Upbeat Obama says U.S. will revive past 'reckoning'

WASHINGTON — President Obama promised Tuesday night he would lead the nation from a dire "day of reckoning" to a brighter future, summoning politicians and the public alike to shoulder responsibility for hard choices and shared sacrifice.

"The time to take charge of our future is here," Obama said, delivering his first address to a joint session of Congress.

"Tonight I want every American to know this: We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before," he said.

To deal with the current crisis, the president said more money will be needed to rescue troubled banks beyond the $700 billion already committed last year. He said he knows bailout billions for banks are unpopular, but he also said the money was the only way to get credit moving again to households and businesses, the lifeblood of the American economy.

Along with aid for banks, he also called on Congress to move quickly on legislation to overhaul outdated regulations on the nation's financial markets.

"I ask this Congress to join me in doing whatever proves necessary," Obama said. "Because we cannot consign our nation to an open-ended recession."

Obama said both political parties must give up favored programs while uniting behind his campaign promises to build better schools, expand health-care coverage and move the nation to "greener" fuel use.

Louisiana's governor, Bobby Jindal, delivered the televised GOP response, exhorting fellow Republicans to be Obama's "strongest partners" when they agree with him. But he signaled that won't happen much, calling Democrats in Congress "irresponsible" for passing the $787 billion stimulus package that Republicans have criticized as excessive and wasteful.

"The way to lead is not to raise taxes and put more money and power in hands of Washington politicians," Jindal said. "Who among us would ask our children for a loan, so we could spend money we do not have, on things we do not need?"

Even as Washington pours money into the economic recovery, Obama said the budget deficit must be brought under control.

He promised he would slash it by half by the end of his term in 2013, mostly by ending U.S. combat in Iraq and eliminating some of Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy. He said budget officials have identified $2 trillion in savings over the next 10 years, including ending education programs "that don't work" and payments to large agribusinesses "that don't need them," eliminating wasteful no-bid contracts in Iraq and spending on weapons systems no longer needed in the post-Cold War era, and rooting out waste in Medicare.

"Everyone in this chamber, Democrats and Republicans, will have to sacrifice some worthy priorities for which there are no dollars," he said. "And that includes me."