Saturday, December 6, 2008 at 2:04 pm
Obama's WPA
In his radio address today Obama outlined an ambitious plan to get the economy back on track. The plan has five points:
1. Embark on a large-scale effort to make public buildings more energy-efficient;
2. Make the single largest new investment in our national infrastructure since President Eisenhower established the Interstate Highway System in the 1950s – creating millions of jobs and compelling states to act quickly and make smart investments;
3. Create jobs and help our children compete by launching the most sweeping effort to modernize and upgrade school buildings that this country has ever seen;
4. Renew our information superhighway by boosting broadband deployment in communities across America;
5. Modernize our health care system so that every hospital and doctor's office is using cutting-edge technology and every American has access to electronic medical records.
Some of these items, such as health IT, have been languishing before Congress for years and should be easily passed with the expanded Dem majorities. Others, such as infrastructure investments and school construction, will take some convincing, especially of the fiscally conservative Blue Dogs in the House.
Full radio speech after the jump.
Remarks of President-elect Barack Obama
Radio Address
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Good morning.
Yesterday, we received another painful reminder of the serious economic challenge our country is facing when we learned that 533,000 jobs were lost in November alone, the single worst month of job loss in over three decades. That puts the total number of jobs lost in this recession at nearly 2 million.
But this isn't about numbers. It's about each of the families those numbers represent. It's about the rising unease and frustration that so many of you are feeling during this holiday season. Will you be able to put your kids through college? Will you be able to afford health care? Will you be able to retire with dignity and security? Will your job or your husband's job or your daughter's job be the next one cut?
These are the questions that keep so many Americans awake at night. But it is not the first time these questions have been asked. We have faced difficult times before, times when our economic destiny seemed to be slipping out of our hands. And at each moment, we have risen to meet the challenge, as one people united by a sense of common purpose. And I know that Americans can rise to the moment once again.
But we need action – and action now. That is why I have asked my economic team to develop an economic recovery plan for both Wall Street and Main Street that will help save or create at least two and a half million jobs, while rebuilding our infrastructure, improving our schools, reducing our dependence on oil, and saving billions of dollars.
We won't do it the old Washington way. We won't just throw money at the problem. We'll measure progress by the reforms we make and the results we achieve – by the jobs we create, by the energy we save, by whether America is more competitive in the world.
Today, I am announcing a few key parts of my plan. First, we will launch a massive effort to make public buildings more energy-efficient. Our government now pays the highest energy bill in the world. We need to change that. We need to upgrade our federal buildings by replacing old heating systems and installing efficient light bulbs. That won't just save you, the American taxpayer, billions of dollars each year. It will put people back to work.
Second, we will create millions of jobs by making the single largest new investment in our national infrastructure since the creation of the federal highway system in the 1950s. We'll invest your precious tax dollars in new and smarter ways, and we'll set a simple rule – use it or lose it. If a state doesn't act quickly to invest in roads and bridges in their communities, they'll lose the money.
Third, my economic recovery plan will launch the most sweeping effort to modernize and upgrade school buildings that this country has ever seen. We will repair broken schools, make them energy-efficient, and put new computers in our classrooms. Because to help our children compete in a 21st century economy, we need to send them to 21st century schools.
As we renew our schools and highways, we'll also renew our information superhighway. It is unacceptable that the United States ranks 15th in the world in broadband adoption. Here, in the country that invented the internet, every child should have the chance to get online, and they'll get that chance when I'm President – because that's how we'll strengthen America's competitiveness in the world.
In addition to connecting our libraries and schools to the internet, we must also ensure that our hospitals are connected to each other through the internet. That is why the economic recovery plan I'm proposing will help modernize our health care system – and that won't just save jobs, it will save lives. We will make sure that every doctor's office and hospital in this country is using cutting edge technology and electronic medical records so that we can cut red tape, prevent medical mistakes, and help save billions of dollars each year.
These are a few parts of the economic recovery plan that I will be rolling out in the coming weeks. When Congress reconvenes in January, I look forward to working with them to pass a plan immediately. We need to act with the urgency this moment demands to save or create at least two and a half million jobs so that the nearly two million Americans who've lost them know that they have a future. And that's exactly what I intend to do as President of the United States.
Thanks for listening.
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Senior Writer Karen Tumulty has been TIME's National Political Correspondent since 2001, and has also covered the White House and Congress for the magazine. A native of San Antonio, she is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and Harvard Business School, where her career choice has significantly lowered the average salary of her graduating class. But she gets lots of free magazines. Read More »
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Joe Klein is TIME's political columnist and author of six books, most recently Politics Lost. His weekly TIME column, "In the Arena," covers national and international affairs. In 2004 he won the National Headliner Award for best magazine column. Read More »
Michael Scherer is the White House correspondent for TIME. He previously worked for Salon.com, Mother Jones, and the Daily Hampshire Gazette. A native of San Francisco, he graduated from U.C. Santa Cruz and Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. Read More » Follow Michael Scherer on Twitter
Jay Newton-Small is the congressional correspondent for TIME. Born in New York, she spent time growing up in Asia, Australia and Europe following her vagabond United Nations parents. A graduate of Tufts University and Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism, Jay previously covered politics for Bloomberg News. And, yes, despite the misleading name SHE is a she. Read More » Follow Jay Newton-Small on Twitter
Amy Sullivan is a senior editor at TIME magazine, and author of the book The Party Faithful: How and Why Democrats are Closing the God Gap (Scribner, 2008). A Michigan native, she holds degrees from the University of Michigan and Harvard Divinity School. She writes about religion and politics for TIME, but no longer answers to the name "Bible Girl." Read More »
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Saturday, December 6, 2008 at 2:12 pm
The Bush Dog dems had no problem peeing billions away in Iraq. They are a real joke.
Saturday, December 6, 2008 at 2:13 pm
With 41 in the Senate, do you think the GOP will be their usual obstructionist selves? Or would that look bad to the voters?
Saturday, December 6, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Others, such as infrastructure investments and school construction, will take some convincing, especially of the fiscally conservative Blue Dogs in the House.
.
Can we get some shock collars for these guys?
Saturday, December 6, 2008 at 2:17 pm
What's sad is that I expect (1) and (4) to happen in places like S. Korea or Japan, but not in this country.
Saturday, December 6, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Is there anything that the thoroughly unqualified, terrorist fraternizing, community organizer won't attempt to model after a Soviet five-year plan?
Saturday, December 6, 2008 at 2:45 pm
"the fiscally conservative Blue Dogs in the House."
.
The last split I saw was 235 Democratic members, 199 republicans, and one last vacancy (la 4). 48 Blue dogs but the idea that they will vote as a bloc is unlikely.
KT has told us many times that the House leader has much more power than the senate leader.
No excuses.
Saturday, December 6, 2008 at 2:49 pm
do you think the GOP will be their usual obstructionist selves?
.
Does the sun rise in the East?
Saturday, December 6, 2008 at 3:08 pm
I really do get weary of Democrats often pre-explaining why they can't get something done. It will be a very long time before the stars line up this way again. Not just in numbers, which may actually improve in two years, but in mandate and momentum.
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If they get stopped it will be because a) they were bullied by the republicans and the Broder Beltway or b) they really are just talk.
.
No excuses.
Saturday, December 6, 2008 at 3:13 pm
PNNTO: True that there are only 48, but that's because they are limited by their own rules of only accepting a certain percentage of the caucus. There's a mile-long waiting list to get in. And if you think of the last two elections the net gain of 50 seats are mostly from conservative districts and many if not most of those members are fiscal conservatives. The bloc, therefore, is rather larger and more powerful than it looks on paper and keeping them in line will be a challenge. JNS
Saturday, December 6, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Thanks for the info JNS but I guess I am not going to accept any more excuses.
Blue Dogs like say Peterson from Minn 7 will not go back to his district and brag about voting against infrastructure investments.
Or Harman because she voted against schools.
They aren't a bloc and even conservative districts understand we need jobs.
There are some, to be sure, but this isn't 1995.
Saturday, December 6, 2008 at 4:31 pm
Is there anything that the thoroughly unqualified, terrorist fraternizing, community organizer won't attempt to model after a Soviet five-year plan?
.
Your mom?
Saturday, December 6, 2008 at 4:40 pm
(Because she's already a repressive economic wasteland collapsing under her own weight, you see.)
Saturday, December 6, 2008 at 5:29 pm
I reject the fiscal conservative label for the Bush dog democrats. They are against costly social programs.
Saturday, December 6, 2008 at 6:11 pm
How many voted for the Bush tax cuts? That many aren't fiscal conservatives. As if such an animal exists.
Monday, December 8, 2008 at 10:47 am
I don't think most people will see building crumbling schools or highways as costly social programs. At this point I am willing to be that most people would rather we had been spending money on that then Iraq. Talk about your costly social programs!
As for the Republican minority, I think that by being soundly thumped two elections in a row, they may just take the approach of sitting in the back of the class for a while and not raising their hands. Hope the teacher doesn't call on them by pretending to be invisible.
Monday, December 8, 2008 at 11:14 pm
I think the IT will actually be the hardest. No Blue Dog will utter a peep about the school buildings or roads. They will all eagerly support and head for the front of the line. It is their districts which are going to get the money.
These days there's a such thing as women voters. Please GOP, attack children. Really.
Seriously, queencersei hits it when she says that people won't see it as "costly social programs." He's going to drain any resentment out of the equation by saying that first, we must have buildings which keep our children safe and educate them. What constituency of any size is against that? Although I believe the term "post-politics" in reality is still "politics," he's aiming to drain the resentment swamp and rebrand the Democrats as the party of competence and judgment. Transfer programs will remain where they are right now, other than healthcare. This make it harder for the Right to fight against, because they thrive on images of welfare queens to stoke resentment.
Seriously, how does the GOP fight back against a road building measure cast as a saftey question? The theme will be "safe for families" and play up images of women buckling children into safety seats and bridge collapses for the men to contemplate. What's the GOP gonna do, run on an anti-saftey program? They will have to go along with really low income-tax rates for the poor. They cannot oppose a tax cut for any class or group. That leaves welfare reform as the only gun they've got.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008 at 1:15 am
Is anyone at all irked that nowhere was public transit mentioned? Yes, let's fix the highways and make it easier to pollute. One word: Foresight!
Tuesday, January 6, 2009 at 9:43 am
[...] we’re still vague on what President-elect Barack Obama’s WPA (Works Projects/Progress Administration) will end up doing, we sure like the images conjured by [...]