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Obama: Americans in 'winter of our hardship'
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-02-10 11:28 WASHINGTON -- US President Barack Obama said Monday the crisis gripping the United States is the "winter of our hardship" as he pounded home the need for Congress to set aside petty differences and pass an $800-plus billion stimulus fund to fight an economic collapse not seen in 80 years.
"The federal government is the only entity left with the resources to jolt our economy back to life," he said, adding that failure to act "could turn a crisis into a catastrophe." Obama declared that bringing politicians of both parties behind the task of saving the economy was "the test facing the United States of America in this winter of our hardship, and it is our duty as leaders and citizens to stay true to that purpose in the weeks and months ahead." Acknowledging that no one knew with certainty how to solve the economic crisis, Obama said he could say "with complete confidence that a failure to act will only deepen this crisis." He has no crystal ball, he said, but "if we get things right,we can begin seeing some improvement next year." The president spoke in a nationally televised question-and-answer session with reporters. When the stimulus bill passed the House, not a single Republican voted for it. On Monday an $838 billion version of the legislation cleared a crucial test vote in the Senate by a 61-36 margin, with all but three Republican senators opposing it. Rejecting criticism, he said that 90 percent of the jobs created by the plan would be in the private sector, rebuilding crumbling roads, bridges and other aging infrastructure. "The plan that ultimately emerges from Congress must be big enough and bold enough to meet the size of the economic challenge we face right now," Obama said. Again and again, he stressed that the economy is in dire straits. "This is not your ordinary, run of the mill recession," he said. Obama said the United States aims to avoid the kind of economic pain that Japan endured in the 1990s -- the "lost decade" when that nation showed no economic growth. "My bottom line is to make sure that we are saving or creating 4 million jobs," he said, and that homeowners facing foreclosure receive some relief. On a key foreign policy issue, Obama said he would be looking for "openings" in the months ahead that could lead to face-to-face talks with Iran. The president said his national security team is looking at areas where the United States can "directly engage" with Iran. But he said it will not happen overnight, and "a lot of distrust" stands in the way of improved ties. He also said Iran needs to understand the US view that it is "unacceptable" for the Iranians to finance terror groups, and a nuclear-armed Iran could set off an arms race that would destabilize the Middle East. "My expectation is in the coming months we will be looking for openings that can be created where we can be sitting across the table face to face," Obama said. Obama said the United States is sending signals that it wants to "do things differently," and that it is time for Iran to send the same signals. He also said "we can not allow al-Qaida to operate" in safe havens in Pakistan along the border with Afghanistan, where he said US policy was under a broad review. Obama spoke a day before his administration was to announce new policies to rescue the ailing financial industry. A major goal of that program is to persuade hedge funds, insurance companies and private equity firms to buy into some of the US banks' riskiest investments. "The credit crisis is real, and it's not over," Obama said. He faulted the way the first $350 billion of the $700 billion bailout program was spent. "We didn't get as big of a bang for the buck as we should have," he said. He said the government would work with banks to take bad debts off of their books so they will start making loans again. He said his goal was to restore market confidence. Obama said he did not know whether more bailout money would be needed and, if so, how much that might be. Obama returned to the capital for the news conference from Elkhart, Indiana, where made a campaign-style pitch for the stimulus plan, having traveled Monday to the hard-hit industrial city in hopes of winning support for the package that has become his first big test since taking office. Obama participated in a town hall-style meeting in Elkhart and plans to hold another one Tuesday in Fort Myers, Florida, and one Thursday in Peoria, Illinois. All are cities that are suffering particularly hard times. |
