Obama pledges economic recovery
Updated on 25 February 2009
President Barack Obama promises to rebuild the US economy and to make it "stronger than ever".
In perhaps his most important speech since being sworn in, the President said the "day of reckoning" has arrived.
He set out an ambitious agenda aimed at pulling the US out of deep recession and transforming its education and healthcare system.
Speaking before a packed and raucous joint session of Congress, Mr Obama called on politicians on both sides and the nation as a whole to "pull together" as it confronts the challenges ahead.
It comes as the US continues to struggle with what the president previously described as the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
The hour-long address, which was vigorously applauded, focused primarily on the US economy but also touched on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the Middle East peace process.
In a speech that was more optimistic in tone than it could have been given the circumstances, the President appeared confident that the economy would be turned around.
He said: "While our economy may be weakened and our confidence shaken; though we are living through difficult and uncertain times, I want every American to know this: we will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before."
Outlining the causes of the recession, the President said regulations were "gutted" while people bought homes they could not afford from lenders who pushed bad loans.
"And all the while, critical debates and difficult decisions were put off for some other time on some other day," he said, adding: "Well that day of reckoning has arrived, and the time to take charge of our future is here.
"Now is the time to act boldly and wisely - to not only revive this economy, but to build a new foundation for lasting prosperity."
In a bid to pull the country from the depths of recession, the administration has forced through a near £550 billion stimulus package.
Mr Obama defended the plan in the face of Republican criticism, restating his belief that it would save or create 3.5 million jobs.
He said the package was "the first step" but "just the first step" at getting the economy back on track, in an indication that another stimulus bill may be needed further down the track.
Accountability would also be needed in Washington, the President suggested. He said that for the first time, a full costing of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan would be made public.
"For seven years, we have been a nation at war. No longer will we hide its price," Mr Obama added.
In one of the few passages of the address to move away from the economy, Mr Obama said he was "carefully reviewing" policy in both wars.
"I will soon announce a way forward in Iraq that leaves Iraq to its people and responsibly ends this war," he said.
Referring to Guantanamo Bay and its planned closure, Mr Obama said that he could say that "without exception or equivocation that the United States of America does not torture".
