Facing the Nation

Obama's "Face the Nation" interview yesterday offered rhetorical support for Calderón's government, but provided little indication that his government is willing to reconsider the way it fights the war on drugs:

Schieffer: Let me ask you about something closer to home and that is Mexico. You talked about sending more aid to the Mexican government. But things down there are really serious, as you well know. It's my understanding that 90 percent of the guns that they're getting down in Mexico are coming from the United States. We don't seem to be doing a very good job of cutting off the gun flow. Do you need any kind of legislative help on that front? Have you, for example, thought about asking Congress to reinstate the ban on assault weapons?

President Obama: Well, I think the main thing we need is better enforcement. And so this week we put forward a comprehensive initiative to assist those border regions that are being threatened by these drug cartels to provide assistance to the Mexican government to make sure that on our side of the border we've got more personnel, more surveillance equipment.

Schieffer: But why are we having so much trouble with that? I mean -

President Obama: Well, what's happened is that President Calderon I think has been very bold and rightly has decided that it's gotten carried away. The drug cartels have too much power, are undermining and corrupting huge segments of Mexican society. And so he has taken them on in the same way that when, you know, Elliot Ness took on Al Capone back during Prohibition, oftentimes that causes even more violence. And we're seeing that flare up.

Schieffer: Do you think it's a threat to the United States security?

President Obama: I don't think that it is what would be called an existential threat. But it is a serious threat to those border communities, and it's gotten out of hand. And so what we have to do is to recognize that, look, this is a two-way street -

Schieffer: Which -

President Obama: - as Secretary Clinton indicated -

Schieffer: Yes?

President Obama: - we've gotta reduce demand for drugs. We've got to do our part in reducing the flow of cash and guns south.

Schieffer: Are we anywhere close to putting U.S. troops on the border?

President Obama: You know, obviously there have been calls to increase National Guard troops on the borders. That's something that we are considering. But we want to first see whether some of the steps that we've taken can help quell some of the violence. And we want to make sure that we are consulting as effectively as we can with the Mexican government in moving this strategy forward.