Obama takes a dig at GOP in unveiling economic plan
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President Obama, who has long called for bipartisanship and political comity, took off the gloves this morning, criticizing Republicans as he unveiled his plans to create jobs and help the economy.
Obama and White House aides have been signaling for days that the administration would use funds available from the less-than-expected losses of the TARP program to help small businesses and create jobs. In short, Obama turned the bright lens of government help to Main Street from Wall Street.
But the surprise was the tougher tone Obama took with Republicans.
First, the president explained how his administration had helped create the funds from a Republican program: “There has rarely been a less loved or more necessary emergency program than TARP, which – as galling as the assistance to banks may have been – indisputably helped prevent a collapse of the entire financial system,” Obama argued.
But “under the last administration, the TARP program was flawed, and we have worked hard to correct those flaws and manage it properly. And today, TARP has served its original purpose and at a much lower cost than we expected,” Obama said. “In fact, because of our stewardship of this program, and the transparency and accountability we put in place, TARP is expected to cost the taxpayer at least $200 billion less than what was anticipated just this summer.”
Republicans have called for using that money to buy down the federal deficit, rather than helping create jobs, a plan pushed by Democrats. Obama scoffed at that.
“There are those who claim we have to choose between paying down our deficits on the one hand, and investing in job creation and economic growth on the other. But this is a false choice.”
Taking another shot at Republicans, Obama said the nation was further in debt when he entered the White House because of the previous GOP administration.
“And I’d note: these budget-busting tax cuts and spending programs were approved by many of the same people who are now waxing political about fiscal responsibility while opposing our efforts to reduce deficits by getting healthcare costs under control,” Obama said “It’s a sight to see.”
In the end, the economic crisis of the past year was not just the result of weaknesses in our economy. It was also the result of weaknesses in our political system,” Obama said.
“For decades, too many in Washington put off hard decisions. For decades, we’ve watched as efforts to solve tough problems have fallen prey to the bitterness of partisanship, to the prosaic concerns of politics, to ever-quickening news cycles, and to endless campaigns focused on scoring points instead of meeting our common challenges,” he said.
-- Michael Muskal