Obama: Bailout likely to delay spending programs

[maddezmom]

Source: AP

Obama: Bailout likely to delay spending programs
By DOUGLASS K. DANIEL – 12 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama says he probably would have to delay the spending programs he has called for during his campaign in light of the massive government bailout being proposed for the nation's financial industry.

The Bush administration and Congress on Tuesday were discussing the details of a $700 billion financial rescue plan. Obama said the problem should be dealt with as a short-term crisis with bipartisan action and then as a long-term structural issue.

"Although we are potentially providing $700 billion in available money to the Treasury, we don't anticipate that all that money gets spent right away and we don't anticipate that all that money is lost. How we're going to structure that in budget terms still has to be decided," Obama told NBC's "Today" show in an interview aired Tuesday.

"Does that mean I can do everything that I've called for in this campaign right away? Probably not," he said. "I think we're going to have to phase it in."

The Illinois senator has proposed ambitious and expensive initiatives aimed at health care, education, infrastructure, alternative energy and other concerns. He didn't say what proposals might be delayed first, adding that tax revenues would play a role in any budget decisions. He made no reference to the rescue plan's impact on his call for tax cuts for most taxpayers and tax increases for wealthier Americans.



Read more: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5isOFwdbq0tsqatW6vJpkDRTI1gMgD93CESAG1

[Solly Mack]

1. ...

...

[Enrique]

2. meanwhile McCain still promises to balance the budget by 2013

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/22/mccain-budget-first-term/

HARWOOD: Would you concede, then, that you could not achieve your goal of balancing the budget in your first term with this huge bailout added?

MCCAIN: I believe we can still balance the budget.

[antigop]

3. Well, we all called this one,didn't we? n/t

[CrispyQ]

4. Is he kidding?

"...we don't anticipate that all that money gets spent right away and we don't anticipate that all that money is lost."

Of course it's going to be spent right away & of course it's lost. This is the final looting of our Treasury. There will be no health care for We the People, no education, no roads, no bridges, nothing. I half anticipate martial law & no elections so they can figure out a way to get their greedy hands on social security.

[Zhade]

28. I keep hearing Obama's a great speaker, and I agree, but why does he talk to us like we're stupid?

NT!

[RaRa]

30. nearly half the population says they're voting for McCain and you have to ask? n/t

[Roland99]

5. NO DUH!!! About time he caught on!

Drowning government in a tub.

[eowyn_of_rohan]

6. THEY have tied his hands on this - intentional I am sure

He needs to use this to TEAR THEM DOWN or they will use it against him.

[JaneQPublic]

8. Remember the Grover Norquist quote:

"Our goal is to shrink government to the size where we can drown it in a bathtub."

It must be a GOP wet dream to simultaneously transfer a huge chunk of the U.S. Treasury to Wall Street and hamstring the Government so it can't implement all those "liberal" programs aimed at helping the commoners.

[Stellabella]

13. That's what I don't get.

They didn't shrink government. They made it so big that it has choked the country to death. Then they broke it by installing incompetent cronies who don't know what the hell they're doing.

[DustyJoe]

16. On the Contrary

They knew exactly what they were doing, thats why the screwover is so massive.

[Stellabella]

18. Yes, I know.

But they didn't shrink government. They spent us into oblivion, and broke it.

[Chulanowa]

32. Well, the key to understanding Republicans, is realizing they're full of shit

From that starting point, they become pretty easy to understand.

[Stellabella]

33. Yep.

[msongs]

7. gee Mr. Obama u can always vote NO on the corporate welfare scam nt

[Zhade]

29. I *will* be watching him closesly on this.

Clinton, too - I'm certain she'll vote to give away the store.

[Just-plain-Kathy]

34. I truly hope he votes no. I have been writing to my reps,

but maybe we should all contact Obama.

[Javaman]

9. Frankly, this is what the bailout is all about. Stunting Obama's presidency

before it even gets started.

with this bailout they cut the legs out from under him. And as a result, it will also stall any help to the middle and lower class by anyone.

As the robbers run from the bank, they throw a coin to the tipster*.

[eowyn_of_rohan]

11. the bailout is probably about more than that, but this is one major benefit

They will say, Obama's plans are "out of touch" - they won't work, McCain is the one you need in a finacial crisis such as this. Obama doesn't have enough understanding of these kinds of problems, etc

That is why I wrote above the Obama MUST USE THIS AGAINST THEM, to neutralize, or discredit their message

[ingac70]

12. Thats when you tax the shit out of the rich. n/t

[KoKo]

10. This sounds very defeatist. I hope it's just a distortion by the AP

which they are known to do.

[Doremus]

14. Put the top tax brackets back to 1950s/60s levels, go after the crooks' offshore accounts

and start auditing the Fortune 500.

We'll have the $$$ to do this bailout AND fund social programs and probably more to spare.

Call a halt to the Gilded Age NOW.

[TrogL]

15. AT LAST - somebody gets it

[Bake]

17. At least Obama's being honest about it, unlike McCain.

Let's hope the American people recognize and appreciate this honesty.

Bake

[mmonk]

19. Get out of Iraq and stop the security state spending.

Revenue neutral solution.

[Doctor_J]

20. Well, duh. That's the point

income redistribution - which wingers claim to disdain - is the main purpose of all of this chicanery.

[nichomachus]

21. They should make all CEOs work

for minimum wage until the bailout is paid back to the taxpayers. No deferred comp. No stock options. Nothing. Just minimum wage.

[GinaMaria]

24. Bet we'd see a shortage

of CEOs if that happened.

[nichomachus]

25. Or a higher minimum wage

[Greyhound]

22. I wan't expecting the excuses to start until after the election. Shit. n/t

[dhpgetsit]

23. Defeat the bailout!

Invest the money in better things like health care!
Make the people with 6 figure incomes foot the bill!
FerCryinOutLoud!

[Zhade]

26. So the illegal occupation of Iraq goes on. No health care. Roads and bridges remain broken.

The list of empty promises expands with every dollar they steal under this plan.

Sometimes I wonder why I even fucking bother to care anymore.

[ShortnFiery]

27. Bail-out should NOT occur, at all!

:grr: :thumbsdown:

[EndElectoral]

31. If this limits Obama's agenda, then walk away from this bailout.This will handstring him for 4 years