President Barack Obama on Tuesday night declared the dawn of a new era guided by American ingenuity and defined not by the magnitude of the current economic crisis but by an innovative response to it.
Speaking to a nation shaken by joblessness and a collapsing stock market, the president tried to rally the public with optimism and ambition, saying the country will not overcome its economic challenges without also making the long-term changes in energy and health care that he promoted during the presidential campaign.
“The weight of this crisis will not determine the destiny of this nation,” Obama said in his debut address to a joint session of Congress and to the 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.”
The president also hinted at a massive bank bailout in the works, one costing “probably more than we’ve already set aside” to pay for it, as well as some form of government aid for the domestic automobile industry that he said will not come “without cost.”
In the wake of those hard messages, he offered assurances that his administration is going “line by line” through the federal budget in search of wasteful and ineffective programs.
But rather than promoting his agenda point by point, the president instead asked Americans to be open to proposals he will lay out in the days to come and to make a shared commitment to “come together and lift this nation from the depths of this crisis.”
The tableau in the House chambers was striking even for a nation growing acclimated to an African-American president. Obama stood at the podium in a dark suit and bright red tie with Nancy Pelosi, the first female speaker of the House, poised behind him holding the gavel. Vice President Joe Biden completed the image of racial and gender equity, which was broadcast around the world.
The speech was Obama’s first to a formal assembly of Congress. While the speech was widely regarded as his inaugural State of the Union address, presidents in their first year of office traditionally do not call it that.
With economic anxiety gripping much of the public, the history of the moment was a mere sidelight to questions of whether the Obama administration can guide the nation through the troubled times.
More Top Picks Best Work Pants With Pockets
Offering the Republican response to the president’s speech, Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana echoed Obama’s homage to American ingenuity but disputed the solutions the president has hinted at or outlined.
Delivering his address on the eve of Lent, liturgical Christianity’s 40-day period of self-denial, Obama called for a break from the excesses of the past and setting out on a period of discipline and restraint.
“We have lived through an era where, too often, short-term gains were prized over long-term prosperity. … 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,” the president said.
But Obama also foreshadowed the massive spending in the near future, nodding to bailouts of the banking and auto industries while not offering specific details about them.
He said the nation cannot “walk away” from the automobile industry, but gave no clues to how the government would guide the restructuring of the troubled automakers.
Obama renewed his call for a so-called “cap-and-trade” system to combat global warming, which would set limits on greenhouse gas emissions and force companies that exceed them to buy permits. Proponents call the system a key step to curbing climate change. Critics say it would raise energy prices and hamstring the economy. The issue promises to spark a heated debate in Congress, and its prospects are uncertain.
“I ask this Congress to send me legislation that places a market-based cap on carbon pollution and drives the production of more renewable energy in America,” Obama said. “And to support that innovation, we will invest $15 billion a year to develop technologies like wind power and solar power; advanced biofuels; clean coal; and more fuel-efficient cars and trucks built right here in America.”
He did not say how the spending plan would begin reducing the ranks of the more than 47 million people in America without health-care coverage, a potentially contentious process that is sure to stoke an ideological battle over government’s role in providing health care.
Nor did he indicate how his administration would begin wringing savings from the gargantuan health-care system, a process likely to be equally difficult.
Gathered in House balcony with First Lady Michelle Obama sat an array of honorees, including public school students, a police officer, a firefighter, veterans and Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas, a Republican who supported the president’s economic stimulus package.
There were several nods toward bipartisanship during the evening, including one Democratic member who crossed over to sit among Republicans.
There were decidedly partisan responses, though, as when Republicans cheered heartily for Obama’s promise not to pass on to another generation “a debt they cannot pay.”
– – –
Fact check
A look at some of President Barack Obama’s assertions Tuesday:
FEDERAL RED INK
Obama: “We have already identified $2 trillion in savings over the next decade.”
The facts: Although 10-year projections are common in government, they don’t mean much. Obama only has a real say on spending during the four years of his term. He may not be president after that, and he certainly won’t be 10 years from now.
DEREGULATION
Obama: “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.”
The facts: It wasn’t only Republicans who pushed for deregulation of the financial industries. The Clinton administration championed an easing of banking regulations, including legislation that ended the barrier between regular banks and Wall Street banks.
— Associated Press
– – –
What do you think?
*”Simply naive beyond belief!” writes Marine from Midlothian.
*”Since WWII, Republican administrations have proven to be 68% less fiscally responsible than Democratic administrations,” claims Mr. Face.
More Top Picks Magegee Portable 60 Blue Whale Switch
*”Democrats … have taken spending to new heights!” says John D. ———-
Read President Barack Obama’s speech to Congress at chicagotribune.com/jointspeech, then post your reactions online at chicagotribune.com/obamacomment