Today, at theWhite House, during an interview for German TV.

Accomplish Some Missions!

Well, I made my clear statement there at the U.N., that I’m for overall reform and I do believe we ought to look at reforming the Security Council in a way that, you know, accomplishes some missions.

The Only One Country

It’s not easy to get done and the only one country that I’ve endorsed has been Japan, and it’s been a long-standing policy of the government of the United States, and I continue that policy.

Everybody’s Parliaments Reacts

No, I understand. I mean, you know, people — everybody’s parliaments or legislative bodies reacts to the challenges differently.

Home of the Whopper

Q You just mentioned Iran. Do you think that the nuclear threat that Iran poses right now is larger than the threat Iraq posed about five or six years ago?

THE PRESIDENT: I think they were both dangerous. I think both of them could have been solved diplomatically.

Try To Try

I would say that we would always try to try diplomacy first.

As Seen On TV

In other words, I — I’ve committed our troops into harm’s way twice, and it’s not a pleasant experience because I understand the consequences firsthand.

There Is Places

I mean, look, there’s going to be — there’s places where we disagree.

Mixed Metaphors R Us

We don’t always agree eye to eye. Kosovo is an area where we don’t agree eye to eye.

There Is too Many

There’s just too many babies dying on the continent of Africa, for example, because of mosquito bites.

Drain Bamage

You know, the biggest issue facing a President going forward will be whether or not we can deal with our, you know, our Social Security and Medicare, our health care and pension plans for the elderly, because like other parts of the world — I presume Germany, as well — baby boomers relative to people contributing to the system — so you have baby boomers like me retiring and not enough young workers, and we need to get the systems in balance.

Mental Muddle

And then the foreign policy — and if you will listen to the debate, our candidates have got a strong, firm view of how to conduct foreign policy and the American people innately understand that there’s — there’s still threats out there. And our biggest job is to protect our — see, that’s an interesting difference between, say, Germany and America.

Russia Has Got A Handful

That’s what I was about to describe — that this is not aimed at Russia. I mean, it — and frankly it’s absurd for somebody to say it is aimed at Russia, because the number of interceptors that would be there — the rockets to knock down the other rocket — will be limited in number and therefore somebody who has got a handful of rockets can overwhelm the system.

Gets A History Lesson

THE PRESIDENT: We’ve been attacked. We feel like another attack is coming, and therefore, you know, our actions ought to be to protect our country. And, you know, I’m not so sure that it’s that same sense of anxiety in other parts of Europe or in Germany.

Q Well, we have some old fears. I mean, we were on the border of the Cold War. I mean, we had this Iron Curtain in our country, in that respect. We know a little bit about that, too.

We Got! We Do!

And so — the only reason I bring that up is I know that people think that our relations with Russia are, you know, may not be conducive to constructive action, but we got — we do — and there’s no question there’s tensions on some issues.

He Dealt With A Tax

And at home, that the cornerstone of my policy is to trust the individual American to make the best decisions for his or her family. And that I dealt with not only a tax, but recession and a lot of other challenges to our economy, and yet our economy is very strong.

He’ll Be Dead

But I’ll be dead before they finally figure out my administration because history, it takes a while to get the true history of an administration.