MR. CARNEY: Well, if you honestly believe that the public is out there wondering why the President wasn’t in every one of these meetings, you know, I think that’s nuts. You know that’s not true. I mean, that can be some dialogue that you hear on cable talk shows. He’s President of the United States. He has had to make important decisions on Afghanistan, deal with Libya, deal with other economic issues. He has been directly engaged. And by the way, he, as President, designated his Vice President to organize these negotiations that had been so productive. That was a proposal not from Congress, but by the President. And every participant in that -- in those negotiations, Republicans included, have commented on how focused and effective those negotiations were; that everybody was quite serious in them and they achieved a lot. Did they resolve every issue? No. Did anyone expect them to resolve every issue? No.

So, I mean, look, the Vice President, I don’t need to remind you, is a major player in this administration. He was obviously intimately involved in the negotiation that led to the tax cut deal that the President reached with Republicans and Democrats last December, and numerous other measures and initiatives that this administration takes.

So I think it is -- to counter that perception or counter that argument that 10 people might be hearing on cable news, I think the point is the President asked the Vice President to lead these talks precisely because he thinks they’re so important.