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Obama Warns Of Economic Catastrophe If Lawmakers Don't Act

By Liz Halloran (NPR)

President Obama used his first White House news conference Monday night to personalize the dire state of the nation's economy, leveraging his popularity and the power of his office to urge Congress and the country to get behind his stimulus package. (news conference transcript)

President Obama walks down the Cross Hall to hold his first news conference, Monday, Feb. 9, 2009, in the East Room of the White House in Washington.  (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)
President Obama walks down the Cross Hall to hold his first news conference, Monday, Feb. 9, 2009, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)

Despite his effort to get bipartisan support for his huge economic plan, the rewards have been meager: zero Republican votes in the House and three in the Senate. But Obama pledged to continue to try to "build up some trust over time."

"We find ourselves in a rare moment where the citizens of our country and all countries are watching and waiting for us to lead," Obama said during his prime-time appearance. "It is a responsibility that this generation did not ask for, but one that we must accept for the sake of our future and our children's."

In his hourlong televised appearance, the president touched on a range of issues, from the war in Afghanistan to steroid use in Major League Baseball. But the bulk of his time was spent laying out the nation's economic challenges and his legislative prescription.

Fresh from a town-hall style meeting earlier Monday in Elkhart, Ind., Obama frequently highlighted the economic devastation in that community to illustrate how working-class America has been affected by the crisis. Elkhart's unemployment rate has gone from 4.7 percent to 15.3 percent in a year, and the town has lost jobs faster than "anywhere else in America," he said.

"Local TV stations have started running public service announcements that tell people where to find food banks, even as the food banks don't have enough to meet the demand," Obama said. "As we speak, similar scenes are playing out in cities and towns across the country." He pointed to the fact that 598,000 jobs were lost nationally last month, and spoke of the 1,000 men and women who stood in line for a chance at 35 firefighter jobs in Miami.

When asked whether his language about the economy has been too dire, Obama responded: "What I'm trying to underscore is what the people in Elkhart already understand — this is not your ordinary, run-of-the mill recession."

In discourses that ate up much of the hourlong give-and-take with the media, the president stoutly defended his plan, saying the price tag of more than $800 billion wasn't "plucked out of a hat."

Obama said there are three benchmarks by which the American public can assess whether the stimulus package is working.

"My initial measure of success will be creating or saving 4 million jobs," he said, followed by a stabilization of the credit market and then the housing market. "If we get things right, then starting next year, we can start seeing some significant improvement."

Addressing Republican Critics

During his appearance, Obama sought to project an image of a president determined to address the economic crisis, and to silence Republican critics who have made the political calculation that opposing his stimulus plan en masse will ultimately be a winning position.

The president addressed those critics directly: "If there's anyone out there who still doesn't believe this constitutes a full-blown crisis, I suggest speaking to one of the millions of Americans out there now who don't know where their next paycheck is coming from."

The government, Obama said, is the only entity able to stem job losses and create some stability in the flailing economy. And the plan Congress is preparing to deliver is "big enough and bold enough to meet the size of the economic challenge we face right now," he added.

With the Senate poised to pass its version of the stimulus package Tuesday after a crucial test vote Monday afternoon, both parties joined the president in lobbying the public with renewed zeal.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky accused Obama and congressional Democrats of deceiving the public by rolling out separate high-dollar spending plans for the stimulus and the bank and housing bailouts. Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California issued a press release highlighting Republican House leaders' "no" votes on initiatives ranging from expanding children's health care, to reforming the bailout programs.

"There is no time to delay," Pelosi said, echoing the president.

To underscore the importance the administration has placed on bolstering public support for the nearly trillion dollar spending-and-tax-cut stimulus plan, the president plans to continue to hold campaign-like stops in areas hardest hit by the historic downturn.

On Tuesday, the president is scheduled to travel to Fort Myers, Fla., which has been hammered by the housing crisis. The state's Republican governor, Charlie Crist, has said he will introduce the president in a show of bipartisanship that has largely failed to materialize in Washington.

Leaders from the two chambers are expected to begin meeting to meld the two bills immediately after the Senate vote on Tuesday. Both the Senate and the House will have to approve the compromise measure before it hits the president's desk.

Also Tuesday, the administration is expected to reveal a spending plan for the ongoing bailout of the nation's banks. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is expected to detail how the second half of the controversial TARP money — some $350 billion — will be distributed.

The administration on Monday touted a new Gallup Poll that found that 76 percent of those surveyed approved of how the president is handling his job. Sixty percent approved of how Democrats on Capitol Hill are performing, compared with a 44 percent approval rating for Republicans.

But just 54 percent say they support the economic stimulus, according to the poll, and the 45 percent who oppose it were the likely target of Obama's message.

As Monday's press conference drew to a close, Obama was again asked about the partisanship that has marked debate on the stimulus and how he could expect that could ever change.

"I am the eternal optimist," the president said, echoing his earlier comments about not giving up on changing the tone in the nation's capital.

It's something that, he suggested, the American public just might appreciate at this moment in history.

Andrew Phelps Reporter
Andrew Phelps was formerly a producer and reporter for WBUR.

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