Gov. Kasich: Obama came to Ohio 12 times to defeat me and he didn’t win
CNN’s Jessica Yellin spoke with Ohio Gov. Kasich about his state facing similar budget troubles like Wisconsin. Full transcript is posted at CNN.com and a highlight is after the jump.
MANDATORY CREDIT: JOHN KING, USA
HIGHLIGHT TRANSCRIPT
THIS IS A RUSH FDCH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JESSICA YELLIN, GUEST ANCHOR: President Obama finally is coming to your state tomorrow. He’s going to be in Cleveland. What is your message to President Obama?
GOV. JOHN KASICH (R), OHIO: Well, I am there to greet him. I mean President Obama came to Ohio 12 times to try to defeat me and guess what, he didn’t win? My message to him on anything is give us the flexibility we need to run our state. And frankly that’s what I am going to ask him for. He is the president of the United States.
I think it is my job to be there to welcome him to Ohio on his first visit since he is president and I’m the governor. I don’t expect a long conversation. If there is any one thing he would ask me for I would say more flexibility particularly on Medicaid so we can serve the population of people that need health care, just you know get — release the strings.
Allow us to be able to manage our state better in a whole variety of ways, but tomorrow is not designed to be some confrontation. It is to welcome him to our great state. And he is the president, I’m the governor, and it’s a pretty amazing situation.
YELLIN: Governor Walker said that the president should butt out of state business. That’s not his exact quote. He said he has his own issues to worry about. You don’t feel the same way?
KASICH: Well no, I mean Jessica, my feeling about that is when I left Washington we were running a surplus. The economy was growing. Jobs were being created. We cut taxes on risk taking and investment. I think the president needs to keep his attention and focus on the problems in Washington with a $14 trillion deficit and frankly a budget that took a pass this time.
So, you know let him deal with his situation. Let me deal with mine in Ohio. Just give me my flexibility. Give me some of my money back. You know well I’ll tell you one thing they did. They wanted us to have high speed rail. I said I don’t want that money. It’ll put us in the hole. Give us the money and let us use it to fix our freight trail lines here.
You know what they did? They gave it to somebody else. He said if you don’t want to give it to me, don’t spend it. So you know I mean there is a little frustration here. But look, bottom line is he is the president of the United States. He deserves respect. But focus on your, on your agenda. Let me focus on mine.
###