Obama To GOP: 'Just saying no' is not leadership

A year after he became the nation's first African American president, Barack Obama on Wednesday defended his administration's record while admitting some mistakes along the way.
In his first official State of the Union address, Obama reminded Americans that the nation faced "two wars, an economy rocked by a severe recession, a financial system on the verge of collapse, and a government deeply in debt" when he took office. "So we acted -- immediately and aggressively. And one year later, the worst of the storm has passed," the president said.
Attempting to strike a balance between optimism and realism, the president acknowledged that Americans are still struggling through a difficult economy but argued that he has "never been more hopeful about America's future."
The president also tried to get in front of the populist anger in the country, explaining to viewers that both Democrats and Republicans "hated" the bank bailout, which he said was "about as popular as a root canal."
Obama defended the federal government's intervention in the financial industry and his own signature stimulus bill, but he also called for a new jobs bill and promised that "jobs must be our number-one focus in 2010."
The White House is proposing to take $30 billion of the TARP money repaid by Wall Street banks to use for community banks to give small businesses credit to stay afloat. The president also tried co-opted the GOP's anti-tax message with a proposal to eliminate capital gains taxes on small business investment and a proposed small business tax credit that he said would be given to more then 1 million small businesses that hire new workers or raise wages.
The president will take his economic message to Tampa, Florida on Thursday to campaign for the jobs bill and to show off the success of last year's stimulus. Obama will visit a stimulus-funded site where workers will break ground on a new high-speed railroad.
The White House has been under fire from critics who argue that the administration is taking on too much too quickly, and President Obama reacted to that critique Wednesday night. "For those who make these claims, I have one simple question: How long should we wait? How long should America put its future on hold?"
But after a year that was dominated by a contentious debate over health care reform, the president chose not to lead his speech with that issue on Wednesday. Even after months of explaining his approach and a speech to a joint session of Congress last fall, the president admitted that health care reform is "a complex issue, and the longer it was debated, the more skeptical people became."
"I take my share of the blame for not explaining it more clearly to the American people," the president said. "And I know that with all the lobbying and horse-trading, the process left most Americans wondering, 'What's in it for me?'"
After Democrats lost their 60th seat in the Senate last week, some conservative critics have urged the White House to hold off on health care, but the president insisted that he would not give up. "Don't walk away from reform. Not now. Not when we are so close. Let us find a way to come together and finish the job for the American people," he said.
Obama also took on GOP critics who he said have simply argued to maintain the status quo from the Bush administration. "The problem is that's what we did for eight years," he said to applause. "That's what helped us into this crisis. It's what helped lead to these deficits. We can't do it again."
Facing a tough election year for Democrats, the president urged his party members not to "run for the hills" and reminded them that they still control the largest majority in decades. But he also tried to co-opt the Republicans into the governing process. "If the Republican leadership is going to insist that 60 votes in the Senate are required to do any business at all in this town -- a supermajority -- then the responsibility to govern is now yours as well," he said.
"Just saying no to everything may be good short-term politics, but it's not leadership," Obama said. "We were sent here to serve our citizens, not our ambitions. So let's show the American people that we can do it together."