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Obama's First Prime Time News Conference - Answers Very Difficult Questions

Monday, February 9, 2009


The President spoke in his first prime time news conference just a few moments ago. Now that there is agreement with the Senators in the Senate regarding the cuts in the Stimulus Plan, more debate will be needed to get the House to fully agree with the cuts. There will be lots of disagreement,and the question will be how long it will take for a bi-partisan agreement in the Congress with the plan. Most likely, a few of the programs that were cut by the Senate may be re-introduced, while others that were able to survive the Senate will be cut partially or entirely. The President is hoping that he can sign the stimulus bill on Presidents Day. The process can sometimes get confusing, but the lawmakers in Washington do not have much time to act on the Stimulus package. Most economists agree that whether you like the stimulus package or not, some type of assistance is needed now. The hardliners, namely the Conservative Republicans, do not want the bill to pass, but it seems that all they can contribute to this process is to explain what they do not want, mainly to spend tax dollars. At the same time, they are unable to state what they really want, except that they don't want government control, which always has been a pet peeve of the party. If it is involved in government spending, then the conservatives do not want it. In an attempt to further enlighten people with the facts at this news conference, the President gave reasons  why he is pushing the stimulus so forcefully and that time is our enemy if we do not act promptly. He truly believes that only the federal government can get us out of this economic mess, and he blames largely the failed policies of the last administration of George Bush.
His main goal with the stimulus package is to create jobs, and he constantly reminds us of at least 4 million new jobs need to be created. Last month alone, the country lost over 1/2 million jobs, and people are loosing work at an alarming rate. Also reminded is the fact that the government cannot grow these many jobs alone, but will need the help of the private sector. Since the private sector has been so weakened by this recession, that it would not be able to survive without the help of the federal government.
So President Obama is optimistic, as he claims that only less than 1% of the original bill presented by the House to the Senate were cut and the bill passed in the Senate.  Now, the bill goes back to the House and a compromise most certainly will take place, hopefully sooner than later.Both the House and Senate must now compromise on the final draft to be sent to the President for signing.
According to President Obama, success in the economic plan most likely will not be felt for some time, and probably sometime not in this present year, but when jobs are created instead of being lost; when banks start lending money to people who truly qualify to borrow the money; when interest rates presented by banks are now fair to the consumers and borrowers; when businesses start growing again; when people start to spend their money and buy merchandise to help industries grow, then you will know that the plan is finally working, but according to President Obama, that will not be in the very immediate future, even when the bill is passed. That is the reason why he claims that we need to have a 'desperate motivation' to pass this bill.

Watch President Obama explain in the news conference video below how he will measure his success with the stimulus.


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