Obama to Students: 'We’re Not Going to Reduce Our Deficit by Cutting Education'

Hundreds of invited students, faculty and staff filled the Richard J. Ernst Cultural Community Center at the Annandale campus of the college on Tuesday morning to listen to President Barack Obama discuss his plans to reduce the deficit without cutting from education and other areas.

Many students arrived by 7 a.m. to stand in line outside the Ernst Center, but despite communications from college officials, not everyone on campus was aware of the president's visit. Lara King, a counselor at NOVA, walked up the sidewalk, an umbrella over her head as it started to rain at 9:45, and was surprised to hear that President Obama was on his way to the school.

"I'm very interested in hearing his speech," said Theodore Frederick, 26, of Sterling, a political science student at the NOVA-Loudoun campus on his way into the hall. "I think he [Obama] has worked fairly well with the Congress. I know a lot of Democrats feel like he's given too much, but at the same time, a lot of people in the Republican party feel like he's not necessarily an ally in fixing the recession,” said Frederick, who is a republican. “It's always been my opinion that it's America's responsibility to fix the recession, not necessarily Congress'.”

Woodbridge resident Gay Kloiber worked on Obama's campaign last time he ran for president. "I'm very upset about what's happening in the country," she said. When asked for specifics she mentioned the deficit and raising the debt ceiling. "I think he's the only one who's rational.”

Once inside, some people searched for friends, others for closer seats, but all were smiling and visibly excited. According to the White House, 500 people were invited and 40 media outlets registered.

Before Obama took the stage, constant chatter filled the room as people stood and posed for photos with one another, took photos of the stage on their phones or talked with whoever was sitting beside them. To pass the time, students began to do “the wave” and there was the occasional shout from groups on stage as they took photos, which fooled the unassuming attendee into thinking the event was beginning, and student volunteers prepared for their mic-running duties.

Annandale resident and student Ethar Baba, 19, said she volunteered to help because she supports President Obama, adding that Obama "has the potential" to work with the Congress to improve the country's economy and problems with federal debt.

Obama Discusses Plan to Reduce Deficit

Obama was originally scheduled to speak at 10:15 a.m., but didn’t take the stage until shortly after 10:30 a.m. Despite his lateness, the crowd welcomed him with applause. “I keep on coming back because Jill Biden tells me to keep on coming back,” Obama joked about his third NOVA campus visit, referencing Vice President Joe Biden’s wife Jill, who teaches at the NOVA-Alexandria campus.

During his speech, the president spoke about the need to cut from the defense budget and other areas in order to reduce the country’s debt. Obama also said he was “hopeful” Republicans and Democrats would be able to work together to come to an agreement on how to cut an estimated $4 trillion from the budget.

He also spoke to the crowd of college students about the things that concern them most: education, college loans and tight budgets. Obama said his plan to reduce the deficit does not include taking away money from education, but “tying more money to improved performance and real reform.”

"We’re not going to reduce our deficit by cutting education and eliminating college scholarships," said Obama, later adding, “In order to provide more money for education, we’re having to make some cuts in some other areas that are going to be difficult in some cases."

While he was responding to an audience member’s question about changing Medicare policies to pay for care overseas, there was a loud thunk from somewhere in the building. “Now -- uh-oh. We don’t need any health care, do we? Nobody fell?” Obama said jokingly before going back to the question at hand. “My preference would be that you don’t have to travel to Mexico or India to get cheap health care. I’d like you to be able to get it right here in the United States of America that’s high quality.”

Read a full transcript of Obama’s speech here.

Post-Speech Reactions

When it was over, crowds of students exited the building with many talking excitedly among friends about Obama and his speech and the experience of being so close to him. “I touched his hand, mom!” shouted one student into his phone as he followed the groups of people into parking lot once Obama’s motorcade vacated the premises.

“I think he did a great job, I was very impressed,” said retired veteran Carlina Biascoehea who came to the Annandale campus via bus from the Woodbridge campus with several other students including Roylando Toliver and the dean of natural science and mathematics at the Woodbridge campus, Dr. Hassan Maima.