Weekly Address: Democrats and Republicans Have Shared Responsibility to Move America Forward

[ProSense]

Weekly Address: Democrats and Republicans Have Shared Responsibility to Move America Forward

WASHINGTON – In his weekly address, President Obama resolved to do everything he can to make sure the economy is growing, creating jobs, and strengthening the middle class in the new year. With each party controlling one house of the Congress, Democrats and Republicans will share the responsibility to move the country forward, and the President reiterated his commitment to work with anyone who has a good idea in either party.

The full audio of the address is HERE. The video can be viewed online at www.whitehouse.gov.

Remarks of President Barack Obama
Weekly Address
The White House
January 1, 2011

Hello, everybody. As we close the books on one year and begin another, I wanted to take a moment today to wish you a very Happy New Year and talk a little bit about the year that lies ahead.

At the start of 2011, we’re still just emerging from a once-in-a-lifetime recession that’s taken a terrible toll on millions of families. We all have friends and neighbors trying to get their lives back on track.

We are, however, riding a few months of economic news that suggests our recovery is gaining traction. And our most important task now is to keep that recovery going. As President, that’s my commitment to you: to do everything I can to make sure our economy is growing, creating jobs, and strengthening our middle class. That’s my resolution for the coming year.

Still, even as we work to boost our economy in the short-term, it’s time to make some serious decisions about how to keep our economy strong, growing, and competitive in the long run. We have to look ahead – not just to this year, but to the next 10 years, and the next 20 years. Where will new innovations come from? How will we attract the companies of tomorrow to set up shop and create jobs in our communities? What will it take to get those jobs? What will it take to out-compete other countries around the world? What will it take to see the American Dream come true for our children and grandchildren?

Our parents and grandparents asked themselves those questions. And because they had the courage to answer them, we’ve had the good fortune to grow up in the greatest nation on Earth.

Now it’s our turn to think about the future. In a few days, a new Congress will form, with one house controlled by Democrats, and one house controlled by Republicans – who now have a shared responsibility to move this country forward. And here’s what I want you to know: I’m willing to work with anyone of either party who’s got a good idea and the commitment to see it through. And we should all expect you to hold us accountable for our progress or our failure to deliver.

As I’ve said since I first ran for this office, solving our challenges won’t be quick or easy. We have come through a difficult decade; one of new threats and new trials we didn’t expect when it began. But a new year and a new decade stretch out before us. And if we just remember what America is capable of, and live up to that legacy, then I’m confident that we are poised for a period of progress – one in which our economy is growing, our standing in the world is rising, and we do what it takes to make sure America remains in the 21st century what it was in the 20th: the greatest country in the world.

Thanks for listening. And Happy New Year.

[ProSense]

1. No comment? I like the President's

series of questions:

...Where will new innovations come from? How will we attract the companies of tomorrow to set up shop and create jobs in our communities? What will it take to get those jobs? What will it take to out-compete other countries around the world? What will it take to see the American Dream come true for our children and grandchildren?

And this:

Now it’s our turn to think about the future. In a few days, a new Congress will form, with one house controlled by Democrats, and one house controlled by Republicans – who now have a shared responsibility to move this country forward. And here’s what I want you to know: I’m willing to work with anyone of either party who’s got a good idea and the commitment to see it through. And we should all expect you to hold us accountable for our progress or our failure to deliver.

[Clio the Leo]

2. He's already calling them out.

Keep it up.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

3. Which direction is "forward"?

If "forward" were defined, there would be no disagreement between Democrats and Republicans. The thing that stops them cooperating is disagreement as to which direction we should be going in.

[ProSense]

4. Forward

is definitely not repealing the Constitution.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

5. What about the parts to do with e.g. campaign spending?

Even something as seemingly non-controversial as that actually isn't.

I think that tightening restrictions on campaign spending to reduce vote-buying would be an excellent thing to do, but that the SCOTUS decision finding the recent attempt to do so was probably a correct interpretation of the Constitution as it stands - I think that restricting people spending their money for political campaigning was exactly the kind of thing the first ammendment was put in place to ban, and that the kind of restrictions that would probably be a good idea would need the constitution to be changed, not just reinterpreted.

So I think that even "not repealing the constitution" isn't necessarily "forwards".