President Obama and Chinese President Hu spoke on the phone last night and their conversation mainly  dealt with their efforts to confront climate change. The two leaders will have a chance to meet before the December Copenhagen Conference when President Obama travels to Asia in mid-November.

Here is the White House readout of the call:

The President spoke with President Hu on Tuesday night, October 20. They exchanged views on bilateral issues and climate change. Both leaders acknowledged each is taking significant actions to confront climate change and reduce emissions. President Obama noted the importance of working toward a successful outcome at the December Copenhagen Conference and the importance of leadership from the United States and China in that regard.

To that end, the two Presidents committed to having their teams redouble efforts to work with each other and other countries to achieve success at Copenhagen.

(AP Photo)

During a Democratic National Committee fundraiser tonight in New York City, President Obama lectured the financial industry not to forget the economic meltdown that happened just a year ago and to join with him to pass the necessary financial reforms.

Read his remarks on this topic below:

"Now's the time to make sure that we put new rules of the road in our financial sector to prevent the kind of abuse and excess on wall street that led us to this crisis. You understood that. And you also understood that insurance companies, and the banks, and the oil companies might not be crazy about some of these changes, that they were doing just fine under the status quo. So nobody thought this was going to be easy. We talked about this during the campaign.

"And while I'm in New York, I want to stress something about this financial reform effort.  The finance industry is essential to a healthy economy and to the well-being of our economy. That is why we stepped in to prevent a collapse that would have had far reaching and devastating consequences for the American people. Steps by the way that were not wildly popular and still aren't among the American people, but it was the right thing to do. But we also know we should never again have to face potential calamity because of the reckless speculation and deceptive practices and short-sightedness and self-interestedness from a few.

"So if there are members of the financial industry in the audience today, I will ask that you join with us in passing what are necessary reforms (applause) - don't fight them, join us. This is important for our country. And in the long run, it will be good for the financial industry to have a level playing field in which everybody knows the rules and everybody knows that the rules will be enforced. And people are repeating not by how confusing you can make things, and how to even avoid rules, but competing because you're offering innovative good products that are helping grow the American economy and put people to work out on main street.

"Whenever I hear some folks who have just been taking taxpayer bailout money suddenly say 'what, what, what do you want from me?' When I hear stories about small businesses and medium-sized businesses not being able to get loans.  Despite wall street being backed very properly, that tells me that people aren't thinking about their obligations, our mutual obligations to each other and the fact that we're in this together."

President Obama spoke with President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan this morning and congratulated him on accepting the certification of the recent election.

In a readout of the call released by the White House, it states, "President Obama underscored that this decision was in the best interests of the Afghan people, and reiterated the ongoing United States commitment to an outcome that reflects the will of the Afghan people. "

President Obama also talked with Dr. Abdullah Abdullah and Ambassador Einkenberry today. The White House says the President "expressed appreciation" to Dr. Abdullah for his constructive efforts. During the President's call with Ambassador Eikenberry, the White House says Mr. Obama received an update on the developments related to the Afghan elections and thanked the Ambassador and his team for their "hard and exceptional work in recent days."

President Obama talks with President Karzai during a phone call from the Oval Office. (WH Photo)

Vice President Biden held a breakfast meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki today. The White House provided the following readout of this morning's meeting:

"In his meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki earlier today, Vice President Biden noted that the October 20-21 U.S.-Iraq Business and Investment Conference is an important part of our efforts to promote cooperation under the U.S.-Iraq Strategic Framework Agreement. The Vice President also encouraged the Iraqi Council of Representatives to act expeditiously on an election law that will set the terms for transparent political participation in the upcoming Iraqi national elections."

Vice President Biden meets Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki in the Roosevelt Room at the White House. (WH Photo)

 

 

President Obama speaks at a DNC fundraiser in San Francisco, CA on Thursday evening. (AP Photo)

At a sold out DNC fundraising reception in San Francisco Thursday evening, President Obama pledged that he was ready to fight against anyone standing in the way of his priorities saying, "I want everyone to know who's standing in the way of progress, I'm not tired. I'm just getting started. You can throw whatever you want at me. Keep it coming. We're going to get this done. We're going to get health care done."

The President also singled out conservative critics who he felt were not testing his ideas or his party's proposals but merely standing on the sidelines and rooting for failure on health care reform and the economy, "When I'm busy and Nancy (Pelosi) is busy with our mop cleaning up somebody else's mess , we don't want somebody sitting back saying you're not holding the mop the right way. Why don't you grab a mop, why don't you help clean up."

A democratic source says the fundraising reception and more intimate dinner held earlier in the evening were expected to raise about three million dollars.

In New Orleans today for the first visit of his presidency, President Obama took a more measured tone with regard to the Bush Administration's handling of the rebuilding efforts in the gulf region in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

In January 2007, during a hearing on the response to hurricanes Katrina and Rita by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental affairs, then Senator Obama harshly criticized the Bush administration's efforts saying, "There is not a sense of urgency out of this White House and this administration." Later that year, during a visit to New Orleans, then candidate Obama was asked if elected President what he would do for the city, Obama answered he hoped that the Bush administration would have dealt with many of the city's major concerns by January 2009, yet added "but I'm not optimistic."

Even as recently as this past February, in a statement on extending the Office of the Federal Coordinator for Gulf Coast Rebuilding, President Obama seemed to continue his criticism of the Bush administration's efforts towards the region, "The residents of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast who are helping rebuild are heroes who believe in their communities and they are succeeding despite the fact that they have not always received the support they deserve from the federal government."

He reiterated this statement in his opening remarks during today's town hall but then softened his tone and declined to directly criticize his predecessor, when asked why the region still had to fight for money from the federal government from this administration to rebuild the region, "I know since a lot of these problems have been going on since Katrina happened, people understandably feel impatient. On the other hand, these things were not all going to be fixed tomorrow."

The Obama administration is quick to tout their ability to get through bureaucratic hurdles in just nine months, which they say has resulted in getting more than 1 billion dollars in federal funds to the gulf region that had previously been stuck in red tape.

President Obama answers a question from Tyren Scott at his town hall in New Orleans. (WH Photo)

President Obama received an unexpected response when he called on fourth grader Tyren Scott for the last question during this afternoon's town hall in New Orleans. The student from Paulina Elementary in Paulina, Louisiana asked the President why people hated him.  Read the exchange below:

QUESTION: I have the say why do people hate you? And why -- they're supposed to love you. And God is love.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: That's what I'm talking about.

(APPLAUSE)

Come on. Hey, that's what I'm talking about.

Tyren, I appreciate that. What grade are you in?

QUESTION: Fourth.

OBAMA: You're in fourth grade.

Well, now, first of all, I did get elected president, so not everybody hates me now. I don't want you to -- I got a whole lot of votes. I want to make sure everybody understands.

But you know, what is true is if you were watching TV lately, it seems like everybody's just getting mad all the time. And I -- you know, I think that you've got to take it with a grain of salt. Some of it is just what's called politics, where, you know, once one party wins, then the other party kind of gets -- feels like it needs to poke you a little bit to keep you on your toes. And so you shouldn't take it too seriously. Keep Reading ...

The following are President Obama's prepared town hall opening remarks at the University of New Orleans.  This is President Obama's first trip to New Orleans as President, though he has been to the city five times since Katrina. White House spokesman Nick Shapiro says during those visits President Obama, "has done most of the things people are saying they want him to do, what he hasn’t done is hold a public event where he can hear directly from the people of New Orleans, so that is what he is doing on this trip.”

The White House estimates that there are approximately 1,350 people in the audience at today's town hall. 70 percent of the tickets were general admission, distributed randomly among people who signed up online and over the phone. The other 30 percent was distributed by the White House to elected officials and community leaders.

Read the prepared opening remarks (as prepared for delivery) below:

Hello, New Orleans! It is great to be back in the Crescent City. And it is always an inspiration to spend time with the men and women who have reminded the rest of us what it means to persevere in the face of tragedy and rebuild in the face of ruin. Katrina may have swept through this city, but it did not destroy this community, and that is because of you - the people of New Orleans.

It has now been just over four years since that terrible storm struck your shores. And in the days after it did, this nation and all the world bore witness to the fact that the damage from Katrina was not just caused by a disaster of nature, but by a failure of government - a government that wasn't adequately prepared and didn't adequately respond.

I saw the consequences of this failure during my visits here as a Senator and then as a candidate. So when I took office as President, one of the first things I did was tell my Cabinet and senior staff that our Gulf Coast rebuilding efforts and our disaster response efforts were going to be top priorities for this White House. I wanted to get it right and I wanted us to be ready. Keep Reading ...

The White House says that the President has decided to give the approximately $1.4 million prize accompanying his Nobel Peace prize to charity. 

They have not made a decision on which charity or charities will receive the money.

STATEMENT FROM FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER ON THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE

 I congratulate President Obama on being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize today. It is a bold statement of international support for his vision and commitment to peace and harmony in international relations. It shows the hope his administration represents not only to our nation but to people around the world.