Obama's Rallying Speech

I was having a discussion with my friend Rajat the other day and we discussed the perceived slump that President Obama's public approval has fallen into over the last few months.

I think it is because his initiatives are not tied together!

With appologies to Tom Friedman, who occasionally writes the speeches that he would like to hear from our leaders, I offer you the outlines of speech that the President should give to start linking his major initiatives together.

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My fellow Americans, this summer marks just two short years since our economy underwent its most grave crisis since the great depression.

The great depression lasted a decade, and to get through it our nation had to unite around fundamental changes to how we solved our problems, how companies operated and how we protected our most vulnerable citizens. In the end, it took a united nation and World War to pull the nation back to prosperity.

So over the next several months I will be talking about how we as a nation can work together to solve our biggest challenges, and how we can position ourselves to be leaders in this globalized world, in this interconnected world.

Americans must overcome our small differences, and unite around this new American Century.

More important than anything else, there are tens of thousands of American soldiers in Iraq and Afganistan that are risking their lives to bring safety and stability to those countries, and to protect American interests. We must support our troops, and give them our prayers, and also enough time to achieve their mission.

In addition to this, we must stop borrowing for these wars and start paying for them. Starting in January, we will begin phasing in a gasoline tax to pay for these wars. While it will start small to protect everyday americans, the tax will eventually pay for the two wars and also be a down payment on our new energy economy. More on that in a moment.

To position America to lead the world economy, we must solve the problems that confront our economy. These are out of control health care costs that we all pay for, record deficits and a financial system that is out of control.

Good news! Congress has already passed health care reform, and over the next year everyday americans will see improvements to their health services. But this is only the beginning, because we will all have to work together to stamp out health care waste. The more we save in health care, the more your employers will be able to send to wage increases, and the more the government will be able to return in lower taxes. We are setting up a web site where everyday americans can report medical system waste and propose new savings.

There is more good news, because I will be signing the a financial reform package next month that will start to bring balance to an out-of-control banking system, that rewarded risk but didn't punish wall street bankers that were reckless. Our new regulatory agency will protect consumers and will make sure no bank takes risks with your savings, or with taxpayer dollars.

Out government budget is out of control, spending more than it takes in. In november a bipartisan commission will publish recommendations on how to bring the system under control. Their recommendations may be controversial to many-- they will likely tell us that we need to cut some budgets AND raise taxes to put our government on solid footing for out children and grandchildren. I say bring it on, because I didn't become president to be popular. I became president to bring common sense to washington, and I will challenge democratic and republican leaders in congress to enact the commission's recommendations.

The horrifying oil spill in the gulf of mexico is a reminder that our energy system in America is as out of balance as our wall street system is. I call on the Senate to return to washington at once to take action on this problem. There is a comprehensive energy bill that the House of Representatives has passed, but which is held up by special interests in the Senate.

To the United States senate, I say it is time to get to work. America demands that you enact comprehensive energy reform, so that we take control of our energy system, and so we never see a spill like the one in the gulf of Mexico again. Comprehensive means we encourage cleaner energy and we discourage energy that pollutes, and we work to create an innovative new green energy manufacturing economy for American workers. Pass the bill!

The 20th century is sometimes called "The American Century" by historians. If you join me in taking back control of our government and our future , I promise you that American will lead the world for the new Century.

Have a great summer, and may God bless America.