Obama: "Day Of Reckoning Has Arrived"
Proclaiming to a joint session of Congress and an recession-scarred American people that the "day of reckoning has arrived," President Barack Obama said Tuesday night that the country must now act "boldly and wisely" to take charge of its future.
In a speech pegged on dire economic rhetoric, but laced with assurances that America will get back on its feet, the president vowed that the country would emerge stronger from the current crisis.
"The impact of this recession is real, and it is everywhere," Mr. Obama said. "But while our economy may be weakened and our confidence shaken; though we are living through difficult and uncertain times, tonight I want every American to know this: We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before." (Read the full speech here | .)
The speech, which looked very much like a formal State-Of-The Union address, marked a transition from the hard fights of the president's first month in office to his attempt to sell legislators and the American people on a broad set of initiatives.
"Now is the time to jumpstart job creation, re-start lending, and invest in areas like energy, health care, and education that will grow our economy, even as we make hard choices to bring our deficit down," the president said, stressing the importance of investments that will position the United States to compete on the world stage in the long run. (More On What Mr. Obama Said On The Economy)
Addressing a gallery that included first lady Michelle Obama, Supreme Court justices, Cabinet members and everyday Americans - in addition to nearly every member of Congress - the president spoke for about 50 minutes.
Addresses to joint sessions of Congress are traditionally directed more at the American people than the lawmakers gathered in the chamber. For Mr. Obama, however - who currently holds a 63 percent approval rating - the Republican opposition, which stood in nearly uniform opposition to his $787 billion stimulus package, might have been the more important audience.
Still, "this was basically a fireside chat," said CBS News senior political correspondent Jeff Greenfield, comparing the president's speech to Franklin Delano Roosevelt's radio addresses.
Mr. Obama spent much of the speech explaining his actions, as opposed to laying out new initiatives. He defended his administration's move to bail out U.S. banks, saying he understands the frustration of taxpayers who saw bailout money spent irresponsibly but that it is essential to get credit flowing.
"I intend to hold these banks fully accountable for the assistance they receive, and this time they will have to clearly demonstrate how taxpayer dollars result in more lending for the American taxpayer," he said. "This time, CEOs won't be able to use taxpayer money to pad their paychecks, or buy fancy drapes, or disappear on a private jet. Those days are over." (More On What Mr. Obama Said About The Bailout)
Still, he noted, his plan "will require significant resources from the federal government and, yes, probably more than we've already set aside."
The president also suggested that both the previous administration and irresponsible homeowners were to blame for the current crisis.
Americans have lived through an era, he said, in which "too often short-term gains were prized over long-term prosperity, where we failed to look beyond the next payment, the next quarter, or the next election."
"A surplus became an excuse to transfer wealth to the wealthy instead of an opportunity to invest in our future," he said. "Regulations were gutted for the sake of a quick profit at the expense of a healthy market. People bought homes they knew they couldn't afford from banks and lenders who pushed those bad loans anyway. And all the while, critical debates and difficult decisions were put off for some other time on some other day."
Following the speech, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (at left), a leading 2012 presidential contender, gave a Republican response in which he called the stimulus package pushed through by Mr. Obama and the Democrat-lead Congress "irresponsible." (Read Jindal's full response.)
"To solve our current problems, Washington must lead," he said. "But the way to lead is not to raise taxes, not to just put more money and power in the hands of Washington politicians. The way to lead is by empowering you, the American people, because we believe that Americans can do anything."
Sen. John McCain, Mr. Obama's Republican rival for the presidency, called the speech "very effective," but added in a post-address interview with CBS News' Katie Couric, "I don't know how you increase all of these programs and still cut spending to a point where you cut the deficit in half." (Watch full interview.)
Mr. Obama, who focused largely on domestic issues, not foreign policy, said that because of the massive deficit and tough economic landscape, his proposed budget will not include every project some might have hoped for.
He told members of Congress that everyone in the room - Republicans, Democrats and the president himself - "will have to sacrifice some worthy priorities for which there are no dollars."
Noting his pledge to halve the budget by the end of his first term, the president stressed that his administration is reviewing the federal budget "line by line" to find unnecessary programs that can be cut. Already, he said, the administration has identified two trillion dollars in potential savings over the next ten years. (More On What Mr. Obama Said About The Budget And Taxes)
The president stressed the importance of green energy initiatives, noting that the U.S. had fallen behind other countries in harnessing renewable energy, producing solar technology and hybrid vehicles and calling for a market-based cap on carbon pollution. (More On What Mr. Obama Said About Energy)
He blamed both "years of bad decision-making" and the recession for pushing automakers to the brink of bankruptcy. He said that while America "should not and will not protect them from their own bad practices... we are committed to the goal of a re-tooled, re-imagined auto industry that can compete and win."
The president also said he would prioritize health care and the "crushing cost" associated with it.
"Health care reform cannot wait, it must not wait, and it will not wait another year," he said. (More On What Mr. Obama Said About Health Care)
Even though it has already been passed by lawmakers, Mr. Obama also touted his stimulus plan Tuesday night. The legislation is likely to be an issue in the upcoming midterm elections, and even in the president's reelection campaign, and he may have an eye on political considerations even at this early point in his presidency, argues CBS News political director Steve Chaggaris.
"Mr. Obama is in a position where, politically, he's forced to remind Americans that he's trying to do the right thing to clean up a mess he 'inherited' in order to counter the incessant criticism and virtual non-existent support the plan has received from Republicans," writes Chaggaris. (Read his full analysis of the speech here.)
Mr. Obama told assembled lawmakers that he and his ideological opponents can still find common ground on the basis of their shared love of country and their desire to see it succeed, drawing a standing ovation from both sides of the aisle.
"That must be the starting point for every debate we have in the coming months, and where we return after those debates are done," he said.
He went on to laud Americans who are working to put the country back on track, saying he had learned that "hope is found in unlikely places, that inspiration often comes not from those with the most power or celebrity, but from the dreams and aspirations of ordinary Americans who are anything but ordinary."
A CBS News/Knowledge Networks poll of 534 people who watched the speech, taken immediately afterward, found that eighty percent approved of President Obama's plans for dealing with the economic crisis. Before the speech, 63 percent approved.
Seventy-five percent of speech watchers said after the address that they had a good understanding of President Obama's economic plans, compared to 58 percent before the speech. (See the full poll results here.)
Copyright 2009 CBS. All rights reserved. In a speech pegged on dire economic rhetoric, but laced with assurances that America will get back on its feet, the president vowed that the country would emerge stronger from the current crisis.
"The impact of this recession is real, and it is everywhere," Mr. Obama said. "But while our economy may be weakened and our confidence shaken; though we are living through difficult and uncertain times, tonight I want every American to know this: We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before." (Read the full speech here | .)
The speech, which looked very much like a formal State-Of-The Union address, marked a transition from the hard fights of the president's first month in office to his attempt to sell legislators and the American people on a broad set of initiatives.
"Now is the time to jumpstart job creation, re-start lending, and invest in areas like energy, health care, and education that will grow our economy, even as we make hard choices to bring our deficit down," the president said, stressing the importance of investments that will position the United States to compete on the world stage in the long run. (More On What Mr. Obama Said On The Economy)
Addressing a gallery that included first lady Michelle Obama, Supreme Court justices, Cabinet members and everyday Americans - in addition to nearly every member of Congress - the president spoke for about 50 minutes.
Addresses to joint sessions of Congress are traditionally directed more at the American people than the lawmakers gathered in the chamber. For Mr. Obama, however - who currently holds a 63 percent approval rating - the Republican opposition, which stood in nearly uniform opposition to his $787 billion stimulus package, might have been the more important audience.
Still, "this was basically a fireside chat," said CBS News senior political correspondent Jeff Greenfield, comparing the president's speech to Franklin Delano Roosevelt's radio addresses.
Mr. Obama spent much of the speech explaining his actions, as opposed to laying out new initiatives. He defended his administration's move to bail out U.S. banks, saying he understands the frustration of taxpayers who saw bailout money spent irresponsibly but that it is essential to get credit flowing.
"I intend to hold these banks fully accountable for the assistance they receive, and this time they will have to clearly demonstrate how taxpayer dollars result in more lending for the American taxpayer," he said. "This time, CEOs won't be able to use taxpayer money to pad their paychecks, or buy fancy drapes, or disappear on a private jet. Those days are over." (More On What Mr. Obama Said About The Bailout)
Still, he noted, his plan "will require significant resources from the federal government and, yes, probably more than we've already set aside."
The president also suggested that both the previous administration and irresponsible homeowners were to blame for the current crisis.
Americans have lived through an era, he said, in which "too often short-term gains were prized over long-term prosperity, where we failed to look beyond the next payment, the next quarter, or the next election."
"A surplus became an excuse to transfer wealth to the wealthy instead of an opportunity to invest in our future," he said. "Regulations were gutted for the sake of a quick profit at the expense of a healthy market. People bought homes they knew they couldn't afford from banks and lenders who pushed those bad loans anyway. And all the while, critical debates and difficult decisions were put off for some other time on some other day."
(CBS)
"To solve our current problems, Washington must lead," he said. "But the way to lead is not to raise taxes, not to just put more money and power in the hands of Washington politicians. The way to lead is by empowering you, the American people, because we believe that Americans can do anything."
Sen. John McCain, Mr. Obama's Republican rival for the presidency, called the speech "very effective," but added in a post-address interview with CBS News' Katie Couric, "I don't know how you increase all of these programs and still cut spending to a point where you cut the deficit in half." (Watch full interview.)
Mr. Obama, who focused largely on domestic issues, not foreign policy, said that because of the massive deficit and tough economic landscape, his proposed budget will not include every project some might have hoped for.
"My budget does not attempt to solve every problem or address every issue," he said. "It reflects the stark reality of what we've inherited: a trillion-dollar deficit, a financial crisis, and a costly recession."
He told members of Congress that everyone in the room - Republicans, Democrats and the president himself - "will have to sacrifice some worthy priorities for which there are no dollars."
Noting his pledge to halve the budget by the end of his first term, the president stressed that his administration is reviewing the federal budget "line by line" to find unnecessary programs that can be cut. Already, he said, the administration has identified two trillion dollars in potential savings over the next ten years. (More On What Mr. Obama Said About The Budget And Taxes)
The president stressed the importance of green energy initiatives, noting that the U.S. had fallen behind other countries in harnessing renewable energy, producing solar technology and hybrid vehicles and calling for a market-based cap on carbon pollution. (More On What Mr. Obama Said About Energy)
He blamed both "years of bad decision-making" and the recession for pushing automakers to the brink of bankruptcy. He said that while America "should not and will not protect them from their own bad practices... we are committed to the goal of a re-tooled, re-imagined auto industry that can compete and win."
The president also said he would prioritize health care and the "crushing cost" associated with it.
(AP)
Even though it has already been passed by lawmakers, Mr. Obama also touted his stimulus plan Tuesday night. The legislation is likely to be an issue in the upcoming midterm elections, and even in the president's reelection campaign, and he may have an eye on political considerations even at this early point in his presidency, argues CBS News political director Steve Chaggaris.
"Mr. Obama is in a position where, politically, he's forced to remind Americans that he's trying to do the right thing to clean up a mess he 'inherited' in order to counter the incessant criticism and virtual non-existent support the plan has received from Republicans," writes Chaggaris. (Read his full analysis of the speech here.)
Mr. Obama told assembled lawmakers that he and his ideological opponents can still find common ground on the basis of their shared love of country and their desire to see it succeed, drawing a standing ovation from both sides of the aisle.
"That must be the starting point for every debate we have in the coming months, and where we return after those debates are done," he said.
He went on to laud Americans who are working to put the country back on track, saying he had learned that "hope is found in unlikely places, that inspiration often comes not from those with the most power or celebrity, but from the dreams and aspirations of ordinary Americans who are anything but ordinary."
A CBS News/Knowledge Networks poll of 534 people who watched the speech, taken immediately afterward, found that eighty percent approved of President Obama's plans for dealing with the economic crisis. Before the speech, 63 percent approved.
Seventy-five percent of speech watchers said after the address that they had a good understanding of President Obama's economic plans, compared to 58 percent before the speech. (See the full poll results here.)
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We have lost sight of why we came to be the United States of which whose hay day has come and gone. It's destruction under these people will be swift. We have become so twisted that we cannot tell the truth from a lie and even if we did, no one will listen because no one wants to hear it. Lies are much easier to listen to; the truth requires too much effort because we would have to fight for what's right. People want someone else to do it for them and that's why they see no problem with big government. They think it will take care of them but what they will take is not worth giving up. Soon the original Constitution will cease to exist. People in Washington have already tried to disguise the truth which our foundation was built upon, They hate the phrase In God We Trust. I'm surprised that Obama even took the oath on the Bible. I guess he felt he could do it since everyone was watching but if he had had the audacity to reject the laying of his hand on the Bible, it would have been OK because everyone who mattered to him would not have cared anyway. That act will soon cease as people become more desensitized and mezmorized by the trappings of our new society. I'm actually confused by the fact that since the government is so much against Church and State that this little step hasn't been taken away yet. I guess there is some simblence of sanity still residing in the White House. I'm sure all it will take to get rid of it is for someone to say they were offended by it. That always works.
But that doesn't include money which will go to fund international abotion and the national death toll of American citizens still inside the womb. As clancy49 was saying in his post; we are being played for idiots. They all have the same goal. The new game under the new president is how to talk people into trusting everything that comes out of their mouth and make the government even more powerful. This nation only continues to abuse its power and will one day fall. It's happened before throughout history. People are so desparate they actually preferred his agenda which states clearly that he would continue to support the murder of the unborn, the special interest agendas and everything that implies, taking money to redistribute (which means the working class will pay for everything) while increasing their spending and growing the government. You think it was bad when Bush was president; at least you didn't have to face the kind of things to come. It has really gotten out of control and people just act like they are so blind to it all. I think everyone who voted for him was promised something by him except those who won't fall for it and see the damage it will cause. It might seem like everything is going well but you'll see as the time comes when you finally wake up and smell the coffee. By then it may be too late. We have become the proverbial frog in the frying pan.
Impossible, you say?
Well, before Obama stepped in front of Congress this evening, Gallup published the following:
Quote:
For the first time since Gallup began tracking Barack Obama's presidential job approval rating on Jan. 21, fewer than 60% of Americans approve of the job he is doing as president. In Feb. 21-23 polling, 59% of Americans give Obama a positive review, while 25% say they disapprove, and 16% have no opinion.
Almost exactly eight years ago, then newly-elected President Bush's numbers were 62 percent approving his performance, 21 percent disapproving, and 17 percent having no opinion (scroll about 3/4 down this Polling Report link).
As such, regardless of how hard media are working to foster this view that this is the most popular president in the modern era, such is not the case.
In fact, even ABC's director of polling reported Tuesday that Obama's current numbers are actually quite average with George H. W. Bush, John F. Kennedy, and even Jimmy Carter being more popular after just a month in the White House.
Posted by realnews12 at 9:33 PM : Feb 25, 2009
And a survey of riders on a city bus showed that 79% of them ride the bus at least once a week.
Which shows..... that anyone who doesn't see the flaw in that statistic isn't very bright.
Posted by tuckerndfw at 10:53 PM : Feb 25, 2009
Aren't you the one who called the Clintons "sociopaths" and who wrote a letter to Bill Clinton asking him to resign?
Why do you have so much passion against Bush when you say you feel that way about the Clintons?
The Clintons are just as much to blame for this mess as Bush.
Posted by krisinal at 9:04 PM : Feb 25, 2009
About the same number of times that members of Congress and the rest of the audience did. What's your point ?
Polls show that 79% (SEVENTY-NINE percent) of Americans watching the address on TV said they APPROVE of President Obama's approach to the economic woes of the country.
Obama remains aloof and oblivious
Those are pure Obama.
You can't blame those on Bush.
Democrats are allergic to facts.
Obama remains aloof and oblivious
Where is the integrity?