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Obama Address --**LIVE** Thread
me | 02/24/2009 | me

Posted on 02/24/2009 4:50:56 PM PST by devane617

Live thread for tonight's address. If there is already a thread please delete this one.


TOPICS: Breaking News; Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 111th; bho44; bhobudget; bhospeech; communism; congress; hopeychangey; lies; liesandmorelies; marxism; obama; sniff
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To: xero

Ha, that is hilarious!


121 posted on 02/24/2009 5:37:05 PM PST by KJC1
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To: Knute
Parts of speech 

We have lived through an era where too often, short-term gains were prized over long-term prosperity; where we failed to look beyond the next payment, the next quarter, or the next election. A surplus became an excuse to transfer wealth to the wealthy instead of an opportunity to invest in our future. Regulations were gutted for the sake of a quick profit at the expense of a healthy market. People bought homes they knew they couldn’t afford from banks and lenders who pushed those bad loans anyway. And all the while, critical debates and difficult decisions were put off for some other time on some other day.

Well that day of reckoning has arrived, and the time to take charge of our future is here.

Now is the time to act boldly and wisely – to not only revive this economy, but to build a new foundation for lasting prosperity. Now is the time to jumpstart job creation, re-start lending, and invest in areas like energy, health care, and education that will grow our economy, even as we make hard choices to bring our deficit down. That is what my economic agenda is designed to do, and that’s what I’d like to talk to you about tonight.


The recovery plan and the financial stability plan are the immediate steps we’re taking to revive our economy in the short-term. But the only way to fully restore America’s economic strength is to make the long-term investments that will lead to new jobs, new industries, and a renewed ability to compete with the rest of the world. The only way this century will be another American century is if we confront at last the price of our dependence on oil and the high cost of health care; the schools that aren’t preparing our children and the mountain of debt they stand to inherit. That is our responsibility.

In the next few days, I will submit a budget to Congress. So often, we have come to view these documents as simply numbers on a page or laundry lists of programs. I see this document differently. I see it as a vision for America – as a blueprint for our future.

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 deficit, a financial crisis, and a costly recession.

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.

But that does not mean we can afford to ignore our long-term challenges. I reject the view that says our problems will simply take care of themselves; that says government has no role in laying the foundation for our common prosperity. 


Yesterday, I held a fiscal summit where I pledged to cut the deficit in half by the end of my first term in office. My administration has also begun to go line by line through the federal budget in order to eliminate wasteful and ineffective programs. As you can imagine, this is a process that will take some time. But we’re starting with the biggest lines. We have already identified two trillion dollars in savings over the next decade.

In this budget, we will end education programs that don’t work and end direct payments to large agribusinesses that don’t need them. We’ll eliminate the no-bid contracts that have wasted billions in Iraq, and reform our defense budget so that we’re not paying for Cold War-era weapons systems we don’t use. We will root out the waste, fraud, and abuse in our Medicare program that doesn’t make our seniors any healthier, and we will restore a sense of fairness and balance to our tax code by finally ending the tax breaks for corporations that ship our jobs overseas.


I know that we haven’t agreed on every issue thus far, and there are surely times in the future when we will part ways. But I also know that every American who is sitting here tonight loves this country and wants it to succeed. That must be the starting point for every debate we have in the coming months, and where we return after those debates are done. That is the foundation on which the American people expect us to build common ground. 


But in my life, I have also learned that hope is found in unlikely places; that inspiration often comes not from those with the most power or celebrity, but from the dreams and aspirations of Americans who are anything but ordinary.

I think about Leonard Abess, the bank president from Miami who reportedly cashed out of his company, took a $60 million bonus, and gave it out to all 399 people who worked for him, plus another 72 who used to work for him. He didn’t tell anyone, but when the local newspaper found out, he simply said, ''I knew some of these people since I was 7 years old. I didn't feel right getting the money myself.”

I think about Greensburg, Kansas, a town that was completely destroyed by a tornado, but is being rebuilt by its residents as a global example of how clean energy can power an entire community – how it can bring jobs and businesses to a place where piles of bricks and rubble once lay. “The tragedy was terrible,” said one of the men who helped them rebuild. “But the folks here know that it also provided an incredible opportunity.”

And I think about Ty’Sheoma Bethea, the young girl from that school I visited in Dillon, South Carolina – a place where the ceilings leak, the paint peels off the walls, and they have to stop teaching six times a day because the train barrels by their classroom. She has been told that her school is hopeless, but the other day after class she went to the public library and typed up a letter to the people sitting in this room. She even asked her principal for the money to buy a stamp. The letter asks us for help, and says, “We are just students trying to become lawyers, doctors, congressmen like yourself and one day president, so we can make a change to not just the state of South Carolina but also the world. We are not quitters.”


122 posted on 02/24/2009 5:37:12 PM PST by navysealdad (http://drdavehouseoffun.com/)
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To: Knute

What time does the “address” start? NO watching of the O here in our home, EVER! He is not allowed to even “ speak” in our home, much less be “ seen”!


123 posted on 02/24/2009 5:37:15 PM PST by pollywog (I will lift mine eyes to the hills from whence cometh my help. My help comes from the Lord...Ps 121)
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To: HollyB
He talks about taking away funding from Medicare on treatments that don't work. I assume his people know what works and what doesn't.

Taking away funding from wasteful spending in the war.

How about wasteful spending on Pelosi’s mice, those dag gone golf carts!

Unbelievable!

124 posted on 02/24/2009 5:37:18 PM PST by HollyB
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To: mylife

I would suggest “uh” but your adult beverage would be gone in about two minutes.


125 posted on 02/24/2009 5:37:42 PM PST by nanetteclaret (Texas is not just a place, it's a state of mind...)
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To: LukeL
Take a shot every time he says um or uh?

Then they should change his time slot to Friday night, so people will have the weekend to sober up for work on Monday.

126 posted on 02/24/2009 5:37:50 PM PST by Netizen
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To: pollywog

“NO watching of the O here in our home, EVER! He is not allowed to even “ speak” in our home, much less be “ seen”!”
- - -

That’s a good rule.


127 posted on 02/24/2009 5:38:25 PM PST by Canedawg (Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.)
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To: devane617

GOP’s Jindal calls Obama’s plan irresponsible (GOP response to Obama’s speech to Congre$$)

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2193277/posts

Here ya go.. response is to speech covered here by ap

Obama to say US has reached a ‘day of reckoning’ (nation on an economic precipice)

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2193269/posts


128 posted on 02/24/2009 5:38:30 PM PST by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ... Godspeed.)
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To: Knute; All

What, no one posted the obambi BS meter?


129 posted on 02/24/2009 5:39:02 PM PST by luv2ndamend (May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen. — Samue)
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To: nanetteclaret

Well D”uh”


130 posted on 02/24/2009 5:39:08 PM PST by mylife (The Roar Of the Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: pollywog

Same here! I have quit watching the news unless I have the remote in my hand to change the channel.


131 posted on 02/24/2009 5:39:12 PM PST by PhiKapMom ( BOOMER SOONER! Mary Fallin for OK Governor in 2010! LetsGetThisRight.com)
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To: Knute

Checking how my Chia Pet is growing... .


132 posted on 02/24/2009 5:39:17 PM PST by hoe_cake (" 'We the people' tell the government what to do, it doesn't tell us." Ronald Reagan)
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To: smokingfrog

If everyone has the same card, won’t everyone BINGO at the same time?


133 posted on 02/24/2009 5:40:00 PM PST by Netizen
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To: RushIsMyTeddyBear

134 posted on 02/24/2009 5:40:02 PM PST by xero
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To: mylife

:)


135 posted on 02/24/2009 5:40:15 PM PST by nanetteclaret (Texas is not just a place, it's a state of mind...)
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To: luv2ndamend

“What, no one posted the obambi BS meter?”

I think you need Rotor Rooter for that.


136 posted on 02/24/2009 5:40:29 PM PST by hoe_cake (" 'We the people' tell the government what to do, it doesn't tell us." Ronald Reagan)
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To: xero

Stolen! L0L


137 posted on 02/24/2009 5:40:55 PM PST by mylife (The Roar Of the Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: Retired Greyhound

Yes, when he says “Look” he is telling us we do not understand!


138 posted on 02/24/2009 5:41:09 PM PST by Red_Devil 232 (VietVet - USMC All Ready On The Right? All Ready On The Left? All Ready On The Firing Line!)
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To: PhiKapMom
Same here! I have quit watching the news unless I have the remote in my hand to change the channel.

I cannot even stomach the news anymore! It is quite peaceful , actually. Daughter and grandson, sit and read books, while grandma follows along with the events of the day at FR...grandpa...well he cooks for us all! *hee hee*

139 posted on 02/24/2009 5:41:22 PM PST by pollywog (I will lift mine eyes to the hills from whence cometh my help. My help comes from the Lord...Ps 121)
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To: xero

LOL...using my dew rag to wipe the tears... .


140 posted on 02/24/2009 5:41:38 PM PST by hoe_cake (" 'We the people' tell the government what to do, it doesn't tell us." Ronald Reagan)
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