Obama keynotes White House forum on jobs and economic growth

I want to hear about what mayors and community leaders can do to bring new investment to our cities and towns and help recovery dollars get to where they need to go as quickly as possible.

I want to hear from CEOs about what's holding back business investment and how we can increase confidence and spur hiring.

OBAMA: And if there are things that we're doing here in Washington that are inhibiting you, then we want to know about it.

And I want to continue this conversation outside of Washington, which is why I'll be meeting with some of the small-business owners that you saw in the video in Allentown, Pennsylvania, tomorrow, to get their ideas.

It's also why we've asked state and local officials and community organizations to hold their own jobs forums over the next week or so, and to report back with the ideas and recommendations that result.

So let it be clear: I am open to every demonstrably good idea. And I want to take every responsible step to accelerate job creation.

We also, though, have to face the fact that our resources are limited. When we walked in, there was an enormous fiscal gap between the money that is going out and the money coming in. The recession has made that worse, because of fewer tax receipts and more demands made on government for things like unemployment insurance.

So we can't make any ill-considered decisions right now. Even with the best of intentions, we're going to have to be surgical and we're going to have to be creative. We're going to have to be smart and strategic. And we'll need to look beyond the old standbys and fallbacks, and come up with the best ideas that give us the biggest bang for the buck.

So I need everybody here to bring their A game here today. I'm going to be asking some tough questions. I will be listening for some good answers.

And I don't want to just brainstorm up at 30,000 feet. I want details in our discussion today. I'm looking for specific recommendations that can be implemented that will spur on job growth as quickly as possible.

Now, I want to be clear.

OBAMA: We won't overcome our unemployment challenge in just a few hours this afternoon. I assure you, there is extraordinary skepticism that any discussions like this can actually produce results. I'm well aware of that. I don't mind skepticism. If I listened to the skeptics, I wouldn't be here.

(LAUGHTER)

But I am confident that we'll make progress. I'm confident that people like you who built thriving businesses or revolutionized industries or brought cities and communities together and changed the way we look at the world and innovated and created new products that you can come up with some additional good ideas on how to create jobs.

And I'm confident that the spirit of bold, persistent experimentation that FDR talked about and that's gotten this country through some of our darkest hours remains alive and well, not just in this room, but all across the country. We still have the best universities in the world. We've got some of the finest science and technology in the world. We've got the most entrepreneurial spirit in the world and we've got some of the most productive workers in the world.

And if we get serious, then the 21st century is going to be the American century, just like the 20th century was. But we're going to have to approach this with a sense of seriousness and try to set the politics and the chatter aside for a while and actually get to work.

So welcome. Thank you for participating. We are going to maximize the productivity of this effort over the next several hours. And I will be returning back with you so that I can get a report on what kinds of ideas seem to make the most sense.

Thank you very much, everybody.

(APPLAUSE)

END