Obama Takes Jab At Bush Policies: ‘A Surplus Became An Excuse To Transfer Wealth To The Wealthy’

[ProSense]

Obama Takes Jab At Bush Policies: ‘A Surplus Became An Excuse To Transfer Wealth To The Wealthy’

In his speech before a joint session of Congress tonight, President Obama took a jab at Bush’s disastrous economic policies:

(W)e have lived through an era where too often, short-term gains were prized over long-term prosperity; where we failed to look beyond the next payment, the next quarter, or the next election. A surplus became an excuse to transfer wealth to the wealthy instead of an opportunity to invest in our future. Regulations were gutted for the sake of a quick profit at the expense of a healthy market.

Indeed, when Bush entered office in 2001, he inherited a budget surplus of $128 billion. He bequeathed a budget deficit of over $1 trillion to President Obama.

UPDATE Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) notes on his Twitter feed: "One doesn't want to sound snarky, but it is nice not to see Cheney up there."

UPDATE Read the text of the full speech here.

UPDATE Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) twitters: "Pres just hailed the Recov Act. Sen Spector (sic) was a lonely Republican when he stood to applaud."

UPDATE Speaking about fiscal responsibility, Obama began, "With the deficit we inherited --" as Democratic lawmakers broke into loud cheers. Watch it:

(http://thinkprogress.org/2009/02/24/obama-bush-deficit/">Obama: We Inherited A Great Deficit)

More in today's Progress Report on the Bush deficit.

UPDATE According to Fox News, Obama was interrupted 65 times for applause. The Australia Broadcasting Corporation counted 37 standing ovations.

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[ProSense]

1. Obama's speech to Congress gets big applause

Obama's speech to Congress gets big applause

WASHINGTON – A broadly grinning President Barack Obama was greeted by sustained cheers and applause as he entered the House chamber to deliver his first address to Congress.

And he got 61 more rounds of applause before it was over.

One of the loudest bursts came as the president paid tribute to America's servicemen and women, saying "We honor your service, we are inspired by your sacrifice, and you have our unyielding support."

The president drew Republican lawmakers to their feet when he said the nation has a responsibility to its children not pass on to them "a debt they cannot pay." But then his fellow Democrats leaped to their feet applauding when he quickly took note of "the deficit we inherited" and "the cost of the crisis we face."