Events and Announcements: Melody Barnes, Valerie Jarrett meet with community leaders

From the beginning, President-elect Obama has said that only if we come together as a nation can we meet the immense challenges before us. He’s made reaching out to every part of America a top priority. Three weeks ago Rahm Emanuel, who will serve as the President-elect’s Chief of Staff in the White House, reached out to the business community at The Wall Street Journal's CEO Council. He emphasized the need to refocus on the middle class, and told them now is the time for real change: “When it gets rough out there, a lot of business leaders get out of the car and say, ‘We're OK with minor reform.’ I'm challenging you today, we're going to have to do big, serious things.”

Yesterday Melody Barnes, who will serve as Director of the Domestic Policy Council, joined Valerie Jarrett, who will be a senior White House advisor, to send a similar message to community leaders. Barnes spoke at length with moderator Juan Williams about the incoming Obama Administration’s commitment to bring all voices into the process, citing the online engagement and exchange of ideas already taking place at Change.gov.

Juan Williams: Melody Barnes, you're going to be in the White House advising President Obama on domestic policy. As you look out on this group of people, what do you have to say to them about what they can do to help you do your job and achieve some of the goals that you have in mind for the President-elect?

Melody Barnes: That's a wonderful question. Thank you so much, Juan. What I want everyone to remember is that we have elected a different kind of president. On this panel already we've talked about the hunger to deliver on promises, to deliver on the needs of the American people. We've talked about the desire to be heard. The willingness to be heard and to contribute. We've talked about the need for humanity and the absolute need not to let up. And what we have now is a President-elect who understands that, who understands that we are interconnected, that each off us has a common set of problems and the solutions to those problems are also commonly linked. So we have to rely on the expertise that you have, expertise that exists in the faith community that exists in the labor community, that is born of the immigrant experience, that exists in the business community and all of us have to come together to bring that expertise to the table. We are counting, counting on you to talk to us and we have already started that process of listening to people on healthcare, listening to people on our labor relations issues and a whole host of other issues, so that we can use that information to build the solutions that are going to bring opportunity and mobility back to this country.

Juan Williams: Melody Barnes, do you have, as you look out on that first year, do you have an agenda that you could advertise to the audience here this afternoon so they know what's your priority?

Melody Barnes: Sure. The beauty of working for President-elect Obama and Vice President-elect Biden is what they talked about for 21 months is what we believe in today. We know we have an economic crisis staring us in the face right now and we have to do something about that. And we are preparing as President-elect Obama has said a stimulus package to shock the economy back into being. But when we are doing that, we are not forgetting about our promises on healthcare, access to healthcare for everyone. We're not forgetting about our promises with regard to education, starting not just in kindergarten but the day you are born and helping young families, to make sure that they are prepared to raise their children. And we are not forgetting about our promises with regard to the immigrant community as well. So all of those things are a part of our agenda. We will start making down payments on those things as President-elect Obama has said in the stimulus package and beyond going into this first year. That's part of our economic recovery.

As President-elect Obama explained on the day he announced Barnes’ appointment, he chose her in precisely the spirit she conveyed yesterday: “While we can’t underestimate the challenges we face, we also can’t underestimate our capacity to overcome them – to summon that spirit of determination and optimism that has always defined us, and move forward in a new direction to create new jobs, reform our financial system, and fuel long-term economic growth. We know this won’t be easy, and it won’t happen overnight. We’ll need to bring together the best minds in America to guide us – and that is what I’ve sought to do in assembling my economic team.”