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.
This is the way he began the speech in an upbeat and determined voice projecting that America WILL come back and we WILL flourish again.
In other words, we have lived through an era where 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. 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.
Well that day of reckoning has arrived, and the time to take charge of our future is here.
Now is the time to act boldly and wisely – to not only revive this economy, but to build a new foundation for lasting prosperity. 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.
This was a very good contrast. First he went through all of the things we have kicked down the can instead of addressing for the last 50 years. And then he drew a line in the sand and basically said enough is enough. It is now time to confront all of these issues and address them so our kids and their kids are not still faced with the same problems many years down the road.
I want to speak plainly and candidly about this issue tonight, because every American should know that it directly affects you and your family’s well-being. You should also know that the money you’ve deposited in banks across the country is safe; your insurance is secure; and you can rely on the continued operation of our financial system. That is not the source of concern.
The concern is that if we do not re-start lending in this country, our recovery will be choked off before it even begins.
This part of the speech served two purposes. First it engendered confidence in the banking system. He told America that hey your money is safe in the banks. Then he went on to explain what the REAL problem is. I think it was a great because there is a lot of uncertainty out there right now about what might happen and because of all of the bailouts and the market falling precipitously a lot of people have been concerned about putting their money in our banks. That leads to a vicious cycle where the banks are under capitalized because people aren't depositing their money anymore and in turn the banks can't lend because to the people who need loans. If the deposits go back up then the banks are on more solid footing and the credit market can come back which will lead to a turn around in the economy.
I understand that on any given day, Wall Street may be more comforted by an approach that gives banks bailouts with no strings attached, and that holds nobody accountable for their reckless decisions. But such an approach won’t solve the problem. And our goal is to quicken the day when we re-start lending to the American people and American business and end this crisis once and for all.
This was a not so veiled shot at those in the media who use the stock market as a scorecard, Tweety I am looking at you. It also feeds into the populous anger over the greed and mismanagement on Wall Street. Again a very strong part of the speech.
But I also know that in a time of crisis, we cannot afford to govern out of anger, or yield to the politics of the moment. My job – our job – is to solve the problem. Our job is to govern with a sense of responsibility. I will not spend a single penny for the purpose of rewarding a single Wall Street executive, but I will do whatever it takes to help the small business that can’t pay its workers or the family that has saved and still can’t get a mortgage.
The President did a wonderful job here of seperating out the populous anger with the reality of the world that we live in. I thought it projected a sense of maturity about the overall situation. Basically he is saying, yes we are mad about all of this but we can't cut off our nose to spite our collective faces.
Given these realities, everyone in this chamber – Democrats and Republicans – will have to sacrifice some worthy priorities for which there are no dollars. And that includes me.
But that does not mean we can afford to ignore our long-term challenges. I reject the view that says our problems will simply take care of themselves; that says government has no role in laying the foundation for our common prosperity.
For history tells a different story. History reminds us that at every moment of economic upheaval and transformation, this nation has responded with bold action and big ideas. In the midst of civil war, we laid railroad tracks from one coast to another that spurred commerce and industry. From the turmoil of the Industrial Revolution came a system of public high schools that prepared our citizens for a new age. In the wake of war and depression, the GI Bill sent a generation to college and created the largest middle-class in history. And a twilight struggle for freedom led to a nation of highways, an American on the moon, and an explosion of technology that still shapes our world.
In each case, government didn’t supplant private enterprise; it catalyzed private enterprise. It created the conditions for thousands of entrepreneurs and new businesses to adapt and to thrive.
Talk about reframing the conversation. Here President Obama gives the American people a history lesson which gives lie to the Republican talking point that the governement doesn't have a role in ensuring the prosperity of the country. He also acknowledges that everyone including himself will have to make sacrifices and compromises. This all factors in to convincing the American people that government activism at this time is not only wanted but needed because of the size of our many crisises.
As for our auto industry, everyone recognizes that years of bad decision-making and a global recession have pushed our automakers to the brink. We should not, and will not, protect them from their own bad practices. But we are committed to the goal of a re-tooled, re-imagined auto industry that can compete and win. Millions of jobs depend on it. Scores of communities depend on it. And I believe the nation that invented the automobile cannot walk away from it.
I think this resonated well with blue collar America. We simply can not afford to walk away from an industry that we created. Making cars is as American as apple pie and the President did a good job of explaining why we need to do whatever it takes to ensure that the industry lives on in this country.
Already, we have done more to advance the cause of health care reform in the last thirty days than we have in the last decade. When it was days old, this Congress passed a law to provide and protect health insurance for eleven million American children whose parents work full-time. Our recovery plan will invest in electronic health records and new technology that will reduce errors, bring down costs, ensure privacy, and save lives. It will launch a new effort to conquer a disease that has touched the life of nearly every American by seeking a cure for cancer in our time. And it makes the largest investment ever in preventive care, because that is one of the best ways to keep our people healthy and our costs under control.
This budget builds on these reforms. It includes an historic commitment to comprehensive health care reform – a down-payment on the principle that we must have quality, affordable health care for every American. It’s a commitment that’s paid for in part by efficiencies in our system that are long overdue. And it’s a step we must take if we hope to bring down our deficit in the years to come.
Now, there will be many different opinions and ideas about how to achieve reform, and that is why I’m bringing together businesses and workers, doctors and health care providers, Democrats and Republicans to begin work on this issue next week.
I suffer no illusions that this will be an easy process. It will be hard. But I also know that nearly a century after Teddy Roosevelt first called for reform, the cost of our health care has weighed down our economy and the conscience of our nation long enough. So let there be no doubt: health care reform cannot wait, it must not wait, and it will not wait another year.
I am sure this made many liberals and progressives and many in the center stand up and cheer last night. There has been much speculation in recent weeks that because of the economic problems that we face that the President would be slow to act on healthcare reform. This reaffirmed his committment to universal healthcare sooner rather than later and showed the country that he was serious about fixing our broken healthcare system.
It is our responsibility as lawmakers and educators to make this system work. But it is the responsibility of every citizen to participate in it. And so tonight, I ask every American to commit to at least one year or more of higher education or career training. This can be community college or a four-year school; vocational training or an apprenticeship. But whatever the training may be, every American will need to get more than a high school diploma. And dropping out of high school is no longer an option. It’s not just quitting on yourself, it’s quitting on your country – and this country needs and values the talents of every American. That is why we will provide the support necessary for you to complete college and meet a new goal: by 2020, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.
The line about young people dropping out of school would not just be quitting on themselves but also quitting on their country was OUTSTANDING! And then to transition to talking about raising the percentage of college graduates once again showed the boldness of his vision.This was the high point of the speech for me.
There is, of course, another responsibility we have to our children. And that is the responsibility to ensure that we do not pass on to them a debt they cannot pay. With the deficit we inherited, the cost of the crisis we face, and the long-term challenges we must meet, it has never been more important to ensure that as our economy recovers, we do what it takes to bring this deficit down.
Again, just masterful. President Obama reassured the country especially those on the conservative end of the spectrum that he will tackle the ballooning deficit. But he also took the time out to remind everyone that the deficit was there waiting for him when he walked into the office. There will be many on the right who will try to blur this line so it was nice to see Obama giving a little bit of pushback.
Finally, because we’re also suffering from a deficit of trust, I am committed to restoring a sense of honesty and accountability to our budget. That is why this budget looks ahead ten years and accounts for spending that was left out under the old rules – and for the first time, that includes the full cost of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. For seven years, we have been a nation at war. No longer will we hide its price.
Once again this denotes a clean break from the Bush way of doing things.
As we meet here tonight, our men and women in uniform stand watch abroad and more are readying to deploy. To each and every one of them, and to the families who bear the quiet burden of their absence, Americans are united in sending one message: we honor your service, we are inspired by your sacrifice, and you have our unyielding support. To relieve the strain on our forces, my budget increases the number of our soldiers and Marines. And to keep our sacred trust with those who serve, we will raise their pay, and give our veterans the expanded health care and benefits that they have earned.
President Obama did a lot to engender himself to the military with this part of his speech. By promising to increase their number, increase their pay, and expand their benefits he is giving them a clear sign that they have his unconditional support and that his administration will be military friendly. I imagine he made some converts in the rank and file of the military last night.
I know that we haven’t agreed on every issue thus far, and there are surely times in the future when we will part ways. But I also know that every American who is sitting here tonight loves this country and wants it to succeed. That must be the starting point for every debate we have in the coming months, and where we return after those debates are done. That is the foundation on which the American people expect us to build common ground.
And if we do – if we come together and lift this nation from the depths of this crisis; if we put our people back to work and restart the engine of our prosperity; if we confront without fear the challenges of our time and summon that enduring spirit of an America that does not quit, then someday years from now our children can tell their children that this was the time when we performed, in the words that are carved into this very chamber, "something worthy to be remembered." Thank you, God Bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America.
This yet another call for bipartisanship directly aimed at his Republican counterparts. He will soon make those who oppose him look to the American people exactly like what they are, obstructionists. And he ended on a optomistic high not exhorting the members of Congress to join with him in doing "something worthy to be remembered"
I was optomistic going into watching this speech but he outperformed all of my expectation. This is going to be a springboard to rallying public support for the rest of President Obama's agenda. The interesting thing to see now is to see how the Republicans will respond. I won't even go into Bobby Jindal's EPIC FAIL last night besides that I am more concerned with actions than words anyway. How much longer will they ignore all of the opinion polls and set out to obstruct his agenda? I guess only time will tell. I can tell you one thing, at the rate that they are going next year could be another blood bath for the Republican Party
Sorry, had to delete video. Very frikkin annoying.
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