Obama: "We can't only have a plan for Wall Street, we must also have a plan for Main Street"

[bigtree]

September 19, 2008




CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama on Friday, at Bank United Center, called for an economic plan for working families, saying, "We cannot only have a plan for Wall Street . . . We must also help Main Street," he said.

I’m glad that our government is moving so quickly in addressing the crisis that threatens some of our biggest banks and corporations. But a similar crisis has threatened families, workers and homeowners for months and months and Washington has done far too little to help.

For too long, this Administration has been willing to hit the fast-forward button in helping distressed Wall Street firms while pressing pause when it comes to saving jobs or keeping people in their homes. We already know that the credit crisis that has emerged from our largest financial institutions is becoming a credit crunch for small business owners, homeowners, and students seeking loans in big cities and small towns. Now that American taxpayers are being called on to share in this new burden, we must take equally swift and serious action to help lift the burdens they face every day," Obama said in prepared remarks.

read: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/09/19/happening-now-obama-talks-economy-in-florida/





“It is good to see so many so many women in the house! You can feel that women power,” Obama exclaimed to a crowd of some 8,000 in South Florida, waving signs reading “Women for Obama” and “Moms for Obama.”

“You’d think that solving these problems would be a high priority for anybody running for president in this country. Well, you haven’t met my opponent, John McCain,” Obama said to cheers.

Obama accused McCain of not understanding what’s gong on in the lives of women in this country. “Why else would he oppose legislation to help women get equal pay, and suggest that the reason why women aren’t paid fairly isn’t because of discrimination on the job, but because they need more education and training? … Why else would he say that Roe v. Wade is a flawed decision and run away from a platform, and run on a platform to outlaw abortion – even in cases of rape and incest? Why else would he propose a health care plan that actually taxes your health care benefits for the first time in history and gives insurance companies free reign to discriminate against women with histories of breast cancer and heart diseases and other illnesses? He must not know!”

Obama assured them this isn’t just political for him - it’s personal. “Because I come here today not just as a candidate for president. I come here as a son and a grandson, as a husband and a father who has seen firsthand throughout my life the challenges so many women face every day in this country.”

read: http://embeds.blogs.foxnews.com/2008/09/19/obama-tries-to-stop-the-palin-effect/





"You know, growing up I saw my mother struggle to put herself through school, while working, while raising me and my sister on her own," said Obama, "She once had to turn to food stamps to make sure we had enough to eat. I think women like her who work hard and pour everything they've got into their kids should be able to pay their bills and get ahead."

"I know how hard the women of this country are working. I know the anxiety so many of you are feeling right now as we stand in the midst of the most serious financial crisis in generations"

"Even though the market crisis is getting everyone's attention right now...there's been a quiet storm going on for a lot of families for years now...it's not news to them that the economy is not working," said Obama.

"You'd think we would all be in agreement at this point...well, you haven't met my opponent, John McCain...it's not that he doesn't care about women in this country...I just like to think he doesn't know," said Obama.

watch: http://www.necn.com/Boston/Politics/Obama-Its-not-that-McCain-doesnt-care-about-women-he/1221845060.html





“This morning Sen. McCain gave a speech in which his big solution to this world wide economic crisis was to blame me for it,” Obama said to boos from the crowd of about 8,000 people. “This is the guy who spent nearly three decades in Washington and after spending the entire campaign saying I haven’t been in Washington long enough, he apparently now is willing to assign me the responsibility for all of Washington’s failures. Now I think it’s pretty clear, I think it’s pretty clear that Sen. McCain is a little panicked right now. At this point he seems to be willing to say anything or do anything or change any position or violate any principle to try and win this election.”

Telling the crowd he wasn’t too far away from qualifying for an AARP card, Obama said he would protect Social Security, unlike his opponent.

“John McCain’s talked about privatizing social security,” he said. “Imagine if you had some of your social security money in the stock market right now, how you’d be feeling about the prospects or your retirement. Without social security half of elderly women would be living in poverty. Half. If my opponent had his way millions of Americans would have had their social security tied to stock market this week. Millions would have watched as the market tumbled and their nest egg disappeared before their eyes. Well, let’s be clear, when I’m president we are not going to gamble with social security.”

“I think we’re up for the challenge –we always have been. That’s why I’m standing here today, because of what my mother and my grandmother did for me,” he said. “That’s why all of us are here today because of all our parents and our grandparents but especially all of the women who came before us. Who reached out for the ballot to raise families who traveled those lonely roads to be the first ones in the boardrooms and the court room, and the battlefields and the factory floors. Women like my friend, Hillary Clinton who put those 18 million cracks in that glass ceiling. So that my daughters and all our on and daughter could dream a little bigger, reach a little higher.”

read: http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/2008/09/obama_hits_mcca_3.html




"We did not arrive at this crisis by some accident of history," Obama said, in prepared remarks. "What led us to this point was years and years of a philosophy in Washington and on Wall Street that viewed even common-sense regulation and oversight as unwise and unnecessary; that shredded consumer protections and loosened the rules of the road. CEOs and executives got reckless. Lobbyists got what they wanted. Politicians in both parties looked the other way until it was too late. And it is the American people who have paid the price. The events of this week have rendered a final verdict on that failed philosophy, and it will end if I am President of the United States. We must build upon the ideas I have laid out over the last several years about how to modernize our financial regulation in this country, and establish commonsense rules of the road for our financial system to help restore confidence in our financial system.

Finally, given the gravity of this situation, and based on conversations I have had with both Secretary Paulson and Chairman Bernanke, I will refrain from presenting a more detailed blue-print of how an immediate plan might be structured until I can fully review the details of the plan proposed by the Treasury and the Federal Reserve. It is critical at this point that the markets and the public have confidence that their work will be unimpeded by partisan wrangling, and that leaders in both parties work in concert to solve the problem at hand.

I know these are difficult days. And I know there are a lot of families out there right now who are feeling anxiety – about their jobs, about their homes, about their retirement savings. But here’s what I also know. This isn’t a time for fear or panic. This is a time for resolve and for leadership. I know we can steer ourselves out of this crisis. That’s who we are. That’s what we’ve always done as Americans. Our nation has faced difficult times before. And at each of those moments, we’ve risen to meet the challenges as one people, and one nation. That is the America we need to be and can be today.

read: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/09/19/happening-now-obama-talks-economy-in-florida/






full text of prepared remarks: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/09/19/happening-now-obama-talks-economy-in-florida

full text of news conference: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/19/AR2008091901960_pf.html


photos: REUTERS/Carlos Barria -- AP/Lynne Sladky -- AP/Chris Carlson

[BumRushDaShow]

1. K&R

Great pics and summary. Thanks bigtree!

:kick:

[bigtree]

2. right on!

:kick: thanks for the kick

[Historic NY]

3. He got my message.........holy crap Main St. vs Wall St.

[bigtree]

4. great strategy

Almost EVERYTHING we stand for falls under that rubric.

[bigtree]

5. kick

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[bigtree]

6. .

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[bigtree]

7. .