Photos: Partisan Rhetoric (The Obama Presidency, Day 498)

Clio the Leo

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Thu Jun-03-10 12:47 AM
Original message

Photos: Partisan Rhetoric (The Obama Presidency, Day 498)

Edited on Thu Jun-03-10 01:09 AM by Clio the Leo

.... is awesome!

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/06/02/moving-forward-new-foundation">Moving Forward on the New Foundation
(read his complete remarks http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-economy-carnegie-mellon-university">here. Video is http://www.youtube.com/watch_videos?index=1&more_url=%2Fmy_subscriptions&no_autoplay=1&feature=sub&video_ids=vuPXpKPh4Uw%2CEwyKXJmPQKM%2CjgzikFb8dDo%2CADg6H3bKiWo%2CgpQBQqpB3Pc%2CxvsiQJI-Fbg%2CgN4xpBkLB3g%2CcYWVhfIdPSk&type=1">here.)

President Barack Obama speaks about the economy, Wednesday, June 2, 2010, at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

We have to build a new and stronger foundation for growth and prosperity -- and that�s exactly what we�ve been doing for the last 16 months.

Now, some of you may have noticed that we have been building this foundation without much help from our friends in the other party.

From our efforts to rescue the economy...

... to health insurance reform ...

...to financial reform ...

... most have sat on the sidelines and shouted from the bleachers.

They said no to tax cuts for small businesses; no to tax credits for college tuition; no to investments in clean energy. They said no to protecting patients from insurance companies and consumers from big banks.

Before I was even inaugurated, the congressional leaders of the other party got together and made a calculation that if I failed, they�d win.

Before we even had a health care bill, a Republican senator actually said, �If we�re able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him.�

But to be fair, a good deal of the other party�s opposition to our agenda has also been rooted in their sincere and fundamental belief about the role of government. It�s a belief that government has little or no role to play in helping this nation meet our collective challenges. It�s an agenda that basically offers two answers to every problem we face: more tax breaks for the wealthy and fewer rules for corporations.

The last administration called this recycled idea �the Ownership Society.� But what it essentially means is that everyone is on their own.

Now, I�ve never believed that government has all the answers. Government cannot and should not replace businesses as the true engine of growth and job creation. Government can�t instill good values and a sense of responsibility in our children. That's a parent�s job.

But I also understand that throughout our nation�s history, we have balanced the threat of overreaching government against the dangers of an unfettered market. We've provided a basic safety net, because any one of us might experience hardship at some time in our lives and may need some help getting back on our feet. And we've recognized that there have been times when only government has been able to do what individuals couldn't do and corporations wouldn't do.

That's how we have railroads and highways...

... public schools ...

... and police forces.

As November approaches, leaders in the other party will campaign furiously on the same economic arguments they�ve been making for decades.

Fortunately, we don't have to look back too many years to see how their agenda turns out. For much of the last 10 years we've tried it their way. They gave us tax cuts that weren�t paid for to millionaires who didn�t need them. They gutted regulations and put industry insiders in charge of industry oversight. They shortchanged investments in clean energy and education, in research and technology.

And despite all their current moralizing about the need to curb spending, this is the same crowd who took the record $237 billion surplus that President Clinton left them and turned it into a record $1.3 trillion deficit.

So we know where those ideas lead us. And now we have a choice as a nation.

We can return to the failed economic policies of the past, or we can keep building a stronger future.

We can go backward, or we can keep moving forward.

And I don't know about you, but I want to move forward.

A US Secret Service agent fights with the wind caused by Marine One in the background with US President Barack Obama on board as it takes of on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC on June 2, 2010.