Obama Speech to Congress Part 4/6
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama struck a balance between grim economic reality and a more hopeful outlook on Tuesday to try to reassure worried Americans their country will emerge from crisis “stronger than before.”
Riding high in opinion polls, Obama was careful to include a sober assessment of the economic emergency in his first speech to Congress, seeking to temper expectations that his administration’s rescue efforts would yield quick fixes.
But the politician whose memoir was called “The Audacity of Hope” and who won the White House in last November’s election amid chants of “yes, we can” was also back in stride, telling recession-weary Americans to expect better days ahead.
“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,” Obama said in the televised speech.
“And the United States of America will emerge stronger than before,” he told a chamber packed with lawmakers, cabinet members and invited guests.
The Democratic president also leveled a barrage of indirect criticism at his Republican predecessor George W. Bush for the country’s economic plight and bloated debt, warning that the “day of reckoning” had arrived.
Five weeks after taking office, Obama pressed the case for his economic plans while laying out a broad agenda, including a much-anticipated push for a healthcare overhaul and energy independence, to help build momentum for his young presidency.
The primetime State of the Union-style address to a joint session of the Senate and House of Representatives came against a backdrop of growing anxiety across the country in the face of the worst financial meltdown in decades.
While his public support is strong, Wall Street remains skeptical of his economic remedies.
Jittery investors sent U.S. stocks to a 12-year low on Monday, but the markets rallied on Tuesday on Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s assurances that the country’s troubled banks should be able to weather the downturn without being nationalized.
Trying to show he would make good on his promise of fiscal responsibility, Obama said he had identified $2 trillion in budget cuts over the next decade.
Obama, who rolls out his first budget proposal on Thursday, has vowed to halve the annual deficit by the end of his term.
Duration : 0:9:36
December 22nd, 2009 at 2:27 am
I agree with Obama …
I agree with Obama about heath care cost….but he need to look at lawyers about this. Oh wait…look at the lawyers in this video….won’t happen. There is a reason an aspirin cost $50….can anyone say “tort reform” as a first step?
December 22nd, 2009 at 2:27 am
Well said HM101! …
Well said HM101! Politicians are the only people who campaign against problems they create. Your definition of insanity is the same example I use for legal retardation. NICE
December 22nd, 2009 at 2:27 am
it the ins.and …
it the ins.and finance co.s that got us here but some people will continue to trust them, like they are out there to take care of your interest, this country gives in the billions to other countries that is yours and my tax money that going to suport their needy, and that is just fine but god forbid that some of our tax money may help our needy here at home then we may one day wake up in a socialist country why is it ok for the gov to help corps but helping its people is socialism?
December 22nd, 2009 at 2:27 am
when the times are …
when the times are good people think that they need nothing from no one, only the ones that have lost their job, health, and home, knows that they need help. not one corp. has come to help people that lost one of the above but the gov. if you think that you are giving up your freedom by having the gov. helping its own people is wrong then we should get rid of unemployment ins, medicade, medicare, food stamps, housing asst. and many other gov. ran programs that helps the needy, will continue…
December 22nd, 2009 at 2:27 am
I like non invasive …
I like non invasive taxes that produce results
you just cited health and education
Obese children that can’t read while graduating high school.
The government has a poor track record on everything they set out to do. and you want to give them more of your money?
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.
Government doesn’t have any incentive to get it right, so they keep doing it wrong.
December 22nd, 2009 at 2:27 am
I love taxes that …
I love taxes that ensure that our children will be healthy and educated…to ask for no taxes would be to ask for all the nice roads, schools, and programs in this country to disappear…taxes are only deemed worthy when they are used to ensure that we can expand and privatize our military…bring on the taxes and erase the stigma that kids with poor education systems will be the future working poor…we are only working to close the gaps and allow everyone a light at the end of the tunnel
December 22nd, 2009 at 2:27 am
you mean like obama …
you mean like obama the millionaire. except you want gov to control you instead of you controling them. what great change.give your money, give your house, and give me your mind so i can control you (i am your good obama)..
December 22nd, 2009 at 2:27 am
The richer “free” …
The richer “free” took advantage of the poorer “free” and now we are all “free” to have all of our “choices” be controlled by the major corporations.
December 22nd, 2009 at 2:27 am
The anti-Reagan, …
The anti-Reagan, Obama, is the true Great Communicator! However, Reagan was right when he denounced that title, he said he always thought he “communicated great things.” Reagan was right.
December 22nd, 2009 at 2:27 am
We don’t need …
We don’t need American politics, we need representatives of the American people…fly over-country where all the “morons” live. Granted the American people need to be a little more responsible and do some critical thinking skills, but they aren’t morons. Americans shouldn’t be led and shouldn’t allow themselves to be led. They should be represented. Leadership is for monarchies, communists and fascists!
December 22nd, 2009 at 2:27 am
I was responding to …
I was responding to THE CHAVEZ10. I know China isn’t a successful state UNLESS you count communism as a success and I don’t…that was the insulting joke to that individual. I think people who lead us down that road need to be ousted. Americans need guts again. Socialism is defined as the midway point between capitalism and communism.
December 22nd, 2009 at 2:27 am
my friend, politics …
my friend, politics is all about making stories up and barraging people with it through mass media. do you think people don’t get killed in Iraq and afghanistan now? just yesterday two British journalists got beheaded, one got away because they paid for his release. if Bush had been on power now the media would have had the picture of the guy with his head and and another without his head to provoke a violent response. more soldiers die in afghanistan now than before.
December 22nd, 2009 at 2:27 am
CLEARLY u have NO …
CLEARLY u have NO IDEA what ur talking about. Maybe if u watched his speech rather than be an ignorant tool u would no what’s been going oj. U cant xpect him to clean up Bush’s mess in 9 months. Nd if u do, u have no idea about American Politics
December 22nd, 2009 at 2:27 am
yeah okay. Theres …
yeah okay. Theres only a billion ppl there, thats ok tho. The government in china is looking to feed the mouths of their ppl. Nd r trying to avoid a revolt sum day. Thats ok tho rite? That makes them quite the “successful state” rite? Oh yeah btw theyre communist smart ass
December 22nd, 2009 at 2:27 am
Something must be …
Something must be done to make health care more affordable and available to all.
My question is what are the improvements to efficiency he talks about?
What do more efficient hospital look like?
How are costs controlled for a service that makes it difficult to compare prices?
December 22nd, 2009 at 2:27 am
i know and now the …
i know and now the republicans on youtube call obama a liar
December 22nd, 2009 at 2:27 am
too many monkeys on …
too many monkeys on youtube
December 22nd, 2009 at 2:27 am
Some of the people …
Some of the people who are commenting here are literally imbeciles..you wonder why people are more commonly moving towards the left. Its because you literally make things up as you go along to prove what you are fighting for. Who honestly gives you these ideas? It works for the brain washable people you are representing. Read the bill or at least it’s salient points. It has nothing to do with taxes on you. Why can’t you read? What’s funny is that you argue something that will help you….
December 22nd, 2009 at 2:27 am
If sounds, smells …
If sounds, smells and looks like a duck IT IS A DUCK! Wake up people your freedoms are being striped from you! More government more regulation and restriction! What happened to the land of the free?
December 22nd, 2009 at 2:27 am
empty suit
empty suit
December 22nd, 2009 at 2:27 am
You be silent. I’m …
You be silent. I’m no Republican, but I know enough to know you might as well go to the China for your successful state!
December 22nd, 2009 at 2:27 am
Obama is a …
Obama is a president man. sure George W Bush was bad, but that doesn’t make him good. in fact any leader could have achieved a great deal after george bush. this guy is below average.
December 22nd, 2009 at 2:27 am
COMMENT IF YOURE …
COMMENT IF YOURE REPUBLICAN
December 22nd, 2009 at 2:27 am
Silence Republicans …
Silence Republicans! Concervatives! your time is over, your numbers are few, and your knowledge is low…might as well go to Africa for a failed political state, seems to be the place where all of you like to be just like when you turned the US into one.
December 22nd, 2009 at 2:27 am
Of course he is. …
Of course he is. The real damage will appear in a couple of years becuase he is more intersted in perception than actually soliving any of the issues. It’s gonna get pretty sad.