FT. MYERS, Fla. – Three weeks after being sworn in, President Barack Obama acknowledged in plain terms Tuesday that his prospects for winning a second term may depend on the whether he can revive the nation’s plummeting economy.
“I’m not going to make any excuses,” Obama said at a town hall meeting here, in perhaps the most pivotal political state in America. “If stuff hasn’t worked, if people don’t feel like I’ve led the country in the right direction then you’ll have a new president.”
Despite his frank admission, Obama used the question-and-answer session, his second in two days, to brace Americans for a long recovery, frequently going off script at the start of what is sure to be a long campaign of expectation-setting.
“But I do think the American people understand that these are some, really big tough problems and it’s going to take some time for us to get ourselves out,” he said, after conceding his political fate was on the line. “I have great faith in the American people and their faith and wisdom.”
Obama’s appearance on Florida’s Gulf Coast came as the Senate approved the $838 billion stimulus package. Obama announced the measure had passed, repeating “that’s good news” four times consecutively, and prompted standing applause from a friendly audience in the hard-hit city, which suffered one of the nation’s worst foreclosure rates last year.
Speaking before an animated crowd of about 1,500 that greeted him with his “Yes We Can” campaign chant, Obama won himself perhaps more political leeway than he’ll ultimately enjoy.
“Americans I’ve met understand that even with this plan our economy will likely be measured in years, not weeks or months,” he assured.
At this, somebody in the crowd yelled “eight’ and the audience burst out in cheers in anticipation of the new president serving two full terms.
Obama, striding across a stage behind twin signs reading “Making America Work,” sought to buy himself some time by lavishing praise on the citizenry.
“You’ve got common sense, you understand that it took us a long time to get into this fix, we’re not going to get out of it over night,” he said. “But what you don’t have patience for is just listening to a bunch of bickering in Washington with nothing getting done.”
To isolate the congressional Republicans who have almost unanimously opposed his stimulus package so far, Obama held up his introducer at the town hall: Florida’s Republican Gov. Charlie Crist.
Crist did his part, urging passage of the stimulus package and, as is his signature, touting the merit of doing so without regard to party.
“This issue of helping our country is about helping our country,” said Crist, who ditched a meeting of former Florida governors in Tallahassee to appear with the president. “This is not about partisan politics. This is about rising above that, helping America and reigniting our economy.”
And Obama returned the favor.
“The thing about governors is they understand our economic crisis in a way that maybe sometimes folks a little more removed don't understand. They're on the front lines dealing with the economy every single day,” the president said.
“Governor Crist shares my conviction that creating jobs and turning this economy around is a mission that transcends party. And when the town is burning, you don't check party labels. Everybody needs to grab a hose, and that's what Charlie Crist is doing right here today.”
Two up-and-coming members of Congress from Florida, who flew on Air Force One with Obama, were optimistic in brief interviews after the town hall that there would be an evident economic recovery heading into next year’s mid-term elections.
But they acknowledged, like Obama, that as the majority party they would be judged on their results.
“I think that we will make slow but steady progress,” said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a member of the House Appropriations Committee and vice-chair of the Democrat’s House campaign committee. “It will be measurable. Our first test will be the 2010 elections and when our members sand for re-election. We’re going to see in those results a reflection about how people feel about the job we’re doing.”
Still, she pointed to polling which she said underlines Obama’s case that Americans “realize this is going to take a while.”
“Yes, we are trying to make people understand that there is no magic pill that’s going to transform things tomorrow.”
Rep. Kendrick Meek, who has already announced his intention to run for Florida’s open Senate seat next year, said Obama is merely speaking the truth.
“It is going to take time,” Meek said. “We’re fighting and working our way out of this mess right now.”
But when money starts flowing to state and local projects this year and people start taking advantage of tax incentives he promised “you’ll see some progress.”
sourcedo you think its smart to say this...? what if the doesn't improve?
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