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Touting his administration’s new proposals on housing and education policy on Thursday, President Obama also said he had more work to do on both issues -- work that would require another four years in office.
The president today announced a $25 billion deal that requires the five biggest mortgage-lending banks to provide financial help to qualified homeowners and, in a separate speech, declared 10 states eligible for waivers from parts of the No Child Left Behind education law that measures school success.
Praising those 10 states for accepting the administration’s offer of NCLB waivers in exchange for “higher benchmarks for student achievement,” Obama also subtly reminded the audience that these new efforts will take years to implement -- well into what would be his second term, in fact.
“This is not a one-year project. This isn’t a two-year project. This is going to take some time,” he told a group of teachers and school superintendents in the East Room of the White House.
And while he praised the mortgage settlement, part of which funds remittance for improperly foreclosed-upon families, he added that his administration still needs to ensure that the banks fulfill the terms of the settlement, which could take up to three years -- again, the middle of his potential next term.
“We're going to make sure that the banks live up to their end of the bargain,” Obama said, speaking in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. “If they don’t, we've set up an independent inspector, a monitor, that has the power to make sure they pay exactly what they agreed to pay, plus a penalty if they fail to act in accordance with this agreement.”
While he emphasized his administration’s leadership in the measures he announced today, Obama also urged for Congress to be his partner in future efforts, jabbing his frequent foil for not doing enough to further his priorities.
On the mortgage issue, Obama urged Congress to pass his plan to give more homeowners the option of refinancing their loans, which was announced last week.
“To build on this settlement, Congress still needs to send me the bill I've proposed that gives every responsible homeowner in America the chance to refinance their mortgage and save about $3,000 a year,” he said. “It's only going to happen if Congress musters the will to act.”
And Obama also blamed legislators for making him go it alone on education reform.
“In September, after waiting far too long for Congress to act, I announced that my administration would take steps to reform No Child Left Behind on our own,” he said, referring to his announcement last year that he would allow states to skirt some of the law’s mandates like full proficiency of all students in math and reading by 2014.
While he did give shout-outs to some members of Congress who supported his administration’s plans, Obama added, “We haven't been able to get the entire House and Senate to move on this.”
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A second point of view is good.
Taking from one to give to another...capitol gains is not physical work. 13.6% tax is not fair.
In his state of the union address the President mentioned the idea of starting to pay down the national debt. Of course to begin decreasing the debt we first have to balance the budget. The President promised to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first administration. The last deficit of the previous administration was 458.55 billion dollars for FY 2008. The last deficit of Obama's first administration will be for 2012 and to keep his promise the deficit must not exceed 229.27 billion dollars. That does not appear to be happening and appears to be just another broken promise. Considering the future, I want the President to provide a plan for paying back all of the money that we have borrowed. I want to know how much it is going to end up costing the tax payers and how long it is going to take.
So this is his reason for touting his re-election? What makes him think the majority approves of his last three years which has failed his own expectations he set at the start?
Three years has past since he said if he can't turn the economy and unemployment around within that time, it will be a one term proposition for him.
Time's up and he now wants another four more years, no more mulligans, failed policies and more debt ceiling increase proposals.
http://onetermfund.com
And, who, Tad, do you suggest? Sanatarium? BlingRich? Empty Suit Romney, or Crazy as a bat, Paul?
Sad choices! The only one that had a chance was run off, Huntsman!
OBAMA/BIDEN 2012
Jo-An, any one of the Republican candidates would be a welcome change from the Master of Disaster and his sidekick Foot in Mouth. Your two failures have had their chances and are destined one termers.
I feel sorry for you Tad....
President Obama is so busy trying to foment and create anger in a created atmosphere of crisis, he is so busy fueling the emotions of class envy that he's forgotten it's not his money that he's spending. In fact, the money he's spending is not ours. He's spending wealth that has yet to be created. And that is not sustainable. It will not work. This has been tried around the world. And every time it's been tried, it's a failed disaster.
What's the longest war in American history? The war on poverty essentially started in the '30s as part of the New Deal, but it really ramped up in the '60s with Lyndon Johnson, part of the Great Society war on poverty. We have transferred something like 10 trillion, maybe close to 11 trillion, from producers and earners to nonproducers and nonearners since 1965.
As I listen to the Democratic Party campaign, why, America is still a soup kitchen, the poor is still poor and they have no hope and they're poor for what reason? They're poor because of us, because we don't care, and because we've gotten rich by taking from them, that's what kids in school are taught today. That's what others have said to the media. You know why they're poor, you know why they remain poor? Because their lives have been destroyed by the never-ending government hay that's designed to help them, but it destroys ambition. It destroys the education they might get to learn to be self-fulfilling.
The Barack Obama administration is actively seeking to expand the welfare state in this country because he wants to control it. George Will once asked Dr. Friedrich Von Hayek, tremendous classical economist, great man, 1975, George Will, Dr. Von Hayek, why is it that intellectuals, supposed smartest people in the room, why is it that intellectuals can look right out their windows, their own homes and cars and look at their universities and not see the bounties and the growth and the greatness of capitalism? And Von Hayek said: I've troubled over this for years and I've finally concluded that for intellectuals, pseudo-intellectuals, and all liberals, it's about control. It's not about raising revenue. You think Obama has any intention of paying for all this spending? Folks, if he had any intention of paying for it, he wouldn't do 90% of it because we don't have the money.
They don't care about paying for it. All that's just words. All that's just rhetoric paying for it because he knows you have to worry about paying for it. He knows we all have to be concerned -- oh, except, wrong again. Except the words of Barney Frank and Chris Dodd who were given homes that everybody knew they could never pay for, and now Barney Frank and Chris Dodd, the architects along with Bill Clinton of the policy that gave us the whole sub-prime mortgage crisis, get to sit around and act as innocent spectators to investigate what went on when they largely had the biggest role in causing it.
The truth will set you free.
Truth according to George Will? <snicker>
JMR49, if it's true, it doesn't matter where or who it comes from. (Snicker)
This is a win,win, for the bank's mostly proving once again that white collar crime goes unpunished...only a very weak promise of further investigation and a trickle down slap in the face of around $2'000.00 for people who have lost their homes...(read that,their American Dream)! This is a slap on the wrist for the bank's and big money and a huge slap in the face for we the people who it should be quite obvious to...DO NOT MATTER! Wake up fellow voter's nobody in either party cares about anything but Wall Street and business as usual!
MSNBC is clearly "mindful" of the Obama reelection effort, since they have signed on to it.
Are all First Read headlines and text about Obama written by David Axelrod, or just approved by him?
Any snark or sarcasm or negative feedback from your state run media outlet are reserved for GOP candidates....