Obama: Economy Will Emerge Stronger

美国总统奥巴马周二晚间首次向国会发表正式讲话，他的话既令人警醒，又给人以希望。他一方面说对美国这个纵情消费的国家而言，“算总帐的时候已经来临”，同时又发誓要把美国从二战后最严重的经济衰退引向复苏之路。他的讲话被视为给饱受失业和股价暴跌折磨的美国开出了一剂安慰药，也被看作是对奥巴马本人过去几周悲观言论的中和。奥巴马对坐在众议院会场内的议员内阁官员军方领导人和最高法院法官们说，虽然我们的经济可能削弱了，我们的信心动摇了，虽然我们正在经历一段困难而不确定的时期，但今晚我想让每一位美国人都知道：我们将会重建，我们将会恢复，美利坚合众国最终将比以往更加强大。听众对他的这番话报以经久不息的掌声。在谈完了光明的未来后，奥巴马试图将话题引向过去的一段岁月，他希望这段岁月不会损害本届政府的声望，也不会断送他本人雄心勃勃的施政蓝图。奥巴马说，布什当政时期的美国朝野都应受到指责。那时候“财政盈余成了向富人转移财富的借口，而不是为我们的未来进行投资的机会。”他还说，那段日子“监管规则遭到破坏，以牺牲市场健康换取短期效益。老百姓明知自己无力承担贷款却还是要买房子，而放款的银行和贷款人不顾实际地大力推销这些坏帐。”奥巴马试图给他眼中这灾难性十年坚定地画上一个休止符，并向听众们保证，通过分担牺牲以及重新找回责任感，美国终将变得比以往任何时候都强大。他说：“算总帐的时候已经来临，我们为未来负责的时候也已来临。现在是我们采取大胆和明智行动的时候－我们不但要重振经济，还要为持续的繁荣奠定新的基础。”奥巴马没有像常规的这类讲话一样详细列举自己的政策建议，而是用大部分讲话时间解释了他的政府已经做的工作：推出了美国历史上规模最大的经济刺激计划；扩充了儿童医疗保险；为拯救美国银行业进行了新的努力，并计划提振美国住房市场。奥巴马说，在他制定的预算计划中，被他称做“美国愿景”的施政纲领中所列主要政策细节都有保留，这份预算计划定于周四公布。但奥巴马也暗示，他拯救美国金融业的资金可能将不止国会已批准的那7,000亿美元。他还表示，尽管美国经济正在衰退，但美国政府仍将在医疗保健能源和教育领域采取众多新举措。奥巴马誓言要控制医疗保健成本，扩大医疗保险的覆盖面，并保证不会像以往许多美国总统那样，错过实施广泛改革的机会。他说，“医疗保健改革不能等，不必等，不会再等一年。”谈到能源问题，他要求国会通过立法，以市场为基础给碳排放量设置上限，以控制气候变化并促进可再生能源的生产。这一表态令环保人士欢欣鼓舞。奥巴马还详细谈论了教育问题，承诺要对美国学校进行根本性改革，除了增加拨款外还要增加新的问责制，并促使美国人在高中教育外都至少再接受一年的教育或培训。带着民众对他很高的满意度和一系列立法上的成功，奥巴马进入了众议院会议厅。听众中有313名民主党议员或是亲民主党的独立派议员，而共和党议员只有219名，所以他面对的是一群友好的听众。共和党通过路易斯安那州州长金达尔(Bobby Jindal)表达了他们的回应，他在代表共和党作出官方反应时承诺要与总统携手合作。这位冉冉升起的共和党明星没有利用这个机会批评奥巴马，而是说，如果你有好的想法，让我们的人民生活得更好，我们不管你属于何党何派。相反，他将矛头指向了某些通过了7,870亿美元刺激计划的“民主党领袖”。他说，这一计划将增强政府的实力，增加我们的税负，让我们的后代负债累累。奥巴马面临一系列挑战，就连他的高级助手都说，这是他们在总统就职日没有料到的。自奥巴马上任以来，道琼斯工业股票平均价格指数累计跌了近10%。金融业的状况比此前预期的还要差。消费者信心屡创历史新低。这种危机感促使国会通过了总统提出的一揽子刺激计划。不过白宫助手说，现在奥巴马希望恢复公众的希望，当时正是这种希望感让他在竞选中胜出。他总结道，如果我们团结一致，把美国从危机的深渊中拯救出来……那么很多年后的某一天，我们的孩子就能告诉他们的孩子说，那个时刻我们的父辈做了值得人们记住的事，就象这个大厅里的铭文一样。这番话意在避开当前金融危机中棘手的政治冲突，试图向美国公众解释，他们为什么要把数千亿美元（可能比国会已经批准的资金还要多）投给金融机构，而这些机构恰被人们普遍看作是美国当前问题的罪魁祸首。奥巴马承认，他知道眼下如果被看作是在为银行提供帮助，会多么的不受欢迎，特别是人人都多多少少因他们的错误决策而受苦的时候。他保证自己明白这一点。不过他也说，我们的治理不能受愤怒情绪的影响，否则后果不堪设想。奥巴马说，直到金融业稳定下来之后，美国的复苏才会到来，经济刺激计划将需要大量的资源，或许比已经安排的还要多。尽管如此，他也向人们的愤怒情绪作出了让步，承诺要为寻求联邦资金的金融机构的高管们设置严格的限制措施。奥巴马说，公司高管们将不能用纳税人的钱给自己发放丰厚的薪酬，或是买花哨的窗帘，或是乘着私人喷气机消失踪影。那样的日子已经结束了。为了帮助弥补短期金融救助和更长期目标的成本，奥巴马谈到了一些具体的联邦削减或合并计划：冷战时期的军事武器支付给大型农业企业的款项重复的教育项目。已经全副武装准备反击的企业又有了新的挑战，奥巴马说，他结束无限期递延对海外利润课税的承诺将得到落实。他说这项政策鼓励企业把工作岗位转移到海外。奥巴马说，他还将减少布什时期针对年收入25万美元及以上家庭的减税额。奥巴马能成为总统候选人从很大程度上是因为他承诺要从伊拉克撤军。不过他计划只简短谈及外交政策问题，这和布什总统的很多年度讲话形成了鲜明对比。布什的讲话主要围绕着恐怖主义和全球事务这些话题。Jonathan Weisman（更新完成）相关阅读麻生访美 奥巴马盛赞美日同盟 2009-02-25奥巴马：政府将全力支持银行业 2009-02-25奥巴马国会讲话摘要 2009-02-25


President Barack Obama, in his first formal address to Congress, straddled the divide between fear and hope Tuesday night, declaring the 'day of reckoning has arrived' for an indulgent nation but vowing to lead a recovery from the deepest recession since World War II.The speech was being billed as a rhetorical salve to a nation battered by layoffs and plunging stock prices -- and a tempering of pessimistic rhetoric from the Oval Office over the past few weeks.'While our economy may be weakened and our confidence shaken; though we are living through difficult and uncertain times, tonight I want every American to know this: We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before,' the president said as lawmakers, cabinet officials, military leaders and Supreme Court justices in the Capitol's packed House responded with sustained applause.After speaking of that brightening future, the president tried to turn the page on a past era he hoped would not stain his administration or bring down his ambitious agenda. The blame, he said, lay both in George W. Bush's Washington and outside it, and in a time when a budget 'surplus became an excuse to transfer wealth to the wealthy instead of an opportunity to invest in our future.'He went on to portray an age when 'regulations were gutted for the sake of a quick profit at the expense of a healthy market' and 'people bought homes they knew they couldn't afford from banks and lenders who pushed those bad loans anyway.'Mr. Obama tried to put a hard stop to what he portrayed as a ruinous decade and to assure listeners that with shared sacrifice and a new sense of responsibility, Americans can emerge stronger than ever. The 'day of reckoning has arrived, and the time to take charge of our future is here,' Mr. Obama said. 'Now is the time to act boldly and wisely -- to not only revive this economy, but to build a new foundation for lasting prosperity.'Forgoing the traditional laundry list of policy proposals, Mr. Obama spent much of his address explaining what his administration has already done: one of the largest economic-stimulus plans in history; an expansion of children's health insurance; a new effort to rescue the nation's banking sector, and plans to prop up the housing market.Mr. Obama said his was saving the main policy details of his agenda for his budget blueprint, what he will call 'a vision for America,' which is scheduled for release Thursday. But he suggested he'll likely need more than the $700 billion already allocated to bail out the financial sector, and teased out the huge initiatives that he promised will come, despite the distraction and cost of the recession: on health care, energy, and education.He vowed to tame health-care costs while expanding access to insurance, and promised to not let the opportunity for comprehensive reform slip away, as has been the case for many presidents before. 'Health-care reform cannot wait, it must not wait, and it will not wait another year,' he said. On energy, he cheered environmentalists by asking Congress to send him legislation with a market-based cap on carbon production that will control climate change and increase production of renewable energy.And the president talked at length about education, promising to reform the fundamentals of American schools, adding new accountability as well as new dollars, while challenging all Americans to get at least one year of education or training beyond high school.Mr. Obama entered the House chamber with high approval ratings and a series of legislative successes already under his belt. With an audience of 313 Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents in the House and Senate, against 219 Republicans, he played to a friendly crowd.The Republicans signaled their reaction through Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who delivered the GOP's official response, pledging to work with the president. The rising Republican star took a pass at criticizing Mr. Obama, saying, 'We don't care what party you belong to if you have good ideas to make life better for our people.'Instead, he focused his shots at unnamed 'Democratic leaders' who passed the $787 billion stimulus bill. 'What it will do is grow the government, increase our taxes down the line, and saddle future generations with debt.' Mr. Jindal said.The president faces a slate of challenges that even his top aides say they were not prepared for on Inauguration Day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has fallen nearly 10% since he took office. The financial sector is in worse shape than previously thought. Consumer confidence has fallen to record lows.That sense of crisis helped propel passage of the president's stimulus package. But now, White House aides said, Mr. Obama wants to restore the same sense of hope that buoyed his campaign.'If we come together and lift this nation from the depths of this crisis . . .,' he concluded, 'then someday years from now our children can tell their children that this was the time when we performed, in the words that are carved into this very chamber, 'something worthy to be remembered.''The speech was an attempt to navigate the tricky politics of the current financial crisis, trying to explain to Americans why they needed to turn hundreds of billions of dollars -- probably beyond the funds already committed -- to financial institutions widely blamed for creating the country's current problems.'I know how unpopular it is to be seen as helping banks right now, especially when everyone is suffering in part from their bad decisions. I promise you, I get it,' he acknowledged. But, he added, 'we cannot afford to govern out of anger.' The president said a U.S. recovery will not arrive until the financial sector is stabilized, noting that 'this plan will require significant resources . . . and yes, probably more than we've already set aside.'Still, he nodded to that anger by promising to impose tight strings on executives of financial institutions seeking federal funds. 'CEOs won't be able to use taxpayer money to pad their paychecks or by fancy drapes or disappear on a private jet,' Mr. Obama promised. 'Those days are over.'To help cover the cost of the short-term financial fixes and his longer-term goals, the president mentioned some specific federal programs to cut or consolidate: Cold War-era military weapons, payments for large agribusinesses, and duplicative education programs. In a challenge to businesses already steeling for a fight, he said he will press forward with a promise to end the indefinite deferral of taxation on overseas profits, a policy that he says encourages the sending of jobs abroad. And he said he will make good on rolling back President Bush's tax cuts for families earning at least $250,000.A president whose candidacy was propelled in large part by his promise to end the war in Iraq planned to give only a brief nod to foreign policy issues -- stark contrast with many of the annual speeches by President Bush, which were dominated by terrorism and global affairs.Jonathan Weisman