March 8th, 2010
Qnvh Obama seeks to get back on track in Florida_3
“I campaigned on the promise of change — change we can believe in, the slogan went,” Obama said, recalling the days before his barnstorming 2008 campaign promises hit a brick wall of Republican opposition in government.
He turned towards foreign policy only towards the end of an address dominated by economic challenges, almost as an afterthought, warning Iran would face “growing consequences” if it did not halt its nuclear program.
“Through the Recovery Act, we are making the largest investment in infrastructure since the Interstate Highway System was created,” Obama said, in an advance copy of his remarks.
“Jobs must be our number one focus in 2010,” Obama said, and promised to redirect 30 billion US dollars from a Wall Street bailout fund to help small businesses get credit and create new positions.
Obama’s agenda took a huge hit when Republicans seized a Senate seat in liberal Massachusetts last week, and the president is under intense pressure to show leadership and to restore his authority.
The administration said the investment would create or save tens of thousands of jobs over time in areas like track-laying, manufacturing, planning and engineering, and rail maintenance and operations.
In another bid to recapture the heady spirit of change which swept him to power, Obama said he would work with Congress to repeal the “don’t ask,ugg uk, don’t tell” law banning gays from serving openly in the US military.
“That investment is how we can break ground across the country,The North Face Shoes, putting people to work building high-speed rail lines, because there?s no reason why Europe or China should have the fastest trains when we can build them right here in America.”
In the 2008 election, victory in the key electoral state helped pave the way to the White House for Obama, and as recently as a year ago his approval ratings in the state stood at 64 percent in the same poll.
The president, seeking to rescue his ambitious political program, vowed on Wednesday night in the key note address to Congress that he would not quit, and was determined to haul the American economy out of the mire.
Obama seeks to get back on track in Florida
President Barack Obama headed to Florida Thursday,mbt shoes, hoping to use his defiant State of the Union address as a springboard for political recovery in an economically scarred electoral battleground.
“Right now, I know there are many Americans who aren’t sure if they still believe we can change — or at least that I can deliver it,” he said, and bluntly stated “change has not come fast enough.”
A Quinnipiac University poll last month found 49 percent of voters in Florida, hard hit by the mortgage foreclosure crisis, disapproved of Obama’s performance and only 45 percent approved.
Obama was to make a rare joint campaign-style appearance with Vice President Joe Biden, to unveil eight billion US dollars in funding for high-speed rail projects, part of a jobs push which is now the White House’s top priority.
Obama said the US government must double US exports in five years to support two million more jobs, and to boost commerce with South Korea, Panama and Colombia, but stopped short of urging Congress to pass trade pacts.
He demanded Congress pass a jobs bill and send it to his desk “without delay,” and warned that if lawmakers did not maintain the strength of his bid to crack down on Wall Street he would veto their efforts.
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The administration says its 787 billion US dollars stimulus plan has saved or created up two million jobs, but with unemployment at 10 percent and set to stay high for months, a political rebound may be a long time coming for Obama. Florida, like swing states Ohio, where Obama went last week, and New Hampshire, on his itinerary next week, has seen independent voters turn against the president after national unemployment hit 10 percent. The administration had previously announced the eight billion dollar grant for high speed rail under the stimulus act, but will offer more details at a town hall meeting in Tampa, Florida. He also vowed he would not “walk away” from the stalled health care reform drive which dominated his first year in office. |
March 8th, 2010
4tua Obama comes out swinging for big reforms_8
Seeking a political rebound, Obama held a folksy town hall meeting in Florida, where his approval numbers have tumbled as the key swing state which helped send him to the White House battles the mortgage crisis and high unemployment.
“Right now, I know there are many Americans who aren’t sure if they still believe we can change – or at least that I can deliver it,” he said, and bluntly stated “change has not come fast enough.”
“It’s about time we moved … . But most important, we’re creating jobs, good jobs, construction jobs, manufacturing jobs.”
President Barack Obama has rekindled the “Yes We Can” mood of his 2008 campaign, vowing not to shirk from the “tough stuff” after his reform plans ground to a near halt in Congress.
“Yes we can,” Obama said, picking up a chant from an audience. “We don’t quit, we don’t back down, we are Americans.”
The White House denies that Obama used his State of the Union speech to “reset” his administration, after his most humiliating political blow yet, the Democratic loss last week of the Senate seat of the late Edward Kennedy.
Obama appears determined not to scale back his reform hopes because of a suddenly inhospitable political environment. But it remains unclear just how much of his ambitious agenda will make it though Congress unscathed.