Yesterday Obama delivered his first speech to a joint session of Congress. He mixed reassuring rhetoric with a concrete plan of action. Nothing captured the essence of the speech and the path Obama intends to take more than this line – “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”.
Here’s the full text of the 24th Feb Obama speech.
The Republican reaction was on expected lines with Bobby Jindal calling the $787 billion stimulus package wasteful and Obama’s approach as irresponsible. Obama on his part categorically stated that the recession was a mess that he has inherited from the Bush administration.
Obama has made a huge promise – to cut the $1.3 trillion budgetary deficit by half by the end of his term in 2013. This will be achieved mainly by pulling out of Iraq and by undoing the tax cuts that the Bush administration offered to the rich.
Post-speech, two polls showed how closely the economic climate and the political mood of the nation are interlinked.
A Washington Post-ABC News survey had 68% of the respondents approving of Obama’s job performance. A Gallup poll on the other hand had his approval rating falling to 59%.
