[Peace-discuss] Advance text of President's Wednesday speech

[C. G. Estabrook]

<http://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing_room/>

	Remarks of President Barack Obama – As Prepared for Delivery
	Address to Joint Session of Congress
	Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Madame Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress, and the First Lady of 
the United States:

I come before you tonight in a spirit of remorse -- which, I find, requires more 
audacity than hope does.

When my administration entered into office, we faced three overwhelming problems:

	[1] a financial crisis and recession;

	[2] a war in the Middle East on several fronts; and

	[3] an unresolved healthcare crisis for many Americans.

We immediately addressed these problems with the following actions, respectively:

	[1] we bailed out financial institutions and corporate entities too big to fail 
with massive subventions, which found their way into the pockets of the richest 
people in the country;

	[2] we increased the killing in the Mideast by carrying out the previous 
administration's plans for Iraq, sharply escalating President Bush's war in 
Afghanistan, and extending it into Pakistan; meanwhile we gave our client Israel 
a free hand to turn Gaza into a prison camp;

	[3] we allowed certain cosmetic changes to the American healthcare system to be 
discussed while making sure that that profits of the medical/financial complex 
would be protected and increased.

Listening to the advice of the American people, I have concluded -- to my vast 
dismay -- that all of these initiatives were mistaken.  They exacerbated the 
problems that they purported to solve.

Therefore, tonight, I am announcing a Change of Course in all three areas.

	[1] Financial institutions and corporate entities that have been bailed out 
with public monies will have new boards of directors, charged with the 
responsibility of running those enterprises for public benefit rather than 
private profit. General Motors, for example, will turn its attention to mass 
transit.  The same will be true of financial institutions: mortgage holders, for 
example, will be charged with keeping people in their homes; the housing market 
will be revived in part by ending foreclosures.

	[2] U.S. troops, allies, and contractors will be withdrawn from Iraq and 
Afghanistan as quickly as possible consistent with their safety and the wishes 
of the local populations.  A  Mr. Richard Feder of Fort Lee, New Jersey, wrote 
to me to ask, "How will we ever get our troops out of the Middle East?"  I 
replied in the words of the late Herb Caen -- "Ships and planes."  All military 
aid to Israel will be ended, and non-military aid will resume only when Israel 
complies with international law by withdrawing from the occupied territories.

	[3] Medicare will be improved and extended to all Americans.  Its 45-year 
history and the experience of the other industrialized counties show us how to 
do it. When you need medical care, you will go to the doctor or healthcare 
provider of your choice, and the federal government will pay the bill. There 
will be no need for you or your employer to provide private medical insurance, 
and the money saved from premiums will be greater than any increase in taxes. 
Existing insurance companies will be acquired by the government to the extent 
that they have assets -- for example, expert personnel -- useful to the 
community.

In each of these matters we have resolved to Change the Course in a direction 
that polls indicate is approved by a majority of Americans.  And so I call upon 
all Americans to impress on their Congressional representatives the need for 
these reforms.

There is much more to do.  Forty  years ago the most progressive U.S. 
administration since World War II proposed a negative income tax and a 
guaranteed annual income for all Americans, and the proposal almost made it 
through Congress. It is time to renew and fulfill that promise.

Next week I will ask the Congress once again for time to speak, to outline a 
vast revision of the tax laws to achieve that end.  The goal is nothing less 
than the securing of the inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of 
happiness to all Americans -- in a practical and not merely theoretical manner.

There is much to do, and the time is short.

On this Change in Course, in the words of a great American port, we have 
promises to keep, and miles to go before we sleep.

God help us, and God save the United States of America.  Good night.

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