February 24, 2009: President Barack Obama's Address to the Joint Session of Congress

THE OBAMA PRESIDENCY:

IN FOCUS: STATS

In Focus: Stats

• Borger: Have we seen too much Obama?: President Obama has made his priorities very clear: health care, energy and education. The speech is more like a standard State of the Union address — with an added element of extreme urgency, given the fiscal crisis. If it somehow seems that we have heard this before from Obama, it’s because we have. Which raises the question: have we been seeing him too much? - CNN, 2-24-09
• Poll: Positive Reception For Obama Address: Seventy-nine percent of speech watchers approve of President Obama’s plans for dealing with the economic crisis. Before the speech, 62 percent approved. - CBS News, 2-24-09
• Obama’s poll numbers after first month? Eh. He’s average: Washington Post/ABC News poll: President Barack Obama scores a 68 percent approval rating. At this stage in his presidency, that number is about average.
  Partisan breakdown: How is Obama doing in this age of post-partisanship? Some 90 percent of Democrats approve of Obama’s first month, compared to 37 percent of Republicans.
  Uniter, not a divider: A full 73 percent of Americans believe Obama is trying to work with Republicans. Only 34 percent believe the GOP is working with Obama.
  Gallup Poll: Job approval numbers are similar to the Wash Post/ABC poll. But they note Obama’s disapproval rating has doubled from from 12 percent to 24 percent. - CS Monitor, 2-24-09
• Obama tops Jesus in new poll. Reagan 4th, God 11th: America’s Top Heroes. Rounding out the top ten is Martin Luther King, Jr., Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, Abraham Lincoln, John McCain, John F. Kennedy, U.S. Airways pilot Chesley Sullenberger, and Mother Teresa. Other notables include God (11), Hillary Clinton (12), Gandhi (15), and Sarah Palin (21). - CS Monitor, 2-22-09
• Times/CBS News Poll: Michelle Obama’s Appeal: Overall, 49 percent of Americans have a favorable opinion of the first lady, just 5 percent view her unfavorably and 44 percent don’t yet have an opinion. - NYT, 2-24-09

THE HEADLINES….

Stephen Crowley/The New York Times President Barack Obama addressed a joint session of Congress.

The Headlines…

• A message of help and hope: President Obama reassured a nervous nation Tuesday night that his administration will continue to respond aggressively to the economic crisis and still pursue broad reforms in areas such as health care, energy and education. In his first address to Congress, the new president balanced candor about the deep recession with optimism for a long-term agenda that would be ambitious even in good times. It was an impressive performance and a powerful reminder that America’s challenges stretch beyond the daily stock market swings and grim reports of job losses, home foreclosures and bankruptcies. - St. Petersberg Times, 2-24-09
• Obama says US will survive ‘day of reckoning’: Standing before a nation on an economic precipice, President Barack Obama told worried Americans Tuesday night the U.S. has reached a dire “day of reckoning” that will require boldness and long-term vision to create lasting revival and prosperity. - AP, 2-25-09
• Analysis: Obama address renews audacity to hope: President Barack Obama gave America the audacity to hope again. After describing the U.S. economy in nearly apocalyptic terms for weeks, pushing his $787 billion stimulus plan through Congress, the president used his address to Congress on Tuesday night to tap the deep well of American optimism — the never-say-die spirit that every president tries to capture in words. And great presidents embody.
  “We will rebuild. We will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before,” Obama said, echoing Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan. “The answers to our problems don’t lie beyond our reach,” Obama said. “What is required now is for this country is to pull together, confront boldly the challenges we face, and take responsibility for our future once more.” - AP, 2-24-09
• Obama Assures Nation: ‘We Will Rebuild’: President Obama urged the nation on Tuesday to see the economic crisis as reason to raise its ambitions, calling for expensive new efforts to address energy, health care and education programs even as he warned that more money might be needed to bail out banks. - NYT, 2-24-09
• Obama: High School Education Not Enough: President Obama calls on all Americans to commit to at least one year of higher education or career training.
  “So tonight I ask every American to commit to at least one year or more of higher education or career training,” Obama said. “This can be a community college or a four-year school, vocational training or an apprenticeship. But whatever the training may be, every American will need to get more than a high school diploma.” - Fox News, 2-24-09
• Live Blog: Obama’s Address to Congress - NYT, 2-24-09
• Obama insight: Being realistic on economy maintains credibility: The new president was keeping with a longstanding tradition on days when the commander in chief delivers an address to a joint session of Congress: Around the table Tuesday sat television anchors and the Sunday morning interview program hosts and two senior aides. The location was the dining room in the White House residence… - CNN, 2-24-09
• Confident Obama does just one practice session: President Obama apparently buys into that old slogan about never letting ‘em see you sweat. Despite the pressure of his first speech to a joint session of Congress at a time of national crisis, two senior aides tell me the President quietly had only one full dress rehearsal with a teleprompter at about 6pm ET in the White House’s historic map room. - CNN, 2-24-09
• First Lady’s Guests Reflect Themes of the Speech: Seated in Michelle Obama’s box on Tuesday night were living symbols of the ideas in President Obama’s first speech to a joint session of Congress, including a bank executive, Leonard Abess, who shared a vast fortune with his employees, and an eighth-grade student from South Carolina, Ty’Sheoma Bethea, who in a letter had urged Congress not to neglect education financing. NYT, 2-24-09
• White House reveals first lady’s guests: The White House has announced the names of the more than two dozen guests who will join first lady Michelle Obama at the president’s address to a joint session of Congress Tuesday night. The list includes a range of political supporters, good Samaritans, members of the military, students, and citizens adversely affected by the nations flailing economy… - CNN, 2-24-09
• Lunch offers insight into Obama’s thinking: When the waiter reached for the plate, President Obama shook his head and smiled as he asked for a few more minutes. He had been talking to his guests, and had barely taken a bite of his lunch. The new president was keeping with a longstanding tradition on days when the commander in chief delivers an address to a joint session of Congress: Around the table Tuesday sat television anchors and the Sunday morning interview program hosts and two senior aides. The location was the dining room in the White House residence…. - CNN, 2-24-09
• Obama address: Hearing from the opposing party: Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal will give the Republican response to Pres. Obama’s speech Tuesday night. The first official “response” to the State of the Union by the opposing party was delivered by Republicans Sen. Everett Dirksen and Rep. Gerald Ford in 1966. Each television network offered a half-hour slot for response time, although the slots were not “roadblocked” (i.e. did not air at the same time on all networks), and did not air immediately after the President’s address - CNN, 2-24-09
• Obama address: Obama to make history with speech: President Obama will become the first African American in history to address a joint session of Congress Tuesday night. Although a number of prominent black officials from around the globe, including Nelson Mandela in 1990 and 1994 and Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in 2006, have addressed Congress in the past, no African American has ever been tapped to address both houses of Congress from the chamber of the House of Representatives, as Obama will do Tuesday. - CNN, 2-24-09
• Decision Near on 2010 Withdrawal From Iraq: NYT, 2-24-09
• Officials: Most troops out of Iraq in 18 months: President Barack Obama plans to remove all U.S. combat troops from Iraq by August of next year, administration officials said Tuesday, ending the war that helped define his upstart presidential campaign — although a little more slowly than he promised…. - AP, 2-24-09

POLITICAL QUOTES

Doug Mills/The New York Times President Obama addressed Congress Tuesday night.

Political Quotes

• Transcript President Obama’s Address to Congress: Following is a transcript of President Obama’s address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, as recorded by CQ Transcriptions…. NYT, 2-24-09
  Download Mp3
• Text President Obama’s Address to Congress: Following is the prepared text of President Obama’s address to the joint session of Congress tonight, as provided by the White House…. NYT, 2-24-09
• Transcript: The Republican Response by Gov. Bobby Jindal: Following is a transcript of Gov. Bobby Jindal’s remarks on behalf of the Republican Party on Tuesday night, responding to President Obama’s address, as recorded by CQ Transcriptions…. - NYT, 2-24-09
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• Obama: ‘We are not quitters’: The White House has released the full text of President Obama’s address to Congress this evening - CNN, 2-24-09

Doug Mills/The New York Times

President Obama told Congress, “Now is the time to act boldly.”

• The President’s first address to a joint session of Congress, Excerpts:
  Read the President’s full remarks
  While our economy may be weakened and our confidence shaken; though we are living through difficult and uncertain times, 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.
  The weight of this crisis will not determine the destiny of this nation. The answers to our problems don’t lie beyond our reach. They exist in our laboratories and universities; in our fields and our factories; in the imaginations of our entrepreneurs and the pride of the hardest-working people on Earth. Those qualities that have made America the greatest force of progress and prosperity in human history we still possess in ample measure. What is required now is for this country to pull together, confront boldly the challenges we face, and take responsibility for our future once more….
  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….
  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.
  And if we do – if we come together and lift this nation from the depths of this crisis; if we put our people back to work and restart the engine of our prosperity; if we confront without fear the challenges of our time and summon that enduring spirit of an America that does not quit, then someday years from now our children can tell their children that this was the time when we performed, in the words that are carved into this very chamber, “something worthy to be remembered.” - WH Blog, 2-24-09
• Obama: Economy is a ‘reckoning’ for past poor decisions in his first speech to a joint session of Congress: “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…. Now is the time to act boldly and wisely — to not only revive this economy, but to build a new foundation for lasting prosperity.” - CNN, 2-24-09
• Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal this evening delivered the Republican response to President Obama’s address to Congress: “Tonight, we witnessed a great moment in the history of our Republic. In the very chamber where Congress once voted to abolish slavery, our first African-American president stepped forward to address the state of our union. With his speech tonight, the president completed a redemptive journey that took our nation from Independence Hall … to Gettysburg … to the lunch counter … and now, finally, the Oval Office….
  Republicans are ready to work with the new president. Here in my state of Louisiana, we don’t care what party you belong to if you have good ideas to make life better for our people. We need more of that attitude from both Democrats and Republicans in our nation’s capital. All of us want our economy to recover and our nation to prosper. So where we agree, Republicans must be the president’s strongest partners. And where we disagree, Republicans have a responsibility to be candid and offer better ideas for a path forward.
  Today in Washington, some are promising that government will rescue us from the economic storms raging all around us.
  Those of us who lived through Hurricane Katrina, we have our doubts….
  To solve our current problems, Washington must lead. But the way to lead is not to raise taxes and put more money and power in hands of Washington politicians. The way to lead is by empowering you — the American people. Because we believe that Americans can do anything.
  Democrats passed the largest government spending bill in history — with a price tag of more than $1 trillion with interest. While some of the projects in the bill make sense, their legislation is larded with wasteful spending….
  Republicans want “your trust.” Republicans want to work with President Obama. We appreciate his 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. In the end, it comes down to an honest and fundamental disagreement about the proper role of government. We oppose the national Democrats’ view that says — the way to strengthen our country is to increase dependence on government. We believe the way to strengthen our country is to restrain spending in Washington, and empower individuals and small businesses to grow our economy and create jobs.
  In recent years, these distinctions in philosophy became less clear — because our party got away from its principles. You elected Republicans to champion limited government, fiscal discipline, and personal responsibility. Instead, Republicans went along with earmarks and big government spending in Washington. Republicans lost your trust — and rightly so.
  Tonight, on behalf of our leaders in Congress and my fellow Republican governors, I say: Our party is determined to regain your trust. We will do so by standing up for the principles that we share… the principles you elected us to fight for … the principles that built this into the greatest, most prosperous country on earth.” - USA Today, 2-24-09
• Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who gave the Republican Party’s official response “GOP leaders say Obama’s plan is irresponsible”: “The way to lead is not to raise taxes and put more money and power in hands of Washington politicians. It’s irresponsible….
  You elected Republicans to champion limited government, fiscal discipline, and personal responsibility. Instead, Republicans went along with earmarks and big government spending in Washington. Our party is determined to regain your trust….” - AP, 2-24-09
• House Republican Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia “GOP leaders say Obama’s plan is irresponsible”: “Washington shouldn’t be spending money that we don’t have,” House Republican Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia said in his response to Obama’s speech. He said Republicans will work with Obama, but they will not betray core principles. - AP, 2-24-09
• Jindal to criticize stimulus, say GOP ‘lost trust’: “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…
  Republicans are ready to work with the new president to provide those solutions. Here in my state of Louisiana, we don’t care what party you belong to if you have good ideas to make life better for our people. We need more of that attitude from both Democrats and Republicans in our nation’s capital….
  In recent years, these distinctions in philosophy became less clear - because our party got away from its principles. You elected Republicans to champion limited government, fiscal discipline, and personal responsibility. Instead, Republicans went along with earmarks and big government spending in Washington. Republicans lost your trust - and rightly so…..
  As I grew up, my mom and dad taught me the values that attracted them to this country - and they instilled in me an immigrant’s wonder at the greatness of America. As a child, I remember going to the grocery store with my dad. Growing up in India, he had seen extreme poverty. And as we walked through the aisles, looking at the endless variety on the shelves, he would tell me: ‘Bobby, Americans can do anything.’ I still believe that to this day….
  Republicans are ready to work with the new President to provide those solutions. Here in my state of Louisiana, we don’t care what party you belong to if you have good ideas to make life better for our people. We need more of that attitude from both Democrats and Republicans in our nation’s capital. All of us want our economy to recover and our nation to prosper. So where we agree, Republicans must be the President’s strongest partners. And where we disagree, Republicans have a responsibility to be candid and offer better ideas for a path forward….
  The strength of America is not found in our government. It is found in the compassionate hearts and enterprising spirit of our citizens….
  To solve our current problems, Washington must lead. But the way to lead is not to raise taxes and put more money and power in hands of Washington politicians. The way to lead is by empowering you - the American people. Because we believe that Americans can do anything…. 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. Who among us would ask our children for a loan, so we could spend money we do not have, on things we do not need? That is precisely what the Democrats in Congress just did. It’s irresponsible. And it’s no way to strengthen our economy, create jobs, or build a prosperous future for our children….
  In recent years, these distinctions in philosophy became less clear - because our party got away from its principles. You elected Republicans to champion limited government, fiscal discipline, and personal responsibility. Instead, Republicans went along with earmarks and big government spending in Washington. Republicans lost your trust - and rightly so….
  A few weeks ago, the President warned that our nation is facing a crisis that he said ‘we may not be able to reverse.’ Our troubles are real, to be sure. But don’t let anyone tell you that we cannot recover - or that America’s best days are behind her.”… - CNN, 2-24-09

HISTORIANS’ COMMENTS

Doug Mills/The New York Times President Obama greeted Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Historians’ Comments

• Julian Zelizer “Analysis: Clinton’s mockery of Obama proves true”: “Clinton’s earlier critique of change has quickly become very valid,” said Julian Zelizer, a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University. “The Washington of George Bush is the same Washington of Barack Obama. The promise of bipartisanship and hope in Washington is difficult to actually achieve.” - CNN, 2-24-09
• Robert V. Remini “Presidents’ First Speeches to Congress Focus on Parts of the State of the Union”: The major difference between a State of the Union address and a first-year report is the scope of the speech, said House historian Robert V. Remini. A State of the Union is expected to cover both domestic and foreign matters. Remini said Obama could, for example, skip a discussion about Afghanistan on Tuesday night. “In a State of the Union he would be obliged to do it,” he said. - CQ Politics, 2-24-09