The White House was "Open for Questions" Thursday, Oct. 20, when senior White House officials Valerie Jarrett and Melody Barnes sat down with The Root's Cynthia Gordy to answer questions from audience members and our Twitter followers and Facebook fans about the American Jobs Act and what the president is doing to combat poverty. Find out what Jarrett and Barnes had to say about initiatives for small businesses and the formerly incarcerated and why it took the Obama administration so long to address poverty.