Q Earlier today -- or looking towards next week with this G20 summit here at the White House -- or here in Washington, French President Sarkozy said he hoped that it would yield concrete decisions, swift and concrete decisions on global financial regulation. Is that a view the White House shares?
MS. PERINO: We'll see. We think that there's a lot of -- a lot to work through on the agenda, and our sherpas are all working and talking amongst each other to figure out what the agenda will be, the principles for reform. That was -- the purpose of this meeting as it was set out in the conversations the President had with all the leaders before he sent the invitations was to organize with them the agenda, first of all, starting with identifying the underlying causes of the problem. That is something that we all need to do so that we all understand the basis from which we want to work to improve it.
Secondly, reviewing progress to date, which has been considerable. In our country we've got a long way to go, but we're starting to get there. The credit markets are starting to thaw out, and that is exactly what we are trying to do to try to solve -- help solve the problem. And then we said that we would outline principles for reform.
Could there be concrete issues that could be agreed to? I don't know. I would refer you to my briefing a week from now, a prospective referral -- as we get closer. (Laughter.) We just need to get closer to the meeting to see what we're going to be able to work out.
Q But there does seem to be a bit of a difference. The White House and the administration has talked about principles for reform. It sounds like the French are pushing for something much more --
MS. PERINO: I think that in the -- I do think there's been a tendency in the media to try to draw distinctions and differences, even hostilities, between us and the French. That is not the case. We are working in a cooperative spirit, trying to find the path forward together, principles for reform.
Could there be areas where we might be able to agree and be able to move forward? Yes. But remember, this is not just a meeting between the French and the United States. We have invited the leaders of the G20, which means that we have emerging markets here. The President wanted them to have a say in how we move forward, and so their voice is going to be very important. The President is not going to invite them here and then ignore them. So we'll let you know as we get closer how that agenda is shaping up.
