Obama Upbeat in First Speech to Congress

I will add two comments posted on Youtube to this video to highlight the controversial reception of Obama's speech and his first couple of weeks in office.

"Obama is off to a very Bad Start for a number of reasons;

#1 Failing to veto the Totally BS Spending Bill!
#2 Failure to replace Gibbs!
#3 Failure to nominate a qualified Commerce Secretary which also includes former WA State Gov Gary Lock as one of the worse picks ever!
#4 Failure to allow the Market in a Free Enterprise Capitalist Society to work!
#5 Failure to investigate, audit, seize and sell the assets of totally failed Businesses, Companies, Corporations and Institutions!

TOTAL FAILURE!"

"Total failure? Only those who believe that choose not to see what he's done which is positive. For example, he signed a bill to help prevent foreclosures. He has also done a lot to prevent lobbying in the white house and he even has ordered to closure of Guantanamo Bay. give him some time. He's only been in office for five weeks. Has the patience in America really grown that thin?"

Keyes: Stop Obama or U.S. will cease to exist

This video must have been hard to watch for Obama Supporters such as myself, but if we are to accept all the different aspects of reality we had better face this one as well. One claim of the video that I confute is regarding the economic stimulus plan. Alan Keyes says the money to stimulate the economy came from the air. I say it does not matter where it came from (whether it is borrowed or taken from other fields) as long as it is spent on generating additional demand that otherwise just would not be there. This is the only way to get the economy rolling again. The bank bail out package is a different issue, but not Obama's decision, is it?

President Obama explains what to expect from his economic stimulus plan

On the one hand the fact that something is being done to get the country back on the road leading to economic growth fills us with hope. On the other hand, the critisism from a lot of people, calling the economic stimulus plan a waste of money, makes us doubtful. The only way to find out who is right is to wait and see.

Obama signs stimulus bill

Obama signs stimulus bill, but it is long before the people can feel any of its positive effect supposing there my be any.

President Obama celebrates the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

Let us admit, after a week of campaign mode, this weekly address sounded much like a campaign speech. However, it contained some practical and innovative elements that stand out of the usual political dribble. There is a new website, recovery.gov, being setup so that citizens can follow how the billions of dollars of the stimulus plan are being spent. This, I believe, constitutes what Obama called "doing things differently". In my view, besides the obvious media impact such a website can create, it enables people to get directly involved in democracy and and gives citizens the feeling of being in control. Not as if they could do anything if they disagree with the way their tax money is spent, but at least they will have an opportunity to find out about it. This is a huge step forward.

Job done

Not exactly the way he wanted it, but he got the job done. Almost 800 billion dollars will be spent to stimulate the economy.

Criticism from the Republicans calls the plan a waste of money. Time will tell who was right, but there are two different courses of action for a government to take in a crisis like the current one. The first is to decrease public spending, decrease the budget deficit in order to look better for markets financing state debt. But this solution is only chosen by states close to bankruptcy (find some examples in central Europe). A country with sufficient reserves and an ability to act will only choose the second path increasing pubic spending, stimulating the economy, creating jobs and creating an extra demand in the market that is otherwise not there - just like good old Keynes told us to do. This will probably happen at a price of increasing budget deficit, but that is something not directly affecting the lives of people.

Well done President, looking forward to seeing the effects!

Plan Approved

The Senate approved Obama’s $838 billion economic stimulus bill with only three Republicans supporting the package.

Arlen Specter, one of the three senators breaking with their parties said: “The country cannot afford not to take action”.

I just wonder what all the other Republicans were thinking when they voted against the stimulus plan. They were probably thinking that the interest of their party is far more important than that of the country. There is no other logical explanation.

"When the town is burning, you don't check party labels. Everybody needs to grab a hose." This is how Obama tried to encourage bipartisan support for his plan to no end.

"The situation we face could not be more serious. We have inherited an economic crisis as deep and as dire as any since the Great Depression," explained Obama.

Despite the lack of unity, the dollar got a boost against most foreign currencies as a result of the approval. Markets seem to reward the efforts made to recover the economy.

And they are right to do so if what Obama says comes true:

"This plan will put people back to work right now,"

He expects the stimulus plan to create millions of jobs by building wind turbines and solar panels, upgrading schools, computerizing the health care system, building broadband Internet lines and rebuilding crumbling roads, bridges, dams and levees.

No matter what happens, I feel that we have just seen one of the most important milestones of Obama’s presidency.

Chance for change

Two million people gathered to watch Obama make his presidential speech and many more millions watched him on television and the internet throughout the world. Never before had a political figure attracted such enormous attention. Why? Because America, as much as the whole world, was crying out for change.

"We have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord."

Strangely enough, the first black man to be elected to president of the United States happens to be the man who unified a divided American nation at a critical time of history.The decisions made in the white house in the coming years will affect hundreds of millions of people and their offspring. Decisions about peace and war in the middle east and the sources of energy we use to fuel our cars and light our homes will make the lives of many miserable or happy. We should be hopeful, as we assigned the possible best man to make these decisions.

We should be hopeful, because Obama said that:
"...without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control..."

A sentence, marking the end of an ultra liberal economic era, that should have been said years ago. We should be hopeful that the state will regain its function of control over the free market and the distribution of wealth will be more equal. We should be hopeful that in the future market prices will reflect the real value of commodities rather than speculations.

We should be hopeful that all those people who have been mislead and disappointed by politicians will recover their trust in the democratic ideals and once again they will get involved. They will devote some of their time and energy to public issues, participate in public debates and contribute in any way they can.

Because, as Obam said in his speech:
"This is the price and the promise of citizenship."