Obama vows to stick to path of change
By Arun Kumar, IANSThursday, January 28, 2010
WASHINGTON - Returning to his campaign theme of “change” that brought him to power a year ago, a defiant President Barack Obama has vowed to make job creation a top priority as he goes ahead with an ambitious all round agenda.
“Change has not come fast enough,” Obama said in his first State of the Union address Wednesday night to a joint session of the Congress in the packed House of Representatives chamber and a television audience of millions.
Despite some setbacks, he would not abandon ambitious plans for longer-term fixes to health care, energy, education and more, he declared urging politicians to come together around new stimulus spending and short-term economic relief.
Suggesting that growing competition from nations like India, China and Germany could push the US into second place, he said they needed to urgently fix ” the problems that are hampering our growth”.
“Washington has been telling us to wait for decades, even as the problems have grown worse. Meanwhile, China’s not waiting to revamp its economy. Germany’s not waiting. India’s not waiting.”
Democrats stood and applauded when Obama said he wanted to impose a new fee on banks or mentioned the economic stimulus package passed last February, while Republicans sat and stared.
The president devoted about two-thirds of his speech to the economy, emphasising his ideas for restoring job growth, taming budget deficits and changing a polarised Washington “where every day is Election Day.”
“I campaigned on the promise of change-’change we can believe in,’ the slogan went,” Obama said. “And 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. But remember this: I never suggested that change would be easy. . . . We don’t quit. I don’t quit.”
Promising not to “give up on changing the tone of our politics,” he said:
“To Democrats, I would remind you that we still have the largest majority in decades, and the people expect us to solve some problems, not run for the hills.”
To Republicans, he said, “Just saying ‘no’ to everything may be good short-term politics, but it’s not leadership.”
He looked to rescue the health care plan, his top domestic priority. The plan was on the verge of passage, then got derailed after opposition Republicans captured the Massachusetts seat depriving the Democrats of their filibuster proof majority in the Senate.
“Do not walk away from reform,” he implored. “Not now. Not when we are so close.”
In a remarkable shift from past addresses, and notable for a president whose candidacy caught fire over his opposition to the Iraq war, foreign policy was taking a relative back seat.
On national security, Obama proclaimed some success, saying that “far more” Al Qaeda terrorists were killed under his watch last year in the US-led global fight than in 2008.
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)
