest in mortgages that are seriously delinquent.
The administration launched a new website on Thursday to provide information about its $275 billion home foreclosure plan, which the Treasury says aims to help 7 to 9 million homeowners.
Thursday's town-hall meeting in a community center in Los Angeles was Obama's second such gathering in two days. On Wednesday, Obama traveled to the town of Costa Mesa and struck a populist tone before an audience of some 1,300.
With Obama's 2010 budget drawing fire from opposition Republicans and some Democrats for being too expensive, Obama's trip to California was part of a campaign to sell his spending plans and explain the steps he is taking to lift the nation out of recession and overhaul health-care and education.
As part of the campaign, Obama will appear on 'The Tonight Show with Jay Leno', the first sitting president to appear on a late-night talk show, on Thursday and hold a news conference next week.
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was also in attendance at the Los Angeles meeting. Schwarzenegger has split with some fellow Republican governors by accepting state aid under Obama's $787 billion economic stimulus plan.
(Editing by Anthony Boadle)
((ross.colvin@reuters.com; Reuters Messaging: ross.colvin.reuters.com@reuters.net; Tel: +1 202 236 4061)
Keywords: OBAMA/
COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.