Broadcast concluded… 9 p.m. EST
President Obama said tonight that at the opening of the prime time news conference that it will “take many months and many different solutions” for the economy to recover.
Obama called on Americans to look to the future with a “renewed confidence that a better day will come.”
“We will recover from this recession,” the president said.
“But it will take time, it will take patience, and it will take an understanding that when we all work together; when each of us looks beyond our own short-term interests to the wider set of obligations we have toward each other — hat’s when we succeed.”
Obama, seeking to rally support for his economic plan, told the country that his administration has put in place “a comprehensive strategy designed to attack this crisis on all fronts.”
“It’s a strategy to create jobs, to help responsible homeowners, to restart lending, and to grow our economy over the long term. And we are beginning to see signs of progress,” he said.
The president has also used the forum to promote his ambitious budget, which has come under fire from Republicans and conservative Democrats for its hefty price tag.
“The budget I submitted to Congress will build our economic recovery on a stronger foundation, so that we don’t face another crisis like this ten or 20 years from now,” he said.
Obama said the budget he has proposed is “inseparable” from the overall strategy for economic recovery.
“At the end of the day, the best way to bring our deficit down in the long run is not with a budget that continues the very same policies that have led us to a narrow prosperity and massive debt. It’s with a budget that leads to broad economic growth by moving from an era of borrow and spend to one where we save and invest.”
The president opened up the news conference by updating the American people on the state of the economy and what plans are in place to help it grow.
Obama’s appearance comes on the heels of the unveiling of the Treasury Department’s new bank rescue plan.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Monday announced a plan to remove troubled assets from banks’ book by partnering with private investors.
The goal is to buy up at least $500 billion of existing assets and loans, such as subprime mortgages that are now in danger of default.
Even as he acknowledged that the government was taking on risk with this new program, Geithner defended it as the best alternative, saying that doing nothing would result in a deeper credit crunch and a “longer, deeper recession.”
Following the announcement of the plan, the stock market rallied, posting the biggest gains in months.
Asked about the uptick, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said, “What’s important is less what the market does on any given day, whether it’s up one day or down the next.
“But what’s important is that we’re putting in place and laying the foundation – not just for a recovery to move from a recession to recovery – but also doing what we need to do to stabilize our financial system, to create jobs and grow families’ incomes and put us on a path towards prosperity once again.”
In addition to the rescue plan, Obama could face questions on the AIG controversy, as questions linger over who knew what about the massive bonuses doled out to executives at the bailed-out insurance giant.
Reporters could also press Obama on his plan to beef up security along the U.S-Mexico border. His administration today announced plans to send hundreds more federal agents and new crime-fighting equipment to the border as the U.S. struggles to roll back a tide of drug-related violence sweeping the Southwest.
Obama’s prime time news conference marks the second of his administration.
This morning,Obama reached out to citizens of the world in an op-ed piece that ran in 31 newspapers around the world.
In the op-ed, Obama said there is an urgent need for worldwide economic cooperation and spoke about the upcoming G-20 meeting.
The G-20 meeting, in which leaders of the world’s richest nations will discuss the global economic downturn, takes place next week in London, England.
In his first prime time news conference, the president used the national platform to make the case for his economic stimulus plan, which has since been passed by Congress and signed into law.
Obama took questions from 13 different reporters at the February news conference. Eight questions were about the economy, three were about foreign policy and one was about creating a truth and reconciliation committee to investigate the Bush administration.
{CNN, Elisha Ferber-Matzav.com Newscenter}
