| Who better to defend the economic stimulus package than the man who proposed the package to begin with.
President Barack Obama decided to reach out to Americans via an op-ed in today's Washington Post.
By now, it's clear to everyone that we have inherited an economic crisis as deep and dire as any since the days of the Great Depression. Millions of jobs that Americans relied on just a year ago are gone; millions more of the nest eggs families worked so hard to build have vanished. People everywhere are worried about what tomorrow will bring.
What Americans expect from Washington is action that matches the urgency they feel in their daily lives -- action that's swift, bold and wise enough for us to climb out of this crisis.
Because each day we wait to begin the work of turning our economy around, more people lose their jobs, their savings and their homes. And if nothing is done, this recession might linger for years. Our economy will lose 5 million more jobs. Unemployment will approach double digits. Our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse.
That's why I feel such a sense of urgency about the recovery plan before Congress. With it, we will create or save more than 3 million jobs over the next two years, provide immediate tax relief to 95 percent of American workers, ignite spending by businesses and consumers alike, and take steps to strengthen our country for years to come.
This plan is more than a prescription for short-term spending -- it's a strategy for America's long-term growth and opportunity in areas such as renewable energy, health care and education. And it's a strategy that will be implemented with unprecedented transparency and accountability, so Americans know where their tax dollars are going and how they are being spent.
In recent days, there have been misguided criticisms of this plan that echo the failed theories that helped lead us into this crisis -- the notion that tax cuts alone will solve all our problems; that we can meet our enormous tests with half-steps and piecemeal measures; that we can ignore fundamental challenges such as energy independence and the high cost of health care and still expect our economy and our country to thrive.
The whole thing is worth a read and I think President Obama makes a compelling case for this package.
We are at a critical moment in American history. It is bad out there. As someone who is looking for a job, I know how tough it is to find jobs and I know that there are people all around me losing theirs. This is truly a time to put politics aside and work together. Much like Sept. 11 brought us together in a matter of moments, our economy should do the same. It will take a combination of short-term and long-term solutions. We can get there. But we can't do it as a divided country.
I know Democrats that have lost their jobs. I know Republicans that have lost their jobs. There are liberals, conservatives and moderates I know that have lost their jobs. This isn't about ideology and this isn't about politics. This is about the state of our country now and the future of our country in five, 10 and 20 years. The crisis we are in now impacts all of us. We all are feeling it, no matter what our political views.
It is time for all of us to come together. President Obama did not become president using partisan rhetoric. He became president on a message of uniting this country in the tough times and making sure we are still united in the prosperous times. We need to rally behind our new leader and we need to urge our members of Congress and U.S. senators to support this important legislation.
Call your representative. Call your senators. Now is the time to act. Tell them you want them to vote for investing in America's future. Because that's exactly what this package will do. |
