44, Day 64: Meet the Press

An ongoing log of the daily activities of the 44th president of the United States during his first 100 days:

-President Obama, in his second full press conference, took his campaign for his budget and fiscal reform initiatives to the nation's prime time. His bottom line--Americans need to look to the long term, and the way to get to a stronger nation is by investing in energy, health care, and education. To do that, Obama suggested, is to significantly change how the nation perceives Wall Street. "When you have an economy in which the majority of growth growth is coming from the financial center, when AIG's selling a derivative is counted as an increase in the gross domestic product, then that's not a model for sustainable economic growth."

-The president took his economic message global by sending a column to big newspapers around the world. "We are living through a time of global economic challenges that cannot be met by half measures or the isolated efforts of any nation," Obama wrote. Early next month, the president attends the G20 summit in London and Obama wrote that the leaders of these countries "have a responsibility to take bold, comprehensive and coordinated action that not only jump-starts recovery, but also launches a new era of economic engagement to prevent a crisis like this from ever happening again."

-Personnel watch: Well, the president finally has a Commerce secretary on the job. The Senate today confirmed former Washington Governor Gary Locke, who was Obama's third choice for the job.

Sources: The White House, Bloomberg,