Obama Assures Nation: We Will Rebuild

WASHINGTON (By Jeff Zeleny, NYT) February 25, 2009 — President Obama urged the nation last night to see the economic crisis as reason to raise its ambitions, calling for expensive new efforts to address energy, health care and education even as he warned government bailouts have not come to an end.

In his first address to a joint session of Congress, Mr. Obama mixed an acknowledgment of the depth of the economic problems with a Reaganesque exhortation to American resilience. He offered an expansive agenda followed by a pledge to begin paring an ever-climbing budget deficit.

“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,” Mr. Obama said. “We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before.”

After eight years under President George W. Bush, Americans tuned in on Tuesday night to a scene that put the new Democratic cast front and center. Mr. Obama was preceded into the House chamber by his cabinet, including Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, whom he kissed as he made his way to the speaker’s dais. Even several Republicans leaned in close to Mr. Obama as he walked down the aisle.

He set up his push for a wide-ranging overhaul of domestic policy by lamenting what he said were decades of unwillingness on the part of society and government to make tough decisions or put long-term gain ahead of short-term benefit. In the process, he took a thinly veiled swipe at his predecessor for his tax cuts and philosophy of deregulation.

“That day of reckoning has arrived,” Mr. Obama said, “and the time to take charge of our future is here.”

As he spoke for nearly an hour in a prime-time address, Mr. Obama compared the moment facing America to challenges the country has weathered before. He reminded Americans Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt and other presidents had found “promise amid peril,” which he said should serve as a guide for today.

His words were often stern, but laced with optimism and humor as he said neither political party was free of blame for the nation’s condition. He urged Americans to believe in his ability to steer the country through its fiscal emergency, even as he presented an agenda that would be considered ambitious in more prosperous times.

While he did not break new ground on the policies he proposed, he framed his argument with fresh urgency.

A failure to confront the nation’s dependence on foreign oil, deal with the rising cost of health care or find a solution to the decline of American schools contributed to the place the country finds itself in, Mr. Obama said. He renewed his call for investments in all areas, particularly finding a way to create energy resources that do not rely on foreign sources of oil.

Mr. Obama challenged Congress to pass a bill to cap emissions of the heat-trapping gases that are warming the planet and use $15 billion a year of the revenues from the program to pay for renewable sources of energy.

He was vague about how he intends to make health care more affordable and accessible, saying only the budget he will release on Thursday will make a down payment on the goal of “quality, affordable health care for every American.”

“Let there be no doubt: health care reform cannot wait, it must not wait, and it will not wait another year,” Mr. Obama said to a cacophony of applause, largely from Democrats in the chamber.

He pushed his agenda at a moment when polls show him in a commanding position. But he was also trying to turn the economic situation to his advantage by proposing additional domestic spending when normal fiscal constraints have given way to a need to run substantial deficits.

Still, Mr. Obama pledged to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term, saying his administration had “already identified two trillion dollars in savings over the next decade.” In an interview, an administration official said those savings reflected reduced spending on the war in Iraq and higher revenues from letting the Bush administration’s tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans lapse after 2010.

While the president offered no specifics, he said he would eliminate education programs that did not work, end excessive payments to large agribusinesses and overhaul the military budget “so we’re not paying for cold-war-era weapons systems we don’t use.”

In a litany of proposals, Mr. Obama called for stricter regulatory reforms of the nation’s financial institutions. He also mentioned creating tax-free universal savings accounts for all Americans, a nod to the Republican desire to create some kind of investment vehicles as they consider overhauling Social Security.

“My budget does not attempt to solve every problem or address every issue. It reflects the stark reality of what we’ve inherited — a trillion-dollar budget deficit, a financial crisis and a costly recession,” Mr. Obama said. “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.”

Mr. Obama’s speech lasted 52 minutes, compared with a 49-minute address by Mr. Bush during his first speech to Congress on Feb. 27, 2001, and a 58-minute address by President Bill Clinton on Feb. 17, 1993.

While it was the most high-profile presidential speech since the inauguration, Mr. Obama has already signed a $787 billion economic stimulus plan into law, held a prime-time news conference, and visited Canada and six American states to sell his economic message.

But even though Americans have seen a lot of Mr. Obama in the first 36 days of his presidency, the speech on Tuesday gave him an opportunity to command the stage in a way he had not yet done and served as an early test of whether he would be able to persuade Republicans to support any pieces of his agenda.

Republican leaders in the House and the Senate turned to a rising voice outside of Washington to deliver the party’s response to the address. Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana said Republicans were also focused on trying to rebuild the economy, but he criticized Democrats for turning to government programs — and spending — to deal with the nation’s challenges, calling such an approach irresponsible.

“Democratic leaders say their legislation will grow the economy,” Mr. Jindal said. “What it will do is grow the government, increase our taxes down the line and saddle future generations with debt.”

Mr. Obama acknowledged the anger felt by many Americans over the bailouts of banks, automobile companies and homeowners who are in over their heads. But he made a case all those steps were necessary, not to help the institutions or people receiving taxpayer money, but to avert deeper economic problems that would afflict everyone for years to come.

“It’s not about helping banks, it’s about helping people,” Mr. Obama said. At a moment of crisis, he added, “we cannot afford to govern out of anger, or yield to the politics of the moment.”

Mr. Obama sought to explain the program he announced last week to help some homeowners prevent foreclosure. He asked for understanding from Americans who have made their payments on time and who regard the bailout plan as an unfair reward to those who lived beyond their means. The president urged Americans to consider refinancing their homes, which he said could save them nearly $2,000 a year on their mortgage.

The president waited until the last moments of his speech to address America’s relations with the world, and when he did, he struck broad themes while eschewing specific policy directives.

Instead, Mr. Obama sought to convey a new American administration that will try to lead by example. “The eyes of all people in all nations are once again upon us — watching to see what we do with this moment, waiting for us to lead,” he said.

With Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Speaker Nancy Pelosi sitting behind him, Mr. Obama looked out across a sea of senators, representatives, Supreme Court justices and high-ranking military officials. The president called upon Mr. Biden to oversee the billions of dollars of public spending to ensure that it was invested properly.

“Nobody messes with Joe,” Mr. Obama said with a smile.

The White House, like others before it, sought to personalize the policy proposals by introducing the stories of real people into the speech and inviting 22 guests to sit in the balcony with the first lady, Michelle Obama.

“Those of us gathered here tonight have been called to govern in extraordinary times,” Mr. Obama said. “It is a tremendous burden, but also a great privilege, one that has been entrusted to few generations of Americans. For in our hands lies the ability to shape our world for good or for ill.”