After rescue teams administered first aid, he was transported to the hospital
Obama also took the opportunity to strike back at recent comments by former Vice President Dick Cheney, who claimed that plans to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center will make the U.S. less safe.
Obama contended that the Bush administration's policy of holding detainees for years on end with no trials is “unsustainable," and has only fueled anti-American sentiments. At the same time, Obama said that U.S. authorities haven't done a good job determining who should be released from the Navy base in Cuba.
On Geithner, Obama reiterated his support for the beleaguered secretary who has been roundly criticized over the recent corporate bonus flap and steps to revive the economy. And he urged patience.
“It's going to take a little bit more time than we would like to make sure that we get this plan just right. Of course, then we'd still be subject to criticism," he said in the interview, taped Friday and set to air Sunday evening. “What's taken so long? You've been in office a whole 40 days and you haven't solved the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression."
CBS released excerpts on Saturday.
Obama also said corporate executives would better understand the public's outrage over bonuses if they ventured out of New York and spent time in Iowa or Arkansas. There, he said, people are thrilled to be making $75,000 a year with no bonuses.
Public outrage spilled over last week after revelations that struggling insurance giant American International Group Inc. doled out $165 million in bonuses to employees, including to traders in the financial unit that nearly caused the company's collapse.
On the Bush administration's detainee policies, Obama noted the hundreds of men at Guantanamo who have been held for several years.
“How many terrorists have actually been brought to justice under the philosophy that is being promoted by Vice President Cheney?" Obama said. The Bush administration's policy, Obama said, “hasn't made us safer."
Among those who have been released, more than 60 former Guantanamo detainees are believed to have rejoined the fight, the Pentagon says.
“There is no doubt that we have not done a particularly effective job in sorting through who are truly dangerous individuals to make sure (they) are not a threat to us," Obama said.
Some 800 men have been held at Guantanamo since the prison opened in January 2002, and 240 remain. Some are admitted terrorists, including confessed Sept. 11 plotter Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who was transferred to Guantanamo from CIA custody in September 2006. But officials have said that many may have been innocent men unconnected to the Taliban or al-Qaida, but were swept up by U.S. forces in the early days of the Afghanistan war.
Since taking office, Obama has taken aim at Bush administration policies, suspending military trials for suspected terrorists and announcing he will close Guantanamo and other overseas sites where the CIA has held some detainees.
After rescue teams administered first aid, he was transported to the hospital
The date palms are seen as a part of the family, one farmer, who takes care of nearly 1200 trees with 'own hands,' says
Community management bodies send out circulars listing ‘security measures before travel’
Humidity is expected to range between 10 per cent and 75 per cent today
Imagine a firm acting like a strict parent, setting all the rules and watching the clock
Customising sessions to meet each patient's needs is essential to successful music therapy
Learners just need to bring their own goggles, swimsuit, water – and most importantly the determination to learn, and willingness to clean the beach
Omar Al Marzouqi and cyclist Safiya Al Sayegh were the flag-bearers for the UAE at the opening ceremony