President Barack Obama plans to use a prime-time press conference Tuesday night to appeal to a sense of “common purpose” that could rein in excesses on Wall Street — while also tempering calls in Congress for limits on pay and bonuses that could be seen as punitive.
“We will recover from this recession. But it will take time, it will take patience, and it will take an understanding that when we all work together; when each of us looks beyond our own short-term interests to the wider set of obligations we have to each other—that’s when we succeed. That’s when we prosper,” Obama was to say in his opening statement, according excerpts from his planned remarks released Tuesday afternoon by the White House.
Obama also intends to press aggressively for his $3.6 trillion budget proposal, which is facing criticism from Republicans as well as conservative Democrats who fear it will irresponsibly drive up the national debt. The president will make the case that the health care, education, and energy plans he has proposed are not wasteful spending but essential investments that will return America to a secure fiscal footing.
