And I think this meeting, which we -- which we set up, is the beginning of that.
But I think it was characterized and I think I characterized it this way last Thursday after the meeting that was had in the Situation Room, that progress is steady but slow.
But I think that this was a meeting that made important progress in both sides being able to hear directly from one another about what their views are of the various interests on which we cooperate.
WHITEHOUSE: Press Briefing with Jay Carney, Ben Rhodes, and Shawn Gallagher | The White House
So my main purpose here today at this first meeting I think is to listen, to get a sense of where all of you think the economy is right now, what kinds of steps we need to be taking.
WHITEHOUSE: The President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness
We have just finished what I consider to be a very productive meeting on one of the most critical issues that I think this nation faces, and that is an immigration system that is broken and needs fixing.
WHITEHOUSE: President Obama: Working Together for Immigration Reform
This is all I could think of in the meeting, which was POI's, pissed off Iraqi's.
"You rarely see this kind of meeting with this kind of array of cabinet officials on both sides, so I think it indicates this is the real deal, " Ms Napolitano said.
BBC: Clinton pledges broader US effort on Mexico drugs gangs
And I think the President is -- discussed this at the last bipartisan meeting that we had in the Cabinet Room, and there was agreement in making the types of budgetary decisions that we were on that three-year freeze.
And I think that's an indication of just how productive and constructive this meeting was.
So I think that is a good way of looking at the timing of this particular meeting.
And I think a number of people that are important to the debate are in this meeting.
And I think the stakeholders involved in this process are broader than those you all envision meeting in the Roosevelt Room, because this is a process that affects far more people than the denizens of Washington.
And the President then, I think, at the speech site, was able to have this clutch, this brief meeting backstage with a number of people who have made extraordinary sacrifices -- the leader of the Saffron Revolution, political prisoners who have been released after many years in jail, representatives of ethnic minorities.
But I think I would not -- I don't want to raise expectations that this is a meeting that will lead to an imminent, concrete decision about some action.
This obligation to future generations I think was well symbolized by the tree planting that we started our meeting with.
And I think the next -- again, the next phase of this will play out at the Board of Governors meeting in Vienna.
And both of us later wrote in our respective autobiographies, after that very first meeting, we could report back to our constituencies, I think I can do business with this man.
Again, the agreement to come out of this meeting with those that would sit down, again, as soon as later today, I think give the President some hope.
"I think the fever has broken on this, " a key Republican leadership aide said in advance of the afternoon White House meeting.
I've checked with my sources, and I don't think they're going to say until the Arab league meeting here in Cairo tomorrow where all this is going to be discussed.
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