President Barack Obama at White House, Feb. 23, 2009. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds, File)
(This posting has changed since it was first posted.)
by Frank James and Peter Nicholas
Reporters received a background briefing on what President Barack Obama will say tonight during his first nationally televised speech to a joint session of Congress.
He'll start the speech, scheduled to run about 45 minutes to 50 minutes, by talking about where the country finds itself and remind everyone, as he's done several times by now, that it's a "situation he inherited as president.''
The White House has e-mailed a two-paragraph excerpt of the speech that contains words of uplift the president will also utter:
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.
The weight of this crisis will not determine the destiny of this nation. The answers to our problems don't lie beyond our reach. They exist in our laboratories and universities; in our fields and our factories; in the imaginations of our entrepreneurs and the pride of the hardest-working people on Earth. Those qualities that have made America the greatest force of progress and prosperity in human history we still possess in ample measure. What is required now is for this country to pull together, confront boldly the challenges we face, and take responsibility for our future once more.
He'll tick off many of the inter-related, complex factors that led us here, not least of which is "significant irresponsibility'' in the private and public sectors.
When asked for examples of such behavior the briefer said the president will cite decisions on Wall Street that were "made by greed.'' And he'll mention federal budget gimmicks used by Washington policymakers in the past.
Obama will say he's committed to ending this era of irresponsibility, although the economic meltdown has beaten him to the punch by bringing to a crashing halt the credit-fueled spending binge that characterized the nation over much of the past decade.
Then, Obama will discuss the near-term strategy for putting the economy back on track: the three [or four] legs of the stool [or ottoman].
First, he'll talk about the stimulus, with its accompanying tax cuts, and his plan to create or save 3.5 million jobs.
Second, will be what the White House now calls the "financial stability plan" to ease tight credit markets so people can buy a house or car and small businesses can meet payrolls.
The third leg is resolving the housing crisis - helping families who play by the rules stay in their homes and refinance mortgages at record-low interest rates.
Finally, Obama will speak of the need to implement regulatory reforms to ensure that a financial crisis of this magnitude never happens again. Again, a main theme of the speech will be that the eventual recovery won't be "sustainable'' absent responsible fiscal policies aimed at reducing the deficit and restoring "honest'' budgeting practices.
All this discussion is meant to recap the administration's busy first month as it has tried to "quickly address this crisis.''
The president will shift into a discussion about the importance of addressing long-term challenges critical to financial stability and recovery.
He'll mention three things:
- The urgent need to reform health care, reduce costs for everyone: business, families and the health care sector. He'll also mention the need to expand access to coverage.
- Energy independence. He'll talk about the need to create a sustainable clean energy economy. He sees this as "a tremendous opportunity to create jobs and address the causes of global warming.''
- Modernizing the education system. That means expanding access to a college education, financial assistance for kids; higher pay for teachers, etc.
Is there a deadline to reach these goals? the briefer was asked. There won't be any timetables mentioned, though the speech is still being revised and edited, the briefer said.
Obama will then say that even if we confront these long-term challenges and the short-term measures work, it will all be for naught if we don't tamp down the deficit and rein in the budget.
He'll make a commitment to more honest budgeting that doesn't rely on gimmicks. He'll talk about abiding by a pay-as-you-go policy known colloquially in Washington's corridors of power as pay-go. And he'll reiterate that he wants to reduce the deficit by half by the end of first term.
The briefer was asked if the president would provide any details on the plan to solve the banking crisis - filling the vacuum left by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner much rebuked performance earlier this month.
No, was the answer.
Will there be anything new in the speech? No, again.
"This is not going to be a standard State of the Union Speech (with a lot of Clintonian detail about specific policy proposals)," The briefer said. "This is not that. He wants to use this opportunity to be very direct with the American people about the challenges we're facing.''
After all this, the president will end on an upbeat note, a departure from his recent warnings that the economy faced catastrophe if his approach to fixing the economy wasn't adopted.
He will "convey to (the American people) his utter confidence that if we put politics aside'' and implement the plans he outlined, "these are challenges we can overcome.'
Comments
Blaa, Blaa, Blaa
Posted by: Georgio | February 24, 2009 4:41 PM
I see that Republicans, like their hero Rush, are rejoicing in America failing again.
200+ point daily swings in the DJIA are just noise. Most of the trading in stocks is simply hedge funds making short-term plays. To the extent short-term movement in the stock market ever reflected the real goings-on of the economy, they certainly do not these days.
Ignore the daily shouting on CNBC and look at longer-term trends. Stocks are falling because companies are not profitable thanks to the world economy's being in the toilet and getting worse. There are barely any economic ventures in the private sector these days that are profitable. Anyone who thinks Bernanke or Obama (or, for that matter, Bush before him) can simply say something and magically make things better or worse is sadly mistaken. Boosting confidence is nice, but confidence without healthy top- and bottom-lines doesn't get you very much. I'd much rather have Obama tell it like it is while trying to get policies in place to actually boost the economy than have Bernanke tell a flowery story and try to window-dress our problems away.
Posted by: dose | February 24, 2009 4:46 PM
I love that the networks will carry this speech.
Hope they focus on the bitter, pasty faces of the Republican dead-enders.
Posted by: average working joe | February 24, 2009 5:08 PM
Will Jindal be proud of his defiance of stimulus money? I hope, I hope, I hope, I hope, ...
Jindal is a wingnut without credibility. He rejects 2% of the Stimulus Funds and then crows about it in the corporate media day after day.
Posted by: Doug Vader, son of Darth | February 24, 2009 5:21 PM
Obama couldn't demand the type of temporary, targeted, and timely "stimulus" he promised taxpayers...as he completly lacks the the political stature to control Pelosi and Reid... who hit the trough hard, while bickering like siblings.
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The paucity of GOP co-conspirators exposed Obama politically... this legislation now looks to be a huge gamble
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When all this pork and welfare fails to generate real economic gains, the Democrats could face a bloodbath in 2010.
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Historical precedent and all common sense suggest that it will not work. This is likely to be his first and last chance to get the economy back on-track before the mid-term elections.
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But it's almost like he knows his name will be mud in 2010-2012.. and is ramming through as much of his far-left agenda as he can before the day comes when people cringe at the mention of his name.
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http://reaganiterepublicanresistance.blogspot.com/
Posted by: Reaganite Republican | February 24, 2009 5:30 PM
But it's almost like he knows his name will be mud in 2010-2012.. and is ramming through as much of his far-left agenda as he can before the day comes when people cringe at the mention of his name.
Posted by: Reaganite Republican | February 24, 2009 5:30 PM
...
So what's the Gee Oh Pee going to run on in 2010-2012, Slick?
-"we're the party of obstruction"? or
-"we created this mess and now we won't help fix it"?
I've already been looking at the match-ups and potential matchups for 2010 and you minority Repug are going to be even more in the minority after that plays out.
I'd suggest that Repugs stop worshipping the ghost of Ronny Raygun and start offering up something other than tax cuts for the rich as a fiscal policy...but what do I know, I'm not a flat earth Repug like you are.
Posted by: casey | February 24, 2009 5:42 PM
I would love to hear the president say Republicans caused this mess and now refuse to help fix it. He should tell them to either help or get out of the way. He needs to be very strong. He knows the country rejected the Republicans and their losing policies by a landslide in November. He needs to stop trying to convince Republicans to help the country, that's not what they're about. Let's not forget, not a single Republican voted for President Clinton's deficit reduction package that created the strongest economy in our history.
Posted by: Paul | February 24, 2009 5:59 PM
Hey Paul, take another toke on your joint and cycle back out of reality for a while again. Your post is hillarious.
Posted by: Steelpedler | February 24, 2009 6:23 PM
I would love to hear the president say Republicans caused this mess and now refuse to help fix it.
Posted by: Paul | February 24, 2009 5:59 PM
Paul: I hope he does too.. but he would look a little stupid, seeing he voted for the first TARP bill and he was in Congress when Mr. Sessions and John McCain sponsored a bill in '06 calling for more regulation of Fannie and Freddie, but in never got out of committee, thanks to Chris ( I'm no friend of Angelo ) Dodd. More revisionist history from the left, have another glass of Kool-Aid Paul.
Posted by: Don B. | February 24, 2009 6:31 PM
What's a "reaganite"? Who's Reagan? Did he do something important?
Posted by: I heart Schadenfreude | February 24, 2009 7:02 PM
Paul: I hope he does too.. but he would look a little stupid, seeing he voted for the first TARP bill and he was in Congress when Mr. Sessions and John McCain sponsored a bill in '06 calling for more regulation of Fannie and Freddie, but in never got out of committee, thanks to Chris ( I'm no friend of Angelo ) Dodd. More revisionist history from the left, have another glass of Kool-Aid Paul.
Posted by: Don B. | February 24, 2009 6:31 PM
You mean to tell me that you're still dumb enough to believe anything that Grampy "I've got 6, 7 or maybe 8 mansions" McCain has to say?
Here's why your Repukelican fairy-tale about how Dems like Dodd crashed Freddie and Fannie doesn't hold water in the court of public opinion, Bozo.
The Dems were the MINORITY party until Jan 07...and even then they were just a small minority until now. The thug BushCo Republicans called all the shots when it came to the tanking of the economy.
I can't believe how many Repukelicans out there are still trying to rewrite history and then thinking that anyone other them are going to believe their crap.
Posted by: kool-aide | February 24, 2009 7:15 PM
Until the Republicans admit that it was their crap policies that destroyed our economy and actually try to make some changes to their crappy Ayn Rand/Greespan ideology they're going to be the minority party.
The Republicans are acting like petulant children, the more you ignore them the louder they cry.
Posted by: Kyle | February 24, 2009 7:21 PM
Personally I think your all sad, sad, sad excuses for so called intelligent people.. you are so busy twisting the word each of you speak you are ALL sounding like bitter old people.. Both sides are to egotistical to admit the truth, we had expanding government with Bush and now again with Obama.. The economy is bad but the really good thing as long as we don't buy we also don't support CHINA.. While Obama is spreading so called FEAR he's telling the truth.. what I don't understand is how he thinks Pork spending will help? If Republicans are a bunch of old white people then the new Democrats are a bunch of young pot smoking dead heads.. listen to BOTH sides each side will snitch on the other, then and only then can you claim to be informed.. Obama getting up there and saying everything is fine is bull things aren't, how dumb did Bush sound when he told us the economy is basically sound? and while we suffer through this I did notice NONE of our Politicians are now are they?
Posted by: Independent Voter Joliet | February 24, 2009 7:21 PM
I knew enough to put the kibosh on building four new homes 3 years ago. I knew 2 years ago to get into cash. You mean to tell me other people didn't know? They knew, they just couldn't tell their clients or else then what would they do. It's a vicious world out there.
steelpedler-I need some 1/2" x 2" for some railings. Is that something you peddle? Might as get some use out of this site.
Posted by: Rob | February 24, 2009 8:06 PM
I would love to find something of sutstance. But, I look and it's not there.
Not one knowledgeable statement. A speech from a good talker but the lack of experience is glaring.
Wait you say, give him a chanch. This is not a game and this isn't an entry level job.
He has so many shortfalls I don't know where to start.
Posted by: Tim | February 24, 2009 8:20 PM
Here's why your Repukelican fairy-tale about how Dems like Dodd crashed Freddie and Fannie doesn't hold water in the court of public opinion, Bozo.
Posted by: kool-aide | February 24, 2009 7:15 PM
Kool aide: Besides you needing some grey matter , you also need some glasses...I never said Chris (I'm no friend of Angelo) Dodd crashed Freddie and Fannie,....that would be Ms. Franks..have another cold, tall one on me Kool- aid
Posted by: Don B. | February 24, 2009 8:20 PM
Obama showed great motivational and leadership potential leading up to the election. I think he'll get it right as he hits his stride. Check out this interesting article on the art of motivation http://www.sparxoo.com?p=286 which has an interesting take on team motivation. Sometimes early failures lead to greater successes.
Posted by: David | February 24, 2009 9:18 PM
He was introduced as the president of the united states. What happened to ....of America? or is he the president of the emigrate state?
Posted by: M | February 24, 2009 9:19 PM
Our economic situation now is really disturbing. With businesses closing here and there, we hardly rely much on the government to look for solutions. But the President's speech is inspiring, and we still have the hope.
Posted by: Dan | February 25, 2009 12:42 AM