English subtitles for clip: File:President Obama's statement on Hurricane Sandy.ogv

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Hello, everybody!

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I just received a full briefing
from our emergency response

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teams, including FEMA, and
agencies that are going to

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be helpful in the response
and recovery efforts -- the

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Department of Energy, the
Department of Transportation,

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the Department of Homeland
Security, and the Department

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of Health and Human Services.

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Obviously, everybody is aware at
this point that this is going to

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be a big and powerful storm.

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And all across the Eastern
seaboard, I think everybody

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is taking the appropriate
preparations.

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I've spoken to all the
governors in all these states.

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They have issues
emergency declarations.

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Those have been turned around
quickly here in the White House.

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We have prepositioned assets so
that FEMA personnel are working

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closely with state
and local governments.

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We're making sure that food and
water and emergency generation

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is available for those
communities that are going

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to be hardest hit.

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We anticipate that the center of
the storm is going to land fall

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sometime this evening.

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But because of the nature of
this storm, we are certain that

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this is going to be a
slow-moving process through

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a wide swath of the country, and
millions of people are going to

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be affected.

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So the most important message
that I have for the public right

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now is, please listen to what
your state and local officials

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are saying.

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When they tell you to evacuate,
you need to evacuate.

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Do not delay.

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Don't pause; don't question the
instructions that are being

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given, because this is a serious
storm and it could potentially

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have fatal consequence if
people haven't acted quickly.

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The good news is, is that the
governors and local officials I

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think have had a few
days of preparation.

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There's been extraordinarily
close coordination between

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state, federal, and
local governments.

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And so we're confident that the
assets are prepositioned for an

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effective response in the
aftermath of the storm.

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But keep in mind that for
folks who are not following

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instructions, if you are not
evacuating when you've been

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asked to evacuate,
you're putting first

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responders at danger.

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We're going to have to have
search-and-rescue teams in and

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around multiple states
all at the same time.

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And although we've got Coast
Guard and the Department of

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Defense all positioned, if
the public is not following

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instructions, that makes
it more dangerous for people

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and it means that we could
have fatalities that could

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have been avoided.

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Transportation is going to
be tied up for a long time.

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And probably the most
significant impact for

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a lot of people, in
addition to flooding,

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is going to be
getting power back on.

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We anticipate that there are
going to be a lot of trees down,

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a lot of water.

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And despite the fact that the
power companies are working very

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closely with their various state
officials and local officials to

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make sure that they are bringing
in as many assets as possible

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and getting those ready in
preparation for the storm, the

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fact is that a lot of these
emergency crews are not going to

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be able to get into position to
start restoring power until some

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of these winds have died down.

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And because of the nature
of this storm, that may

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take several days.

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So the public should anticipate
that there's going to be a lot

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of power outages, and it may
take time for that power to

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get back on.

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The same is true with
transportation; there are

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going to be a lot of backlogs,
and even after the storm has

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cleared, it's going to take a
considerable amount of time for

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airlines, subways, trains, and
so forth, potentially to get

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back on schedule, depending
on the amount of damage that

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has occurred.

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Let me summarize just by saying
that I'm extraordinarily

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grateful for the cooperation of
our state and local officials.

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The conversations that I've had
with all the governors indicate

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that at this point there
are no unmet needs.

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I think everybody is
taking this very seriously.

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We've gotten prepositioned all
the resources that we need.

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But right now, the key is to
make sure that the public is

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following instructions.

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For those of you who still need
additional information about how

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to respond, you can go to
Ready.gov -- that's Ready.gov.

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And that website should provide
you with all the information

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that your family needs in
terms of how you can prepare

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for this storm.

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Our thoughts and prayers go
out to all the people who are

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potentially affected.

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We are extraordinarily grateful
for our first responders,

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because they're going
to be working 24/7 around

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the clock, non-stop.

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And I want to make sure that our
thoughts and prayers go out to

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all those who may end up be
dealing with a very difficult

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situation over the
next several days.

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Last point I'll make, though --
this is going to be a big storm.

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It's going to be
a difficult storm.

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The great thing about America is
when we go through tough times

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like this we all pull together.

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We look out for our friends.

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We look out for our neighbors.

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And we set aside whatever issues
we may have otherwise to make

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sure that we respond
appropriately and

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with swiftness.

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And that's exactly what
I anticipate is going to

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happen here.

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So I want to thank all the
federal teams, state and local

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teams that are in place.

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I'm confident that we're ready.

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But I think the public needs to
prepare for the fact that this

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is going to take a long
time for us to clean up.

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The good news is we will clean
up and we will get through this.

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>> The Press:
What about the impact
on the election, sir?

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>> The President:
I am not worried at
this point about the

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impact on the election.

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I'm worried about the impact on
families, and I'm worried about

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the impact on our
first responders.

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I'm worried about the
impact on our economy

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and on transportation.

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The election will take
care of itself next week.

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Right now, our number-one
priority is to make sure that

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we are saving lives, that our
search-and-rescue teams are

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going to be in place, that
people are going to get the

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food, the water, the shelter
that they need in case of

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emergency, and that we respond
as quickly as possible to get

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the economy back on track.