“Now is the time to act boldly and wisely, to not only revive this economy, but to build a new foundation for lasting prosperity,” the president said. “Now is the time to jump-start 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.”
In speaking to a joint session of Congress and to the American people, President Obama was trying for a message at once bracing and heartening, and also trying to gain momentum for ambitious policy objectives like health care and education reform and lower federal deficits, and all this in a time of economic unease reports the New York Times.
“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,” Mr. Obama said. “The weight of this crisis will not determine the destiny of this nation,” the president said. “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.”
Nor has America shied from big challenges in other times of crisis, he said, citing the transcontinental railroad that was being built during the Civil War and the moon missions carried out during the Cold War.
Read more here: Amid Gloom, Obama Pledges a Recovery