Obama Assails Opponents Over Delay
美国总统奥巴马(Barack Obama)在周一黄金收视时段举行的新闻发布会上说，美国正面临“深重的经济紧急形势”，他以此一方面说明实施其经济刺激计划的必要性，另一方面也为美国政府再花数百亿美元实施引发争议的银行业救助计划留出了可能。奥巴马在讲话中既呼吁两党超越党派界限携手合作，同时又向共和党人发出了强硬言辞。他说共和党人支持了一些失败的政策，正是这些政策推动美国陷入了经济困境。 奥巴马为自己的经济复苏计划确立了成败评判标准，称如果这一计划能创造或挽救多达400万个就业岗位稳定住房市场并使信贷市场恢复运转，就算获得了成功。Getty Images奥巴马在新闻发布会上讲话奥巴马在新闻发布会上还谈到了几个世界热点问题。他说美国政府正在寻找机会与伊朗直接谈判，并表示，现在是伊朗发出信号表明它也想采取不同行动的时候了。奥巴马说，追捕隐藏在巴基斯坦部落地区藏身之所的恐怖主义者符合巴基斯坦和美国政府的共同利益。他还拒绝给出美国从阿富汗撤军的时间表。这场新闻发布会历时1小时，其间奥巴马回答了13个提问，他的回答往往很长。在发布会前几小时，奥巴马经济刺激计划的最新版本通过了国会参议院的一次关键表决，只需再经过周二的最终表决这一计划便能在参议院过关。此后，国会众参两院将展开艰苦谈判，以便各自通过的8,000多亿美元经济刺激计划能够协调成一个统一方案。奥巴马举行此次新闻发布会的主要目的是向尚无所适从的公众宣传自己的经济刺激计划，通过一周来包括此次发布会的一系列宣传活动，奥巴马希望对围绕其经济刺激计划的辩论重新获得控制权，这场辩论已帮助遭受重创的共和党人重新站稳了脚跟。奥巴马说，这一计划并不完美，没有什么计划是完美的。虽然我不能把握十足地对你们说，这一计划中的所有内容都能恰如我们所希望的那样奏效，但我可以非常有信心地告诉你们，不采取行动只会加剧当前的危机以及千百万美国人所感受的痛苦。回应奥巴马在新闻发布会上的讲话时，国会众议院少数党领袖来自俄亥俄州的共和党众议员约翰·贝纳(John Boehner)有意将批评矛头对准了国会中的民主党人，而不是奥巴马。他说，现在拿出一项两党都认可的计划，以创造更多就业岗位并帮助美国经济重回正轨，还为时不晚，共和党人准备与总统合作完成这项工作。奥巴马在新闻发布会上再次试图以美国人听得懂的话详细解释其经济复苏计划背后的指导思想，他试图重新控制这场党派色彩已超出预期的争论。他说，联邦政府现在是唯一能使美国经济缓过劲来的机构。奥巴马警告说，如果不采取大胆行动，美国就有可能陷入日本在上世纪90年代那样的停滞。他说，其结果是，日本遭遇了所谓“失去的十年”，事实上整个90年代，日本未取得任何明显的经济增长。奥巴马说，我试图强调的是......这不是一场普通的经济衰退。奥巴马曾在就职典礼上表示，美国已经在政府职责这个问题上达成了一致意见。这样一位总统却一再为自己的政策进行辩护，反对共和党提出的减少政府干预的做法，称其是“意识形态上的障碍”。尽管他提倡争取两党的支持，却毫不犹豫地对反对党发起直接猛攻。奥巴马说，美国国债在共和党执政期间增加了一倍；之后他说，我不确定他们在财政责任上是否有很高的可信度。奥巴马拒绝透露定于周二公布的政府金融救助计划的细节。他说，他不想抢在财政部长盖特纳(Timothy Geithner)前揭秘计划内容。布什政府已经花掉了7,000亿美元金融救助资金中的一半，奥巴马政府则计划在另一半资金的使用上采取新的方法。周一晚间，他承诺将提高支出的透明度，对支出进行更加清晰的监管，对高管薪金也会有更为严格的限制。不过即便是国会中奥巴马的盟友也预测，他需要的资金远远超过剩下的3,500亿美元。当被问及这个问题时，奥巴马表示不排除向国会申请额外资金的可能。他说，在我们看到恢复信心的成效如何之前，我们还不知道是否需要额外的资金，也不知道需要多少额外资金。在其他问题上，奥巴马拒绝支持参议院司法委员会主席佛蒙特州民主党参议员帕特里克·莱希(Patrick Leahy)的提议──对布什政府涉嫌的刑事犯罪行为进行调查，不过他并没有完全排除这种可能性。他说，我也认为没有人能够凌驾于法律之上，如果有明确的违法行为，嫌犯应该和其他普通公民一样受到起诉。不过总的来说，我更有兴趣向前看，而不是向后看。Laura Meckler / Jonathan Weisman（更新完成）
President Barack Obama, saying the U.S. faces a 'profound economic emergency,' prosecuted the case for his economic stimulus plan and left the door open for the government to spend billions more on a controversial bank-bailout plan during a prime-time news conference Monday.The president's tones alternated between bipartisan outreach and tough words for Republicans who, he said, backed failed policies that helped drive the country into economic distress. Mr. Obama set benchmarks for his economic recovery plan, saying its success should be judged by whether it creates or saves up to four million jobs, stabilizes the housing market and gets credit markets operating again.The East Room session also touched on several world hot spots. He said his administration is looking for opportunities to engage in direct talks with Iran, adding: 'Now it's time for Iran to send signals that it wants to act differently as well,' he said. Mr. Obama said it is in the mutual interest of Pakistani and U.S. governments to pursue terrorists hiding in safe havens in the tribal regions of Pakistan. He also declined to give a timetable for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.The news conference -- an hour taken up by 13 questions that followed with often lengthy answers from Mr. Obama -- came a few hours after the latest version of the stimulus plan survived a key Senate vote, setting a final vote Tuesday that will be followed by tough negotiations between the House and Senate to resolve competing versions of the more than $800 billion program.Mr. Obama's prime purpose was to sell the plan to an uncertain public, part of a weeklong series of events aimed at regaining control of a debate that has helped shell-shocked Republicans regain their footing.'The plan is not perfect. No plan is. I can't tell you for sure that everything in this plan will work exactly as we hope, but I can tell you with complete confidence that a failure to act will only deepen this crisis as well as the pain felt by millions of Americans,' he said.Responding to the president's news conference, House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio was careful to direct his criticism at congressional Democrats, not Mr. Obama.'It is not too late to craft a bipartisan plan that creates more jobs and helps get our economy back on track, and Republicans stand ready to work with the president to do this,' he said.Time and again, Mr. Obama worked to break down the thinking behind the economic recovery plan in terms that Americans could understand, as he tried to regain control of the debate that has become more partisan than he expected. 'The federal government is the only entity left with the resources to jolt our economy back into life,' he said.The president warned that failure to act boldly could lead to the same stagnation that befell Japan in the 1990s. 'As a consequence they suffered what was called the 'lost decade,' where essentially for the entire '90s, they did not see any significant economic growth,' he said. 'So what I'm trying to underscore is . . . that this is not your ordinary, run-of-the-mill recession.'For a president who declared at his inauguration that the nation had moved beyond debates over the function of government, Mr. Obama repeatedly defended his policies against what he called the 'ideological blockage' of Republicans arguing for less intervention. And while he has pushed for bipartisan support, he didn't hesitate to take some direct swipes at the opposing party.'I'm not sure they have a lot of credibility when it comes to fiscal responsibility,' he said after noting that the national debt doubled under GOP control of Washington.The president declined to give details about his administration's plan to rescue the financial industry, set to be unveiled today, saying he didn't want to preempt his Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner.The Bush administration has already spent half of the $700 billion allotted to this Wall Street rescue, and the Obama administration plans to take a new approach with the second half. On Monday evening, he pledged more transparency, clearer oversight of the spending and far stricter limits on executive compensation.But even allies in Congress have predicted he will need far more than the $350 billion that remains. Asked about this, Mr. Obama left the door open to an additional request from Congress. 'We don't know yet whether we're going to need additional money or how much additional money we'll need until we've seen how successful we are at restoring a sense of confidence,' he said.In other matters, he declined to endorse a proposal from Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D., Vt.) to investigate alleged Bush administration criminal acts but didn't dismiss it out of hand.'My view is also that nobody's above the law, and if there are clear instances of wrongdoing, that people should be prosecuted just like any ordinary citizen. But that generally speaking, I'm more interested in looking forward than I am in looking backwards,' he said.Laura Meckler / Jonathan Weisman
President Barack Obama, saying the U.S. faces a 'profound economic emergency,' prosecuted the case for his economic stimulus plan and left the door open for the government to spend billions more on a controversial bank-bailout plan during a prime-time news conference Monday.The president's tones alternated between bipartisan outreach and tough words for Republicans who, he said, backed failed policies that helped drive the country into economic distress. Mr. Obama set benchmarks for his economic recovery plan, saying its success should be judged by whether it creates or saves up to four million jobs, stabilizes the housing market and gets credit markets operating again.The East Room session also touched on several world hot spots. He said his administration is looking for opportunities to engage in direct talks with Iran, adding: 'Now it's time for Iran to send signals that it wants to act differently as well,' he said. Mr. Obama said it is in the mutual interest of Pakistani and U.S. governments to pursue terrorists hiding in safe havens in the tribal regions of Pakistan. He also declined to give a timetable for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.The news conference -- an hour taken up by 13 questions that followed with often lengthy answers from Mr. Obama -- came a few hours after the latest version of the stimulus plan survived a key Senate vote, setting a final vote Tuesday that will be followed by tough negotiations between the House and Senate to resolve competing versions of the more than $800 billion program.Mr. Obama's prime purpose was to sell the plan to an uncertain public, part of a weeklong series of events aimed at regaining control of a debate that has helped shell-shocked Republicans regain their footing.'The plan is not perfect. No plan is. I can't tell you for sure that everything in this plan will work exactly as we hope, but I can tell you with complete confidence that a failure to act will only deepen this crisis as well as the pain felt by millions of Americans,' he said.Responding to the president's news conference, House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio was careful to direct his criticism at congressional Democrats, not Mr. Obama.'It is not too late to craft a bipartisan plan that creates more jobs and helps get our economy back on track, and Republicans stand ready to work with the president to do this,' he said.Time and again, Mr. Obama worked to break down the thinking behind the economic recovery plan in terms that Americans could understand, as he tried to regain control of the debate that has become more partisan than he expected. 'The federal government is the only entity left with the resources to jolt our economy back into life,' he said.The president warned that failure to act boldly could lead to the same stagnation that befell Japan in the 1990s. 'As a consequence they suffered what was called the 'lost decade,' where essentially for the entire '90s, they did not see any significant economic growth,' he said. 'So what I'm trying to underscore is . . . that this is not your ordinary, run-of-the-mill recession.'For a president who declared at his inauguration that the nation had moved beyond debates over the function of government, Mr. Obama repeatedly defended his policies against what he called the 'ideological blockage' of Republicans arguing for less intervention. And while he has pushed for bipartisan support, he didn't hesitate to take some direct swipes at the opposing party.'I'm not sure they have a lot of credibility when it comes to fiscal responsibility,' he said after noting that the national debt doubled under GOP control of Washington.The president declined to give details about his administration's plan to rescue the financial industry, set to be unveiled today, saying he didn't want to preempt his Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner.The Bush administration has already spent half of the $700 billion allotted to this Wall Street rescue, and the Obama administration plans to take a new approach with the second half. On Monday evening, he pledged more transparency, clearer oversight of the spending and far stricter limits on executive compensation.But even allies in Congress have predicted he will need far more than the $350 billion that remains. Asked about this, Mr. Obama left the door open to an additional request from Congress. 'We don't know yet whether we're going to need additional money or how much additional money we'll need until we've seen how successful we are at restoring a sense of confidence,' he said.In other matters, he declined to endorse a proposal from Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D., Vt.) to investigate alleged Bush administration criminal acts but didn't dismiss it out of hand.'My view is also that nobody's above the law, and if there are clear instances of wrongdoing, that people should be prosecuted just like any ordinary citizen. But that generally speaking, I'm more interested in looking forward than I am in looking backwards,' he said.Laura Meckler / Jonathan Weisman