Obama Vows ‘We Will Rebuild’ America

President Barack Obama presented a somber but hopeful assessment of the nation’s economy during his first speech to a joint session of Congress Tuesday evening. In it he outlined the mistakes of the past eight years that brought the country to where it is today. Instead of investing in the future, he accused the Bush administration of squandering a surplus to help the rich get richer. Quick profit became more important than a healthy market, difficult decisions were postponed, and ordinary Americans are paying the highest cost of all.

“I know that for many Americans watching right now, the state of our economy is a concern that rises above all others. And rightly so,” Obama said. “If you haven’t been personally affected by this recession, you probably know someone who has — a friend; a neighbor; a member of your family. … The impact of this recession is real, and it is everywhere.”

Offering support to a nation in the throes of a recession, Obama said “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.”

Obama touched on the somewhat unpopular bank bailout and reassured Americans that CEOs will now have to be accountable unlike the situation with the Bush administration. “I know how unpopular it is to be seen as helping banks right now, especially when everyone is suffering in part from their bad decisions,” he said. “I promise you — I get it.”

Throughout the address, Democrats and very often many Republicans responded with enthusiastic applause and standing ovations, although they have shown very little support for the president’s economic initiatives.

“I think their response tonight was to be expected, given the president’s popularity,” said Rep. Chakah Fattah (D-Penn.) of his GOP colleagues. “But what we need is their cooperation as we move forward.”

New York Rep. Yvette Clarke added that Republicans realize they have to begin to seek some common ground for the future of the economy and perhaps even their own political futures. “There’s a limit as to what their constituents will abide. In their districts, just like ours, there are people who are hurting. Obama struck a tone that all reasonable minds can wrap themselves around,” Clarke said.

Budget Concerns

The president said his budget, which he will present later this week, will focus on energy, healthcare, and education.

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

He plans to double this nation’s supply of renewable energy in the next three years, invest in basic research funding to spur new discoveries in energy, medicine, science, and technology. Through Obama’s proposal, more Americans will be

put to work making homes and buildings more efficient so that Americans can save billions of dollars on energy bills. “But to truly transform our economy, protect our security, and save our planet from the ravages of climate change,” Obama said, “We need to ultimately make clean, renewable energy the profitable kind of energy. So 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.

To support Congress’ plan, Obama said the country will invest $15 billion dollars a year to develop technologies such as wind and solar power, and build more fuel-efficient cars and trucks in America.

He said the U.S. must “harnesses the power of clean, renewable energy” to lead the 21st century. But acknowledged that it is China, not the U.S. “that has launched the largest effort in history to make their economy energy efficient. We invented solar technology, but we’ve fallen behind countries like Germany and Japan in producing it.”

On education, the president said his budget will create new incentives for teacher performance and support for innovative education programs.

“The most potent moment was a Kennedy-like moment when he suggested that the incomplete education of anyone in America undermines the greatness of America,” said Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-Texas). “I hope that the young people of America heard that: Get a college education and begin to rebuild America.”

Despite unprecedented efforts to win bipartisan support for his measures, Republicans have so far only criticized the president’s economic remedies. Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings expected more of the same tonight. “They’re preparing for 2010 when the House and one-third of the Senate are up for re-election and 2012 when the president is up for re-election. I don’t think it matters what he says; suspect it will be politics as usual and they’ll line up to criticize whatever he says.”

California Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher believes Obama delivered a good speech but didn’t deliver enough details. Given the tens of billions already spent on recovery and reinvestment, he seems to think Obama is being naive if he thinks paying for his initiatives and halving the deficit by the end of his first term as he has pledged to do is as simple as identifying items in the budget that can be cut.

“He’s got to spend more time on how you get from here to there. The speech was heavy on goals, which sounded very lofty and heavy on what the problems are, but not much detail,” Rohrabacher said.

Cato Institute fellow Michael Tanner also felt that the speech lacked detail. “He pledged far-reaching — and expensive — goals, but didn’t tell us much about how he plans to get there,” said Tanner. “That’s why the speech will be popular. Who can be against better education, energy independence,

healthcare reform, reducing the deficit, and fighting ‘fraud, waste, and abuse?’ If he spelled out the detailed plans, his poll numbers would drop. But without those details he complicates his chances for getting what he wants passed.”

Jackson-Lee and other Democrats are reserving judgment until Obama unveils his budget on Thursday. “That should be the standard bearer on how we fund his ideas. But as Obama said, there are going to have to be sacrifices. One of the problems of the past administration is they wanted all benefits and no burdens. We have to sacrifice in order for America to be greater in the future,” Jackson-Lee said.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a Republican rising star, delivered his party’s response to Obama’s address. Oddly, however, he prepared his remarks without knowing what the president would say.

While acknowledging that Republicans have lost voters’ trust, Jindal contends that Democrats are taking the wrong approach to repairing the economy. “Democratic leaders say their legislation will grow the economy. What it will do is grow the government, increase our taxes down the line, and saddle future generations with debt,” he said. “We appreciate [Obama’s] message of hope, but sometimes it seems we look for hope in different places. Democratic leaders in Washington place their hope in the federal government. We place our hope in you — the American people.”

Deborah Creighton Skinner contributed to this article.