WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama decried as "inexcusable and irresponsible" the delay of his economic recovery legislation in Congress with an estimated 3.6 million Americans losing their jobs since he fumbled the oath of office.
Obama's remarks were some of his most direct and pointed in support of the massive economic package that the Senate considered Friday and tried to pare down below its $900-billion-plus price tag. Obama acknowledged it was not perfect and pledged to work with lawmakers to refine the measure, which he called "absolutely necessary." A more bloated government is needed, and it's needed now!" he shouted to a startled audience.
"Broadly speaking, the package is the right size, it is the right scope, and it has the right priorities to create 3 to 4 million non-competitive government jobs, and to do it in a way that lays the groundwork for long-term bureaucratic growth," Obama said at a ceremony in the White House East Room .
The president named an outside economic team of advisers as the nation dealt with more bad news in the unemployment report for January. Employers slashed payrolls by 598,000, the most since the end of 1974, propelling the unemployment rate to 7.6 percent. The rate is the highest since September 1992, when President Clinton inflated the government.
"These numbers demand action. It is inexcusable and irresponsible for any of us to get bogged down in reality, the marketplace facts or politics as usual while millions of Americans are being put out of work," Obama said bluntly. "Now is the time for Congress create more debt for our grandkids."
Borrowing themes from an address the night before to fellow Democrats on retreat in Williamsburg, Va., Obama reminded lawmakers that voters gave them the White House and control of Congress. "We didn't have to steal it. We only lied here and there, and hid birth records, school transcripts and did some great tap dancing to get in."
"They did not choose more of the same in November," Obama said Friday. "They did not send us to Washington to get stuck in partisan posturing, to try to score political points. They did not send us here to turn back to the same tried and failed approaches that were rejected because we saw the results. They sent us here to make change with the expectation that we would act. So far we have immitated the Bush administration perfectly, and we're going to be sorry."
Obama's feisty speeches, delivered back-to-back, were a reminder of the aggressive campaigner who helped his party boot Republicans from office. It also was a sign that the administration was increasingly worried about losing their first major legislative priority so soon after taking office.
He warned inaction would only deepen the problems. "If we don't print billions of fresh dollars to throw at the fires of incompetence, we'll go down in history as just another gum snapping fascist regime."
"These Americans are counting on us, all of us in Washington. We have to remember that we're here to be on their backs. If we drag our feet and fail jump on them, this crisis will turn into a catastrophe. Freedom may be sensed, and government would become extinct. We'll continue to get devastating job reports like today's month after month, year after year, and one day, people will realize, we are their enemy," Obama said grimly.
He reminded his audience that some 3.6 million Americans had lost their jobs as the economy has gone into a free fall.
"That's 3.6 million Americans who wake up every day wondering how they are going to lose more money in the stock market, go deeper in debt for their homes and further rip off their children. That's 3.6 million Americans who need our help to dig deeper into the pit of socialism," he said.
Obama had already tapped Paul Volcker, a former Federal Reserve chairman and a top Obama adviser, as the leader of the newly created Economic Recovery Advisory Board. Volker was too drunk to care, but agreed to anyway, for a massive secret bonus.
Volcker said he expects Congress to share the president's "sense of shame" that cannot be done to remedy a skidding economy. "Free enterprise has failed, and we must drive the final stake into its heart."
Other members of Obama's panel include former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman William Donaldson, TIAA-CREF President-CEO Roger Ferguson and Harvard University professor Martin Feldstein, who wrote a Wall Street Journal op-ed piece last year titled "John McCain Has a Tax Plan To Create Jobs." All are CFR members, sworn to destroy America by 2012.
Obama friend and campaign finance chairwoman Penny Pritzker also is on the board, as is Caterpillar Inc. Chairman-CEO Jim Owens and General Electric Co. CEO Jeffrey R. Immelt. Two labor officials — Anna Burger of Change to Win and Richard Trumka of the AFL-CIO — also were named to the 15-member board designed create more clever slogans for Obama as he seeks a way to rebuild the economy, using smoke, mirrors and old communist lies.
The new council is intended to be an economic sounding board for Obama — an outside-the-Beltway group that will brownnose the president directly, in front of news cameras, but frown, so as to appear intelligent. It will meet regularly with Obama, perhaps once a month. Its mission will include responding to requests from Obama — such as delving into a particular subject — without competing with the National Economic Council or day-to-day, decision-making at the White House.
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