by Peter Nicholas
President Barack Obama is venturing out of the White House today for a Western swing that will see him sign into law the $787 billion stimulus package and roll out a plan meant to keep struggling families from losing their homes.
The two-day trip to Denver and Phoenix reflects a decision by the president to escape the Beltway at least once a week in hopes of staying in closer contact with ordinary Americans. The visit also taps into Obama's political strength, placing him in front of supportive crowds eager for any financial relief the stimulus will deliver.
The president is to sign the stimulus bill in Denver today, then announce details of a plan to avert home foreclosures on Wednesday in Phoenix.
"Denver is emblematic of the crisis that America's economy is facing, but also of the benefits that American communities can see from this recovery plan,'' said Bill Burton, a White House spokesman. "A lot of middle class families will be able to take advantage of the tax cuts in the plan.
"Arizona is a place where the housing crisis is most felt.''
Last week, Obama traveled to Elkhart, Indiana, and Fort Myers, Fl., for town hall-style events intended to pressure Congress into passing the stimulus bill. Recognizing that congressional Republicans were gaining traction in the debate, Obama aides scheduled the trips to refocus attention on people most in need of the stimulus.
In the Denver area unemployment has climbed sharply. The jobless rate stood at 6.3% in December, according to preliminary data compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. By contrast, the rate was 4.4% the year before, and 3.9% in December, '06.
In using Arizona as the backdrop to announce his housing plan, Obama is choosing a state hit hard by foreclosures. In January, more than 4,500 homes in Arizona were repossessed, third highest in the nation, according to RealtyTrac, a company that collects foreclosure data. California ranked first last month; Florida, second.
Obama has dropped hints about the broad outlines of his housing plan, estimated to cost between$ 50 billion and $100 billion. Speaking in Indiana last week, he said he would push for a new law that allows judges to re-write the terms of a mortgage for homeowners who land in bankruptcy court.
Without such a law, people are being forced into "foreclosure who potentially would be better off, and the bank would be better off, and the community would be better off if they're at least making some payments, but they're not able to make all the payments necessary,'' Obama said at the event in Elkhart.
The following day, in Fort Myers, Obama outlined an arrangement in which banks would accept lower payments from homeowners in return for an equity stake once housing prices recover.
A congressional Democratic aide said Monday there will be two pieces to Obama's housing plan. One will involve changes in law that can only be made by Congress - such as empowering bankruptcy judges to restructure mortgages. The other will involve actions Obama can take by executive fiat.
Fixing the housing crisis is nothing that can be done in isolation, experts said. Obama also needs to create jobs and stabilize the financial markets, steps that will help improve the broader economy, for housing prices to rebound, they said.
"Job losses are most damaging to the housing market, so taking on this challenge in the face of continuing job losses in the months ahead will be very difficult,'' said Nicolas Retsinas, director of the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University. "Saying all of that, it's pretty clear that standing on the sidelines as a spectator - which might be a harsh criticism of government over the past year but is not too far off the mark - certainly didn't do the job.''
Obama's appearance in Denver is a coda to the first major legislative challenge of his tenure - the stimulus plan. While it may take months or even years to see if the stimulus worked, the political reverberations are already being felt. Obama won, but the victory was messy. He got only a trio of Republican votes in the Senate; none in the House. Even some Democrats are complaining about a process in which the president's priorities seemed subordinated to influential figures in Congress.
One Democratic lobbyist said he spoke privately last week to a White House official, who took the position that Congress appropriately took the lead in writing the stimulus bill.
The White House official said during the conversation: "The president's a constitutional scholar. He knows the president doesn't write the laws, so he's not writing the bill,'' recalled the lobbyist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
That Obama is visiting two important states on the electoral map may not be an accident. He won Colorado in the 2008 election, picking up a state that had voted for George W. Bush four years early. Obama lost Arizona to Republican John McCain, but was at a disadvantage because the state is McCain's home base. The president would like to win both states in 2012.
John McLaughlin, a Republican pollster, said in an interview, though, that both states have a streak of fiscal conservatism that might make them suspicious of the stimulus.
"In the Democrats' new view of the electoral college, they see this as an opportunity. But the stimulus package, which has been derided as a spending plan full of pork and debt, may not play well with the voters at large. Granted the president will have a lot of enthusiastic supporters who surround him, but the rest of the voters in the state of Colorado and Arizona may not be too fond of the debt and deficit that he just burdened them with.''
Comments
Between Air Force One and the decoy plane, Obama will burn tens of thousands of gallons of (pollution causing) gasoline on this trip. And spend millions of tax dollars.
I guess that's all part of the 'stimulus".
Posted by: Change You Can Believe In | February 17, 2009 8:23 AM
Obama running for re-election already
just about all he did as Senator
was Campaign so as President
we should expect a four year re-election run.
Posted by: Tic | February 17, 2009 8:25 AM
How much more did it cost to sign the bill in Denver than D.C. with AF-1, support planes and vehicles, secret service, and other security personnel, etc.? I'm sure it pales in comparison to the stimulus package, but it's all deficit spending.
Posted by: JIM Elder | February 17, 2009 8:53 AM
Obama sure is enjoying the Hight Living of the President, seems he dose'nt mind living it up in these Hard Times.
Posted by: Inky | February 17, 2009 8:57 AM
As an earlier poster commented, he's already running for re-election. Supposedly he's in Denver b/c of the "green" stimulus portion of the pork bill. There's nothing "green" about the incredible pollution foisted on us all by his trip out West when he could have signed the bill in Washington. And this follows one-day trips to Indiana and Florida and let's not forget his stay in Chicago.
And what happened to the campaign promise to wait 5 days before signing legislation?
Oh yes, he ignored that promise. Just like he'll ignore us.
Posted by: beth | February 17, 2009 9:08 AM
Just a "cool ride" at 68,000 bucks an hour, let alone the carbon footprint, to promote the crisis to big to pass up, socialist inspired Porkulous. Hey, he won, so lets enjoy the stimulus without any more doom and gloom rhetoric from the messiah as his proclamations are becoming depressing. I want hope!
Posted by: Bubba Porter | February 17, 2009 9:08 AM
Seriously??? Are you wingnuts going to clog the comment sections with this same crap every time Obama leaves Washington? I thought everyone agreed that it's good for the Pres. to get out of the bubble. It's called doing the job. Get used to it losers. This isn't W2. Obama is a real President. Not a Neocon Shill like Georgie. Come up with an original thought or go away. It's only been 4 weeks and you guys are already recycling the same petulant BS.
Posted by: FrankK | February 17, 2009 9:32 AM
You call going to Chicago to play basketball doing the job? Oh yea, he worked almost three weeks in a row. That is pretty good for someone who never had a job before. He sure likes riding around in 'his' new airplane, though. Just one of the perks that comes with his new public housing.
Posted by: PML | February 17, 2009 9:51 AM
As part of his fear-mongering sales pitch for this bill, President Obama claimed that the economy would lose "50,000" jobs per day until the bill was enacted.
Obama's now vacationed for 4 days, while the bill sat on his desk. He could have signed it Friday. Or Saturday, Or Sunday. Or Monday. By Obama's own math, that's 200,000 jobs lost by his own delays.
Obama wants a photo op, and saving American jobs is secondary.
Posted by: Change You Can Believe In | February 17, 2009 10:09 AM
The American Public has voted themselves into having a Pharaoh not a President. The new court is our digital cable box and we are all (not by choice) watching his court. He smiles says "sorry" and the good people of america(not used to people sorry when they do wrong) ignore the arrogance and forgive.
Posted by: Tara | February 17, 2009 10:11 AM
Petty whining, every time he travels. Grow up.
Posted by: Flo | February 17, 2009 10:13 AM
Give it a break, President Obama inherited this situation and is trying to work through this economic situation that we are currently in. Sure everyone won't agree with every measure that is in place, but guess what... get over it. We have just ended a 8 year run with a president who I didn't have a clue of what he was doing and basically stole the first election. President Obama is in his first month in his new job and has delivered some of the things he campaigned about. When was the last time America had a personal President who understands everyday people? While I realize change is hard for some, bottom line get in or get left behind....
Posted by: Caput Rukahs | February 17, 2009 10:51 AM
Why did Congress, at Obama's request, force a vote on the stimulus bill before anyone could even read the darn thing and before the expiration of the 48 hour review period that the Democrats had promised to provide if Obama was just going to let it sit on his desk for over 3 days?
Posted by: Michael | February 17, 2009 10:57 AM
Part of the problem is the fact that people perceive they can fix their debt problems by cutting back to the bone and having no fun while they get their debt paid off, only to find that when it is paid off, the relief and sense of accomplishment is the signal to go out and run the debt up again. What a waste of energy!
Posted by: Suzie Orman | February 17, 2009 11:07 AM
So because some Republican pollster says that Obama is looking at these states for 2012, that makes it gospel? Well, tell me, did you believe McCain when he said there were weapons of Mass destruction in Iraq as well? Bush with the Repubs have financially raped this country and all we have to show for it is lost lives.
Finally, we have a President who thinks before he speaks, treats others with respect even when it is not returned, who talks to the American people to bring hope and security. Remember Katrina? Oh yeah talk about wasting fuel! He flew over and then on to McCain's birthday cake cutting on the tarmac.
He has been in office less than a month and you are drooling foolishness about him traveling to reassure Americans! Only a republican sympathizer would take on this talking point and try to attribute it as gospel. Hypocritical repubs! California, FL both large masses of people who are hurting. The Repub GOV are beggin for help, and all the repub congress can say is no! They will not be reelected, people will remember the no and celebrate a president who came to see them when things were bleak. Get over yourselves and grow a pair!!!
If my children must pay for the stimulus, so be it. At least their children will have better schools, roads and bridges, something tangible! Unlike the deficit Bush left!!
Posted by: edith rolle | February 17, 2009 11:07 AM
What makes it a real waste of money flying to Denver, is the fact that he's going to sign a bill that will do nothing for the economy, but waste billions of dollars.
Maybe the Dummycrats should have read the 1000 page bill, before the voted for it!
Posted by: Defy Obama | February 17, 2009 11:08 AM
Get a life and stop ragging on him for going home to celebrate Valentine's Day with his wife in his hometown. Stop questioning everything he does and everywhere he goes. Let him out of the bubble, let him reach the people and let him be a leader. How many weeks did W spend at the "Western White House" and how many weeks did he only work a few hours a day and a few days a week. Get over yourself and find something else to comment on. I agree with FrankK...GO AWAY!
Posted by: LSG | February 17, 2009 11:08 AM
Oh, Frankkkkkkk, please explain how jetting all over the nation is being president and doing his job?
Let's take the obscene cost out of the equation and look at the hypocrisy from an environmental standpoint. While Obama and Gore (who flies everywhere in a private jet) tell us to keep our thermostats at 60 in winter and 80 in summer, who tell us what cars to buy, who tell Detroit what cars to build, who tell us that if we don't do something NOW, the planet will die in 50 years, are jetting all over the place when they don't have to. In a 24-hour period, Obama flies from Chicago to Washington, from Washington to Denver. He goes East to go West.
And, of course, not surprisingly, the alleged "impartial journalists" at the Chicago Obune and elsewhere keep quiet about this. Four years ago the media had a cow that Bush spent $45 million on his inauguration. Obama spent in excess of $170 million in a horrible economy. The media was quiet.
The U.S. media: Corrupt to the hilt!
Posted by: John D | February 17, 2009 11:22 AM
no one slights him for going home for the long weekend but did he need to fly to IN one day, back to DC, next day FL and back to DC, next day to IL and back to DC, then a day break and back to IL. Just seems like it's the constant back and forth that's a little expensive.
Posted by: kins | February 17, 2009 11:32 AM
Donut,
You've officially left the reservation with that tripe.
Be sure to respond with "Oh,........"
It sounds as if you are crying, which sends a tingle down my leg.
Posted by: Bubba ✔ | February 17, 2009 11:48 AM
President Bush signed bills in Washington at no expense to the taxpayers. Airforce One gushes 5 gallons of fuel each SECOND. All for a photo op in Denver. So much for the economy. If Obama were from Texas, they would refer to him as "All hat and no cattle."
Posted by: Katarina | February 17, 2009 12:11 PM
Watch. And. Learn.
Obama has the best political instincts around.
And obviously he's detected that what the country needs now is a cheerleader with a big megaphone.
And he's got the biggest megaphone around.
Who else out there has anything hopeful to say about America?
Limburger? Rupert? Vannity?
Any Replican "leaders" in the Congress? You can't even recall their names.
Replican candidates from last time are still licking their wounds. You won't hear anything positive from them.
Obviously the pulpit is empty, and guess who is going to step up and fill it?
Posted by: ornery | February 17, 2009 1:03 PM
Posted by: Katarina
Wrong. Everything Bush signed cost us dearly.
Posted by: Flo | February 17, 2009 1:10 PM
Obama should have stayed in Washington doing his job as President, working hand in hand with the House & Senate to come up with a practical stimulus, instaed of wasting our money, but no, that would not have been the smart thing to do. The Dems, especially Pelosi & Reid, had to get all their goodies so they can get re-elected again. If this is as good as it gets, America is in bigger trouble than we have ever known.
Posted by: John | February 17, 2009 2:51 PM
Solar is going to see a real boom in the next few months. The stimulus plan that was just passed has a lot of funding dedicated to solar energy. Hopefull this saves us all money in the long run. Here is more information I found on the subject.
http://www.gotoguy.com/2009/02/17/solar-a-huge-stimulus-bill-winner/
Posted by: brandon | February 17, 2009 3:39 PM
Gotta love it when the wing-nuts start talking frugality. Looks like one of their own is making HUGE sacrifices to set an example for all of us:
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/
Posted by: dt☢ | February 17, 2009 4:01 PM
Sorry, massa! Can I leave the plantation to spend valentines day with my wife? He's the darn president! He can go wherever he pleases and guess what? Doesn't need approval from nobody! We sat up and watched that ugly wedding for Jena!!! All while people were losing their jobs and couldn't feed their children! How much did that throw you back George? We are paying for Bristol and Levi's illigitimate baby too!
Posted by: Jmt | February 17, 2009 7:49 PM
I love that Obama is getting out of DC. There is no reason this country should be run by a person that never sees it. I don't think I ever got closer than within two states of W. He hung out in DC and TX hosting insider parties, and still managed to increase the deficit spending. I'm thankful for a man that wants to see who he's leading now and then. It's called representation!
Posted by: Dana | February 17, 2009 8:30 PM
The news reported that the room Pres. Obama stayed in during his stay in Arizona goes for $4,000 a night. I can't even imagine the cost of transportation, secret service, hotel costs for the entire entourage, etc. all for a 15 minute speech. Please stay in Washington and do your job instead of continuing this whirlwind tour of the country. People are suffering around the country and tax dollars are being wasted on this globetrotting professional campaigner.
Posted by: Cheryl Baker | February 18, 2009 1:31 PM