President Obama worked to rally the country behind his economic agenda last night in a press conference that focused heavily on the budget and skimmed almost entirely over foreign policy issues. But the press conference wasn't the only way President Obama worked to get his message out yesterday. He held a smaller news meeting shortly after noon, where he called reporters to the Oval Office to talk about his efforts to revive the economy and what he hoped would come out of the G-20. He also released a video right before the press conference inviting ordinary people to go to Whitehouse.gov to submit questions that he will answer in an online town hall on the economy tomorrow.

With all of this new media and community involvement, is the traditional press conference obsolete? Joining us for a recap and some analysis are April Ryan, White House Correspondent for American Urban Radio Networks and Dan Froomkin, who writes the White House Watch blog for the Washington Post.

Have your own thoughts to add to the President's speech? Click here!

In a call to the American people, President Obama released a video asking for questions about the economy. Watch it below.

This week the Chinese called for a new global currency to replace the dominant dollar. China has the world’s largest foreign exchange reserves, valued at nearly $2 trillion, with more than half of these holdings estimated to be made up of dollar-denominated bonds, including United States Treasury bonds. Earlier this month, the Chinese prime minister, Wen Jiabao, said he was concerned about the safety of these assets. Russia has made the same plea before. How serious are these countries? Jeff Madrick is the director of policy research at the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy at The New School. He says this issue shows "the tide of history is turning" when it comes to the global dominance of the dollar. He joins us now to discuss whether a new currency reserve system is a possibility or just some pre-G20 maneuvering by China.

Imagine if, after 9/11, the U.S. government said it was so concerned about another attack, that it decided the World Series would be played outside America. Well, that’s pretty much what’s just happened in India. After the Mumbai attacks and rumbling instability in neighboring Pakistan (remember the recent attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team there?) the Indian government moved the Indian Premier League cricket competition...to South Africa. To discuss the global implications of this move, The Takeaway is joined by Alex Capstick, the BBC’s Sports News correspondent.

The crisis in the auto industry is not just taking it's toll on American brands. While the Saturn and Hummer maybe a thing of the past here, in Europe, Saab is at risk, and in Russia, the famed Lada car company may be at risk of going under entirely. And they haven't been able to pay their hockey team in three months. In fact, there is an entire city that depends on making the car mdash;it's home town of Togliatti in central Russia. For more, The Takeaway is joined by Rupert Wingfield-Hayes in Moscow.

Not familiar with Lada? Maybe this commercial will help bring you up to speed.

By now, we’re all aware of the dark side of the world of finance. But there’s another side to finance that starts with a youthful impulse to save the world and evolves into something both savvy and humane. After a funny encounter with a child wearing her cast-off sweater in Rwanda, Jacqueline Novogratz realized how interconnected the world really is. Novogratz has been at the front of a movement that combines social investing and social entrepreneurship in some of the poorest countries in the world. She is founder of The Acumen Fund, a nonprofit venture capital firm that supports small businesses in developing countries, and author of the book The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World.

Last night in his second primetime takeover, President Obama took on a familiar tone in addressing the nation. The same "we mean business" tone we heard from him on the campaign trail last fall came back last night and it was a far cry from the lighthearted Obama the nation saw last week with Jay Leno. He hit hard on the economy going over his budget, the state of race in this country and the cost of war. Joining The Takeaway with an assessment of the appearance is Adam Nagourney, from our partner the New York Times, and Glenn Thrush of Politico.


For more, read Adam Nagourney's article, In a Volatile Time, Obama Strikes a New Tone for Crisis in today's New York Times.

Have your own thoughts on the President's speech? Add them here!

In 2001 dozens of public health groups around the world petitioned the FDA to make emergency contraception available over the counter, but the decision over whether to do that, and especially whether to make it available to women under the age of 18, dragged on for years bogged down in a political quagmire. Dr. Susan Wood worked at the FDA during this period as the assistant FDA Commissioner for Women’s Health. She resigned in protest to the FDA’s handling of Plan B, the brand name of the so-called morning after pill. Now, another four years later, a federal judge has ruled that the FDA wrongly bowed to the pressure of the Bush administration in its decision making process and relied on politics and not science. Susan Wood, now a research professor at the School of Public Health at George Washington University, talks with The Takeaway about where the FDA may go from here.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visits Mexico today. She’s taking with her a new multi-agency security program for the U.S.-Mexico border. It’s an attempt to support the Mexican government in its fight against drug cartels. The new plan recognizes the role the United States plays in escalating drug violence. President Obama called it a “two-way situation” where drugs come north from Mexico to the U.S., and laundered drug money and guns go south from the U.S. to Mexico. BBC reporter Steven Gibbs spent Tuesday embedded with Mexican troops and he is joins us with a report.

We've been following this story closely. For more of The Takeaway's coverage of life and death on the border, click here.

Here's a glimpse of the drug war being waged on the streets of Ciudad Juarez:

Feed six people for fifty dollars? No problem. No problem that is until you realize what your competition is serving. When the New York Times asked two of their food writers to create menus for dinner parties on a strict $50 budget both of them quickly realized they couldn't offer chicken and salad, not when their competition was dishing up tilefish ceviche in handmade tortilla chips or cheddar gougeres and Jean-Georges desserts. In this culinary Thunderdome, it's Julia Moskin versus Kim Severson and they are battling it out for best budget dinner party. The judge? Frank Bruni, the feared New York Times food critic. They join The Takeaway for a reenactment.

The story of their dinners, Comrades at Arms: Two Food Writers in a Kitchen Smackdown, is in today's New York Times.

Recipe Files: Kim's Tacos de Carnitas
Adapted from Tara Duggan, The San Francisco Chronicle
Time: 2 1/2 hours

• 3 pounds pork shoulder, either butt or picnic
• 7 strips orange zest
• 5 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 large onion, chopped, plus finely chopped onion for garnish
• 1 1/4 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 cinnamon stick, preferably Mexican canela
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 1/2 teaspoons crushed dried oregano leaves, preferably Mexican
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, more to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 24 small corn tortillas, warmed, for serving
• Chopped cilantro for garnish
• Salsa for garnish.

1. Trim any thick fat from surface of pork. Cut meat into 1-inch cubes, discarding any that are pure fat. Put pork in a large pot. Add enough water to cover by 2 inches, orange zest, garlic, chopped onion, red pepper flakes, cinnamon, bay leaves, oregano, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and the cloves.
2. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Skim off any scum that forms on surface. Simmer uncovered for 1 1/2 hours, until pork is very soft; add water if necessary to keep meat submerged. Season with salt, then continue to cook until water has evaporated, about 30 minutes. Cook a little longer to fry meat slightly; cook even longer if you prefer crisper meat. Stir often and add a bit of water if meat sticks or seems about to burn.
3. Remove bay leaves and cinnamon stick. Spoon a few tablespoons of carnitas onto each tortilla. Top each taco with cilantro, finely chopped onion and salsa. Serve.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings.

Julia's Tangerine-Vanilla Floats

Adapted from "Sunday Suppers at Lucques" by Suzanne Goin with Teri Gelber (Knopf, 2005)

Time: 10 minutes

• 6 large scoops vanilla ice cream
• 3 cups freshly squeezed tangerine juice (from about 12 tangerines) or orange juice (see note)
• Seltzer

Divide ice cream among 6 medium-size glasses or cups. Add 1/2 cup tangerine juice to each cup and top off with seltzer. Serve with a straw.

Yield: 6 servings.

Note: Fresh orange juice can be used instead of tangerine juice, but it should be very sweet and not too acidic. Try adding superfine sugar to taste.
Want more recipes? Click here.

There were a lot of interesting moments during President Obama's second primetime press conference last night. From his discussing stem cell research and laying out the reasons why he decided to eliminate the Bush administration executive order that denied federal funding for stem cell research to the new coalition government in Israel, the President raised a few eyebrows. The Takeaway takes a listen at some of the highlights.

What is your takeaway from the President's speech? Add it here!

Miss the press conference? Here's part one: