President Urges Public Patience on Economy

WASHINGTON — President Obama is stepping up efforts to maintain public support for his agenda as rising unemployment presents him with the biggest test of his political strength since taking office.

Faced with an economic downturn that has proved deeper than the White House initially projected, Mr. Obama asked Americans on Saturday to remain patient, arguing that his $787 billion stimulus plan had saved the economy from collapse and put it on a gradual course to recovery.

“As a result of the swift and aggressive action we took in the first few months of this year, we’ve been able to pull our financial system and our economy back from the brink,” he said, deflecting calls for a new round of stimulus spending and saying that his plan was intended to work not in a few months but over two years.

Facing an array of challenges on Capitol Hill and concern about the huge budget deficit, he cast his main legislative initiatives, starting with his call for overhauling the health care system, as part of a long-term plan to rebuild the economy on a sounder foundation.

Mr. Obama returns to Washington on Sunday from a weeklong trip abroad at a time when Democrats have grown increasingly jittery about the economy and the political risks of the president’s ambitious agenda on health care, energy and climate change, financial regulation and other issues.

Aides said Mr. Obama’s remarks on Saturday, delivered in his weekly radio and video address, were intended to help regain control of the debate. He will follow up with speeches in Michigan and New York in the coming week, and possibly a prime-time news conference.

Behind the scenes, the White House is working to calm nervous lawmakers. Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff, urged House Democrats in a private meeting earlier in the week to take note of polls showing that Democrats were in much stronger shape than Republicans on the issues of taxes and economy.

Mr. Emanuel assured them, according to those attending, that the White House “has their back” as they are being asked to take tough votes.

“We have to fly through a little turbulence,” said David Axelrod, one of Mr. Obama’s senior advisers. “But the important thing is to keep going, understand where you are headed and not lose heart in the middle of the journey.”

Still, the shifting environment threatens to make it harder for Mr. Obama to rustle up votes from nervous Democrats who, unlike Mr. Obama, have to run for re-election next year. Some polls have found a slight softening in support for Mr. Obama and his economic proposals nationally and, potentially more worrisome for Democrats, erosion in battleground states including Ohio. “It makes everything a little harder,” said Senator Michael Bennet, a Colorado Democrat who will be on the ballot next year.

Representative Jason Altmire, Democrat of Pennsylvania, said: “Everyone is concerned — you want it to be better. I think everyone realizes this was a long-term process. We are digging out of a deep hole.”

And Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, the No. 3 ranking Democrat, said that the complications from persistent weakness in the economy were “probably the most serious challenge we as Democrats face.”

Republicans said they sensed a new vulnerability in Mr. Obama. They have been visibly energized as they argue that his stimulus plan was costly and ineffective and that his health care plan will mean tax increases and more government bureaucracy.

“While the president’s personal numbers are still good, his policies, particularly the spending and the rising debt, are scaring people,” said Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

Mr. Cornyn said he believed that any patience the public had with the Obama economic approach was wearing thin and that Democrats would have difficulty continuing to blame the Bush administration for economic troubles.

“Time’s up on that one,” he said.

From the moment he took the presidency, Mr. Obama has warned that it could take years to get the economy back on track, and most polls showed that Americans were prepared to give him time.

The worsening economy could test just how much time Americans are willing to give him, particularly if the unemployment rate, now 9.5 percent, the highest since 1983, breaks 10 percent. Most economists anticipate that the unemployment rate will reach double digits this year.

And some politically critical states have already reported that unemployment has broken 10 percent. Ohio hit 10.8 percent in May. Florida, Indiana and Michigan are already well above that threshold while other states are approaching it. That could make it much more difficult to persuade conservative Democrats in those states, already worried about challenges from Republicans next year, to cast votes for legislation like the health care or climate-change bill, particularly if these measures include some form of tax increases.

In one sign of this, three of the five House Democrats from Indiana, which reported an unemployment rate of 10.6 percent in May, voted against the climate-change measure backed by the White House when it passed by a narrow margin on the House floor last month.

House leaders signaled on Friday night that they would seek a vote on raising taxes by $550 billion over 10 years on the wealthiest Americans to help pay for the health care overhaul, a move that could put many Democrats in competitive districts in a difficult position.

A slow economic recovery would mean a further downturn in government revenues, which in turn could increase the size of the deficit as Mr. Obama is pushing for more spending. Historically, the deficit has been a potent issue with independent voters in particular, and it is already projected to remain at record levels for years to come.

In an interview, Mr. Emanuel criticized Republicans for assailing the stimulus package and said voters understood the depth of the problem and how much time it would take to turn around.

“I think the public knows three things: We inherited a total mess; we’re working hard on it; and we’re not going to get out of it overnight,” he said. “Here’s the deal: The key to what this year is about is rescuing the economy from falling off the cliff and trying to put in place the building blocks of recovery.”

Still, Mr. Obama’s aides acknowledged that they had only limited time, and that lawmakers might have less patience than voters. As a rule, voters’ views of the state of the economy tend to become cemented six months before Election Day.

“Nervousness is the natural state of politicians,” Mr. Axelrod said. “But the truth is on all of this stuff, the real risk is doing nothing. “

Democrats said they did not relish the prospect of heading out to face voters if things have not begun turning around.

“People are mad, angry,” said Representative Allen Boyd, a moderate Florida Democrat. “When you have times like that, everybody gets in a foul mood. It is rough for an elected official to run in that kind of environment.”

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Obama's Message: 'Africa's Future Is Up to Africans'

ACCRA, Ghana, July 11 -- President Obama, making his first visit to sub-Saharan Africa since taking office, called on people of the oft-troubled continent Saturday to seize control of their future by building strong, democratic institutions and eliminating corruption.

Ghanaians thrilled by the historic visit of the United States' first black president feted Obama. But Obama did not revel in the adulation he received during his whirlwind stop that included a somber visit to a former slave port, a tour of a local hospital and a festive ceremony at the airport here before leaving to return to Washington.
Rather, in a speech to a special session of the Parliament of Ghana held at a conference center in this capital city, he delivered a blunt but optimistic message about how Africa can shape its destiny.
"We must start with a simple premise that Africa's future is up to Africans," he said.
While Obama nodded to the continent's colonial past as a factor in its struggles, he said that Africa's contemporary problems could hardly be blamed on its former European overseers.
"The West is not responsible for the destruction of the Zimbabwean economy over the last decade or wars in which children are enlisted as combatants," Obama said.
Invoking the experience of his late Kenyan-born father, Obama said he knows well the toll exacted by the corruption that grips many African governments. "In my father's life, it was partly tribalism and patronage in an independent Kenya that for a long stretch derailed his career, and we know that this kind of corruption is a daily fact of life for too many."
Obama said that the corruption and violent conflict have continued unchecked in too many parts of Africa, with leaders fleecing their nations' treasuries, brutally repressing dissent and waging wars unnoticed by much of the outside world leaving untold thousands dead.
"No person wants to live in a society where the rule of law gives way to the rule of brutality and bribery," Obama said. "That is not democracy; that is tyranny. And now is the time for it to end."
The president's visit included no public events that would allow the masses to get a live glimpse of him. "The president wanted to use this visit to shine a light on Ghana and on what it is doing so successfully, rather than on him," Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said.
So Ghanaians who had eagerly awaited his visit listened to his tough-love message on televisions and radios in places such as Nyasa Enterprise, a dim one-room barbershop adorned with a plastic wall clock and a poster of Jesus.
Obama's message went over well in this single outpost of Ghana's largest city. Ghana, a stable democracy, is doing better than many African countries, but it has plenty of problems. Indeed, Ghana ranks in the middle on Transparency International's corruption index, and four out of five of its people live on less than $2 a day.
"It's good that he was hammering on that point," said Kofi Kennedy, 30, a hotel manager. "Because the money comes in, and as I'm sitting here, I'm not privy to what they're using it for. At the end of the day, it's the Ghanaians who suffer."

Before his speech, the president and first lady Michelle Obama visited La General Hospital, a public facility that focuses on child and reproductive health.
In Labone, a neighborhood near the hospital, Abdul Rahim was gathered with four friends around a tiny television with staticky sound and snowy black and white images of a young Obama.
The announcers were detailing the president's humble beginnings, and Rahim was leaning forward, a plate of lunch in his lap. He was eager to hear the president's speech, which was not going to start for more than an hour.
But like a lot of the folks who live in this neighborhood of red earth streets and metal-roof houses -- and where American flags fly as prominently as Ghanaian ones -- he didn't mind the wait. "I'm so happy because he's the first African American to lead the U.S.," he said.
After the speech, the president and his family boarded the presidential helicopter for a visit to Cape Coast Castle, which during the slave trade was used to warehouse thousands of slaves before they were packed into the holds of ships for the journey west.
After touring with his wife and two daughters the dank, stone dungeons and haunting "door of no return" portal leading to the ocean, Obama said the experience was reminiscent of a recent visit he made to a Nazi concentration camp. He called it a place of "profound sadness."
But as the same time, he added that he draws hope from the progress that has occurred since slavery. "It reminds us that as bad as history can be, it's also possible to overcome," Obama said.
White House officials said Obama chose Ghana for his first visit to sub-Saharan Africa as president because of its recent record of peaceful, democratic elections. That political stability is being accompanied by impressive economic growth in this still-poor country, a relative success story that Obama thinks can be replicated across Africa.
"Here in Ghana, you show us a face of Africa that is too often overlooked by a world that sees only tragedy or the need for charity," Obama said in his speech, drawing applause from the audience which included women and men in business suits sitting next to men in traditional kente wraps that left one shoulder exposed. "The people of Ghana have worked hard to put democracy on firmer footing, with peaceful transfers of power even in the wake of closely contested elections."
Governmental institutions that attend to the needs of the people, independent courts that uphold citizens' rights and a sense of unity that transcends tribal and religious differences will help Africa meet its vast potential, he said.
He said his administration would be supporting Africa with aid to build reliable governmental institutions, help in promoting good health, and with agricultural and other assistance that fosters self-sufficiency.
With abundant natural resources and talented people who have thrived elsewhere, Africa has the ingredients for success, Obama said. "With strong institutions and a strong will, I know that Africans can live their dreams in Nairobi and Lagos; in Kigali and Kinshasa; in Harare and right here in Accra," he said.
Obama also praised those across the continent who have stood up for democratic principles, even in the face of grave danger. If all of Africa is to prosper, he said, it would have to follow their example.
"Make no mistake: History is on the side of these brave Africans," he said, "and not with those who use coups or change constitutions to stay in power."

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Obama Responds to Growing Criticism of Recovery Act

President Obama, still traveling abroad, responded to increasing criticism that the Economic Recovery Act that he pushed through Congress is not working to prevent job losses in a still-struggling economy.

In his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama said those critics -- which include many GOP leaders in Congress -- have little credibility.

"When we passed this Recovery Act, there were those who felt that doing nothing was somehow an answer," he said. "Today, some of those same critics are already judging the effort a failure although they have yet to offer a plausible alternative."

The criticism has become intense as job losses have continued to grow.

In his own Republican radio address, House Republican Whip Eric Cantor (Va.) expressed for many Republicans the concerns in stark, partisan language.

"Remember the promises? They promised you that if you paid for their stimulus, jobs would be created immediately," Cantor said. "In fact, they said that unemployment would stay under eight percent. Yet just months later, they are telling us to brace for unemployment to climb over ten percent. They promised jobs created. Now they scramble to find a way to play games with government numbers by claiming jobs saved."

To that sentiment, Obama responded that critics need to have patience. He countered that his administration never promised immediate results, but always counseled that it would take time.

"As I made clear at the time it was passed, the Recovery Act was not designed to work in four months -- it was designed to work over two years," Obama said, adding later that: "This is a plan that will also accelerate greatly throughout the summer and the fall. We must let it work the way it's supposed to, with the understanding that in any recession, unemployment tends to recover more slowly than other measures of economic activity."

The debate is likely to continue when Obama returns from his week-long trip abroad. Administration officials forecast that the unemployment rate is likely to spike to above 10 percent -- a double-digit figure that is sure to generate more criticism.

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Obama Draws Inspiration From Slave Site

CAPE COAST, Ghana -- President Obama drew inspiration from a slave site as he and his family wrapped up their visit abroad.

Obama toured a seaside fortress that the British used as slave dungeons during the 17th century. Obama said the site reminded him of a recent trip to a Nazi concentration camp in Germany.

"As painful as it is, I think it helps to teach all of us that we have to do what we can to fight against the kinds of evils that sadly still exist in our world," Obama said. "Not just on this continent, but in every corner of the globe."

Obama visited the slave site with his wife, Michelle, and their daughters and Michelle's mother, Marion Robinson. They walked through the 'door of no return' during a guided tour of Cape Coast, one of the last places Africans passed through on their way to be sold into slavery in the United States. 

While Obama himself is not descended of slaves, his wife Michelle is, and it's reported her family originally came from West Africa, perhaps passing through Cape Coast themselves. While Obama acknowledged the anguish suffered at Cape Coast, he chose to use his words to focus on overcoming the past.

"Symbolically, to be able to come back with my family, with Michelle and our children and see the portal through which the Diaspora began but also to be able to come back here in celebration with the people of Ghana for the extraordinary progress we made because of the courage of so many blacks and whites to abolish slavery and ultimately win civil rights for all people I think is a source of hope," Obama said. "It reminds us that as bad as history can be its also possible to overcome."

The president spent time walking and talking with his children, explaining what they were seeing, including the 16 cannons that once protected the fortress and the ocean out-stretched before them that once carried slaves to the shores of America. 

The girls have had quite the summer camp experience. This week alone, they met Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and went on a tour of the Kremlin, toured Rome with their mother and grandmother and finished the week here. But Obama did not want the girls to end their summer without some lessons about life.

"I think it was particularly important for Malia and Sasha who are growing up in such a blessed way to be reminded history can take very cruel turns," Obama said. 

"And hopefully one of the things that was imparted to them during this trip is their sense of obligation to fight oppression and cruelty wherever it appears," he added. "And that any group of people who are degrading another group of people have to be fought against with whatever tools we have available to us."

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Obama's Focus on Health Care Will Be Crucial to Reform

After a week of international diplomacy, President Obama returns to Washington this week facing an even greater diplomatic challenge: nudging the large and controversial health-care reform package toward consensus on Capitol Hill.

Headlines during his absence pointed to multiple problems -- beyond the virtual wall of opposition among Republicans. There is resistance among conservative Blue Dog Democrats over the potential cost. There is nervousness among progressives that the White House might compromise too much on a public insurance option. The all-important Senate Finance Committee appears stymied. As a result, the prospects of floor action in the House and Senate before the August recess now appear in jeopardy.
White House officials remain publicly optimistic, even while recognizing the hurdles ahead. "When you get this close, you get a lot of heat," White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said. "It comes with the nature of what we're doing. I'm saying that in an affirmative way."
But an administration loyalist who is deep into the health-care battle, and who was decidedly more optimistic a few weeks ago, offered a counter to Emanuel's assessment. "I think the headlines are accurate," he said. "Things are not going as well as I would have liked for a lot of reasons."
There is accuracy in both assessments. Emanuel rightly notes that no administration and Congress dating back half a century have enjoyed the kind of climate for passage of universal health care. Nor have they ever gotten as far as things have progressed this year. "I've seen passes, vetoes and failures," Emanuel said of his experience with health care that dates back to his earlier service in the Clinton White House and his time as a congressman from Illinois in the House. "We've never, on universal coverage, been this close to the goal line."
But pessimists are also correct in asserting that the battle has reached a critical stage and that, after significant movement earlier in the year, there are fissures opening up that threaten the prospects of crossing the goal line. Administration officials insist they want good legislation, not just any legislation, and on both fronts, they have a struggle on their hands.
Through most of this year, the administration has held together a fragile coalition of interest groups that have been on opposite sides in previous health-care battles. Administration officials have done this in part by creating the sense that this will be the year for health-care reform. That has encouraged previous opponents of reform to stay at the table in hopes of influencing the final shape of legislation.
In another contrast to the failed effort during the Clinton administration, proponents of reform are outspending opponents in the ad wars surrounding the legislative debate. That, too, has helped the legislative process move forward.
Part of the administration's success in keeping everyone involved, however, has relied on deferring the hardest decisions. Now, as the legislation nears completion in House and Senate committees, there is no way to avoid making choices, and that has disrupted the earlier momentum.
House Democrats are now looking at a surcharge on the wealthiest Americans to generate $550 billion in revenue to help pay for what is expected to be a cost of more than $1 trillion over the next 10 years. In the Senate, there is resistance to another revenue source, taxing some of the employer-provided health insurance benefits. The shape and timing of a public plan remain unresolved. And Obama's budget director, Peter Orszag, warned House Democrats that their legislation must do more to rein in health-care costs, which the president has argued is the key to economic viability.
Three House panels that have been coordinating their efforts on health care are hoping to unveil their legislation this week, and House Democratic leaders hope to enact the measure before Congress breaks in August. In the Senate, the timetable has slipped considerably, in large part because the Finance Committee, the last outpost for any hope of a bipartisan accord, appears gridlocked.
Senators are resisting pressure to finish their work before the recess. But there are obvious risks of delay.
The August recess affords proponents of health-care reform an opportunity to explain and sell the package to their constituents. People are generally receptive to enactment of a major health-care package, according to the polls, but there is confusion and nervousness about what might be coming. Lawmakers need concrete proposals that can be explained in simple terms. They cannot take a set of principles home in August and hope to close the deal.
Worried Democrats also see another danger if the House and Senate have not passed bills before the recess. If there is legislation pending on the Senate floor, that bill could become a prime target for opponents to begin chipping away at seemingly onerous provisions. Opponents of the bill can put pressure on wavering legislators. Obama's army of volunteers, who will be asked to help counter any such opposition, will be fully tested.
What is needed now in the estimate of reform proponents is a big dose of presidential leadership. Administration officials said over the weekend that they expect Obama and other officials to be visible and active on health care this week, even though the major event on the agenda is the opening of the confirmation hearings for Judge Sonia Sotomayor, the president's nominee for the Supreme Court.

The absence of the ailing  Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), a consummate legislator and dealmaker, is being felt particularly in the Senate. Obama's energies and persuasive powers will be needed to help produce consensus in the Finance Committee -- and to corral rambunctious Democrats on both sides of the Hill.

No one expects Obama to declare in dictatorial terms what shape the legislation must take, but lawmakers are now looking for much clearer guidance from the White House on the tough issues remaining. As one nervous administration ally said, "The president's involvement and engagement almost exclusively on health care the next two weeks is essential."

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Obama rejects 2nd stimulus: Give recovery time

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama said Saturday the $787 billion stimulus program must be given a chance to work before consideration is given to a second such jolt for the still-ailing economy.

Obama acknowledged in his weekly radio and Internet address that people are getting nervous about continuing high joblessness — the unemployment rate hit 9.5 percent in June — but said reversing payroll losses takes time. He asked Americans to be as patient as possible.

Republicans have labeled the $787 billion stimulus a failure. Both Obama and Vice President Joe Biden have argued that the bulk of the money from the stimulus program is still being disbursed and that it already has saved many jobs.

Obama criticized Republicans for opposing the stimulus but offering few alternatives to the worst recession since the Great Depression. And he rejected talk of a second stimulus, an idea that has been discussed by Democrats and even famed investor Warren Buffett.

"We must let it work the way it's supposed to, with the understanding that in any recession, unemployment tends to recover more slowly than other measures of economic activity," Obama, who is visiting Ghana on Saturday, said in his recorded message.

The stimulus included $288 billion in tax cuts, dramatic increases in Medicaid spending, about $48 billion in highway and bridge construction and billions more to boost energy efficiency, shore up state budgets and improve schools.

The plan "was not designed to work in four months," Obama said. "It was designed to work over two years."

Since Obama signed the stimulus into law, the economy has lost more than 2 million jobs and the unemployment rate has climbed higher than the White House predicted it would have ever reached without the stimulus.

Some companies say stimulus money helped avoid layoffs. Independent government auditors found that stimulus aid to states helped keep teachers off unemployment lines. But overall job numbers continue to suffer.

Republicans have seized on this opportunity to criticize the president, but they have struggled to find their collective voice. At a news conference Friday, Republican lawmakers criticized the White House for spending so much, while simultaneously saying the administration wasn't spending it fast enough.

With the Obama administration now pushing for a costly overhaul of the nation's health care system, Republicans are casting Democrats as liberals on a shopping spree. In the GOP's weekly address Saturday, Virginia Rep. Eric Cantor, the House Republican whip, accused the Democratic-controlled Congress of reckless spending and careless borrowing.

Though the Republican stimulus proposal this January had its own deficit-pushing price tag of $478 billion, Cantor and Republicans are trying to make their case against Obama as one of fiscal restraint.

"For the stimulus alone, Washington borrowed nearly $10,000 from every American household," Cantor said. "Let me ask you: Do you feel $10,000 richer today?"

In his speech, Obama twice referred to "cleaning up the wreckage" of a recession that began on President George W. Bush's watch. But with Obama's poll numbers slipping on economic issues, Republicans want to lay the economy at the president's feet.

"This is now President Obama's economy," Cantor said.

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Obama Delivers Call for Change to a Rapt Africa

CAPE COAST, Ghana — President Obama traveled in his father’s often-troubled home continent on Saturday, where he symbolized a new political era but brought a message of tough love: American aid must be matched by Africa’s responsibility for its own problems.

“We must start from the simple premise that Africa’s future is up to Africans,” Mr. Obama said in an address televised across the continent. For all its previous sins, he said, “the West is not responsible for the destruction of the Zimbabwean economy over the last decade, or wars in which children are enlisted as combatants.”

To build a prosperous future, he said, Africa needs to shed corruption and tyranny and take on poverty and disease.

“These things can only be done if you take responsibility for your future,” he told Parliament in Accra, Ghana’s capital. “And it won’t be easy. It will take time and effort. There will be suffering and setbacks. But I can promise you this: America will be with you every step of the way, as a partner, as a friend.”

The visit of the first African-American president, the son of a onetime Kenyan goat herder, electrified this small coastal nation and much of the region. Thousands of people lined streets, crowded rooftops, packed balconies, climbed trees, leaned out windows, even hung off scaffolding to glimpse his motorcade.

His face was everywhere, from billboards to T-shirts to dresses. His name and campaign theme became the refrains of songs played in his honor.

His one-day stop blended his vision of the future with echoes of the past. He stood in the Door of No Return at Cape Coast Castle, a notorious slave port perched on the windswept sea here where men who looked like him were once held in dungeons until they were marched in shackles to waiting ships. He brought his wife, Michelle, a descendant of slaves, and their daughters, Malia and Sasha.

Mr. Obama, rarely one to display emotion, seemed especially sober. He said the castle reminded him of the Buchenwald concentration camp and underscored the existence of “pure evil” in the world.

“Obviously, it’s a moving experience, a moving moment,” he said. “As painful as it is, I think that it helps to teach all of us that we have to do what we can to fight against the kinds of evils that, sadly, still exist in our world.”

One evil he came here to fight is the pernicious mix of greed, famine and war that has kept Africa down. He delivered a blunt message that from his predecessors might not have been received the same way. Instead, it was cast by aides as hard truths from a loving cousin.

“No country is going to create wealth if its leaders exploit the economy to enrich themselves, or police can be bought off by drug traffickers,” he said. “No business wants to invest in a place where the government skims 20 percent off the top, or the head of the port authority is corrupt. No person wants to live in a society where the rule of law gives way to the rule of brutality and bribery. That is not democracy, that is tyranny, and now is the time for it to end.”

Mr. Obama added: “Africa doesn’t need strongmen. It needs strong institutions.”

The message of responsibility is one that he has conveyed to different audiences, from African-Americans at home to Muslims abroad. In Cairo last month, he said pointedly that even as America needed to better understand the Muslim world, Muslims needed to confront their own anti-American elements.

As in Cairo, he used personal history to soften stern language. “After all,” the president said, “I have the blood of Africa within me, and my family’s own story encompasses both the tragedies and triumphs of the larger African story. Some of you know my grandfather was a cook for the British in Kenya, and though he was a respected elder in his village, his employers called him boy for much of his life.”

Mr. Obama’s first trip to sub-Saharan Africa as president was his fourth to the continent that has played a distant yet central role in his life. When he first came as a college student, he had little more than a backpack and a train ticket. On Friday, he arrived on Air Force One.

But Mr. Obama’s ties to Africa barely go beyond biography. He met his father only once as a child, and was raised largely by his white mother and grandparents. He has written about coming to terms with his biracial upbringing, neither a product of African-American culture nor a native son of Africa.

Despite all the attention, the White House worked to keep his visit relatively low-key. A president accustomed to crowds of hundreds of thousands, Mr. Obama chose instead smaller venues, aware of the chaotic scene when hundreds of thousands of people nearly engulfed President Bill Clinton and injured one another during a 1998 visit.

Still, the excitement was hard to miss. At a breakfast with dignitaries, Mr. Obama made his way down the center aisle with President John Atta Mills while a reggae artist, Blakk Rasta, crooned in the background: “Barack, Barack, Barack Obama.”

An announcer kept up a steady patter of commentary. “The first black president of the United States!” he called out. “Africa meets one of its illustrious sons, Barack Obama.”

Before his speech to Parliament, the legislators were chanting his old campaign slogan: “Yes we can! Yes we can!”

Then Mr. Atta Mills introduced Mr. Obama as a long-lost relative. “You’re welcome. You’re welcome,” Ghana’s president declared. “You’ve come home.”

With a functioning democracy that has managed several peaceful transitions of power, this nation of 23 million is the favorite American success story in sub-Saharan Africa. But the choice of Ghana illustrated how few models there are. Both Mr. Clinton and President George W. Bush came here too. By contrast, Mr. Obama bypassed his father’s native Kenya, a reflection of the instability plaguing it recently.

His approach follows that of Mr. Bush, who was widely credited with doing more for Africa than any previous president. Like Mr. Obama, Mr. Bush tried to frame policy by rewarding good governance and building institutions through programs like the Millennium Challenge Corporation, an antipoverty effort that gave Ghana $547 million in 2006.

Even Mr. Obama, who typically talks about the problems his administration inherited, said he was “building on the strong efforts of President Bush” in Africa. Before flying here, Mr. Obama pressed the world’s rich nations to pool $20 billion over three years to fight hunger, not only by delivering food, but also by teaching struggling farmers how to better grow crops.

He said little about what America would do for Africa, however, focusing instead on what Africa should do for itself. He called on the people of his father’s continent to build the sort of society he never saw, prosperous, democratic, honest and healthy.

“You can do that,” he said. “Yes, you can. Because in this moment, history is on the move.”

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Obama Defends Stimulus

U.S. President Barack Obama, facing mounting criticism of the $787 billion stimulus package passed earlier this year, devoted his weekly radio address to trumpeting the successes of the plan, and suggested it had to be given more time to show results.

"The Recovery Act was not designed to work in four months -- it was designed to work over two years," Mr. Obama said, after telling listeners that the plan hadn't been intended "to restore the economy to full health on its own, but to provide the boost necessary to stop the free fall."

The president highlighted the portions of the package that have begun to be implemented, including unemployment insurance and health insurance for laid-off workers, as well as some of the tax cuts -- such as the payroll-tax credit -- that make up one-third of the package's price tag.

Questions about the plan's effectiveness have intensified amid steep U.S. unemployment figures for May and June. Mr. Obama said joblessness wasn't the only economic indicator that should be used, arguing that "unemployment tends to recover more slowly than other measures of economic activity."

The administration admitted it has been on a "learning curve" with the stimulus package, but that it has figured out how to spend some of the available billions more quickly.

Many tax cuts have already taken effect. But only $60.4 billion of the remaining $499 billion has been spent. Most of the money was always likely to be spent this summer, at the earliest, as departments wrestled with the increased workload and new requirements imposed by the bill.

The White House said it isn't changing its goal of spending 70% of the funds by September 2010. But amid unemployment worries, the administration has been pressuring agencies to get some money out the door more quickly.

The slow speed at which money for infrastructure projects is getting out has come under attack, including from Republican lawmakers who blame excessive regulation.They were were swift to denounce the president's performance. Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, one of the party's top congressional members, issued his own address, saying: "The plain truth is that President Obama's economic decisions have not produced jobs, have not produced prosperity, and simply have not worked."

Mr. Cantor said the Republicans' alternative was to reduce taxes for middle-class families and small businesses, and for Washington to "live within its means."

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Obama and the Pope agree to disagree: Discuss abortion, stem cells

In their first meeting, President Obama and Pope Benedict agreed to disagree on abortion and stem cell research.

The entire Obama family, including the President's mother-in-law, met with the pontiff in his official residence, the Vatican's Apostolic Palace.

The well-prepped President anticipated that Benedict would discuss his anti-abortion positions, but politely held his ground with the Catholic Church's stance on two hot-button moral and political issues.

"At the end of the day, it may just be that there's issues that they can't come to agreement on, but I think [Obama] believes that you can disagree without being disagreeable," said Denis McDonough, a spokesman for the National Security Council.

Obama, however, reiterated his goal of reducing the number of abortions - a point he highlighted while running for President.

"President Obama affirmed his personal commitment to try to reduce the number of abortions in the United States," said Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi.

Benedict presented Obama with a copy of a year-old Vatican document on bioethics that helped shape the Holy See's opposition to stem cell research. The Vatican views such research as tantamount to abortion and the destruction of human life.

Obama supports the use of embryonic stem cells to pursue treatments for debilitating diseases. Days after taking office, he wiped out the Bush administration's limits on stem cell research.

On other issues, like pursuing Mideast peace, dealing with the coup in Honduras, and fighting famine and poverty, there was common ground.

Obama's first papal audience since taking office was described as a cordial meeting, complete with polite protocol.

"Welcome, Mr. President," the Pope said as they shook hands.

"Thank you so much. It's a great honor, thank you so much," Obama replied.

Obama gave the Pope a stole that for a time had been draped over the body of St. John Neumann of Philadelphia, founder of the Catholic school system. The Pope offered Obama a mosaic of St. Peter's Square.

Obama also handed a letter to Benedict from cancer-stricken Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), White House aides disclosed.

McDonough noted that the senator's older brother, President John F. Kennedy, "obviously broke an important barrier in our country by being the first Catholic President."

Obama's wife, two daughters and mother-in-law joined in for part of the 30-minute meeting.

Observing papal protocol, the Obama women covered their heads with black mantillas during the meeting.

The President asked the Pope to pray for them.

"I'll pray for you. I'll pray for your work," the Pope promised.

After three days of meetings surrounding the G-8 world leaders summit, the Vatican visit was the last stop in Italy for Obama before heading to Accra, Ghana, where he will tour a slave trade outpost today.

At a press conference earlier yesterday, Obama said it may be time to expand the G-8 to include Africa and South American nations. 

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President Obama, Pope Benedict XVI meet for first time in Rome

A beaming President Obama met with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican Friday, saying it was a "great honor" to meet the pontiff.

Photographers and reporters swarmed around the pair as they exchanged pleasantries across the pope's desk.

Obama had been greeted at the threshold of the Apostolic Palace, the Pope's official residence, by Archbishop James Harvey, the prefect of the pontifical house and a native of Milwaukee.

Obama's meeting with His Holiness came hours after he departed a summit in L'Aquila, Italy, with the leaders of the world's industrialized nations.

He said there's "widespread consensus" among world leaders to move forward with stimulus plans to restore economic growth and to reform regulatory bodies to avoid another global fiscal meltdown.

"While our markets are improving and we appear to have averted global collapse, we know that too many people are still struggling," Obama said at a news conference.

"So, we agreed that full recovery is still a ways off, that it would be premature to begin winding down our stimulus plans and that we must sustain our support for those plans to lay the foundation for a strong and lasting recovery."

While the leaders failed to agree on a host of issues, such as global warming, Obama described the meeting as productive, filled with "candid and spirited" exchanges.

The new president said the world's myriad challenges "threaten the peace and prosperity of every single nation and no one nation can meet these challenges alone."

"We can either shape our future or let the events shape it for us," he said.

On Iran, Obama claimed it was never his intention to secure sanctions against the rogue nation at the summit.

 "What we wanted was exactly what we got, which is a statement of unity and strong condemnation about the appalling treatment of peaceful protestors post-election in Iran."

Obama said the leaders agreed to re-evaluate Iran's posture on nuclear weapons at a summit in September.

"The international community has sad here's a door you can walk through that allows you to lessen tensions and more fully join the international community," said Obama, warning that further steps will be taken if Iran continues to balk.

"We're not going to just wait indefinitely," he said.

On the home front, Obama said health care reform is the White House's No. 1 legislative priority during the next month.

"We're closer to that significant reform than at any time in recent history. That doesn't make it easy. It's hard," he said. "And we are having a whole series of constant negotiations."

Asked whether this legislation is "do-or-die" before Congress adjourns for its summer recess next month, the president replied, "I never believe anything is do-or-die."

"But," he said with a smile, "I really want to get it done by the August recess."

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Obama Wins More Food Aid but Presses African Nations on Corruption

ACCRA, Ghana — President Obama told African countries on Friday that the legacy of colonialism was not an excuse for failing to build prosperous, democratic societies even as he leaned on the world’s richest nations to come up with billions of dollars more to feed the hungry.

Just hours before he arrived here to begin his first trip as president to sub-Saharan Africa, Mr. Obama made a personal appeal to other leaders of the Group of 8 powers meeting in L’Aquila, Italy, for larger donations to the aid effort, citing his own family’s experiences in Kenya. As a result, the initiative grew from $15 billion over three years, which was pledged coming into the summit meeting, to $20 billion.

At a news conference afterward, Mr. Obama said that when his father came to the United States, his home country of Kenya had an economy as large as that of South Korea per capita. Today, he noted, Kenya remains impoverished and politically unstable, while South Korea has become an economic powerhouse.

“There had been some talk about the legacies of colonialism and other policies by wealthier nations,” he said, “and without in any way diminishing that history, the point I made was that the South Korean government, working with the private sector and civil society, was able to create a set of institutions that provided transparency and accountability and efficiency that allowed for extraordinary economic progress, and that there was no reason why African countries could not do the same.”

He also criticized the culture of corruption in some African countries, saying that those who wanted to start a business or get a job there “still have to pay a bribe.” While wealthy nations must help, he said, poorer countries “have an obligation” to reform themselves.

Mr. Obama said his thinking had been affected in part by conversations with his relatives who still lived in Kenya. “They themselves are not going hungry, but live in villages where hunger is real,” he said. “And so this is something that I understand in very personal terms.”

Other American presidents have called on African countries to take more responsibility for their countries’ problems and have pressed them to fight corruption, but none with Mr. Obama’s background. Just one generation removed from Africa himself, he occupies a powerful place in the African consciousness.

Mr. Obama left the Group of 8 summit meeting, held in this earthquake-rattled region, to head to the Vatican to meet Pope Benedict XVI. In a 30-minute tête-à-tête, the two discussed some of the themes of the summit meeting, including international development aid and immigration, but also Middle East peace and questions of bioethics.

Although they diverge over issues like abortion and stem cell research, the Vatican and the Obama administration share common ground on some social issues. “We hope to build strong relations between our countries,” Mr. Obama said after the meeting in the papal library.

At his earlier news conference, Mr. Obama set September as a deadline for Iran to negotiate about its nuclear development program and declared without elaborating that if it did not, “We need to take further steps.”

But as Mr. Obama hailed progress with Russia during a stop in Moscow this week, President Dmitri A. Medvedev returned to sharper rhetoric about American missile defense plans. In Moscow, he repeated a past threat to deploy short-range missiles in the western enclave of Kaliningrad if Mr. Obama proceeded with an antimissile project in Poland and the Czech Republic.

Moreover, just days after saying at Mr. Obama’s side that “no one is saying that missile defense is harmful in itself or that it poses a threat to someone,” Mr. Medvedev said Friday that missile defense was “harmful” and “threatening to Russia.”

The food aid initiative, agreed upon at the Group of 8 summit meeting, is intended to transform traditional aid to poorer countries beyond simply donated produce, grains and meats to assistance building infrastructure and training farmers to grow their own food and get it to market more efficiently.

Despite Mr. Obama’s efforts to boost the program, it remained unclear how much was actually new money.

“The sums just aren’t adding up,” said Otive Igbuzor, head of ActionAid’s hunger campaign. “Given the G-8’s record on delivery, this is still very much a work in progress. So far they have been counting not just apples and oranges but more like apples, oranges, cauliflowers and beets.”

Daniel M. Price, who was President George W. Bush’s chief Group of 8 negotiator, said the initiative built on progress made in recent years, but faced some of the same challenges.

“Two significant obstacles are Congressional resistance to local purchases for food aid and European resistance to opening their markets to the products of biotechnology,” said Mr. Price.

For his first trip to the Vatican, Mr. Obama was joined by his wife, Michelle, and their two daughters, Malia, 11, and Sasha, 8, all three of whom wore black dresses and black silk veils covering their hair.

The Obamas shook the pope’s hand, and some of the president’s Catholic aides kissed his ring. Then the president and the pontiff sat down without the family.

The meeting came just days after Benedict released his latest encyclical, “Caritas in Veritate,” which calls for more ethics in business and represents the church’s latest thinking about the economy in a globalized world.

Mr. Obama met separately with the Vatican secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. “They talked about the encyclical and how some of the issues raised in it are in keeping with some of the priorities of the Obama administration,” said a person who was present but requested anonymity to discuss a private meeting.

Mr. Obama gave Benedict a letter from Senator Edward M. Kennedy, the Massachusetts Democrat who is battling brain cancer, and the president asked the pope to pray for him.

Benedict gave Mr. Obama a mosaic depicting Saint Peter’s Basilica, a leather-bound and signed copy of “Caritas in Veritate,” and a copy of “Dignitas Personae,” or “The Dignity of the Person,” the church’s latest document on bioethics, released in December.

Some observers saw this last gift as a victory for Catholic bishops in the United States, who have been vocal in their criticism of Mr. Obama on issues like abortion.

After accepting it, Mr. Obama remarked that it would give him “some reading on the flight” to Ghana.

When Mr. Obama landed Friday night in Accra, the capital of Ghana, people packed the streets around the airport hoping to see him.

“It’s a great moment for Ghana and Africa,” said a bus driver, Emmanuel Tsawe, who covered his 43-seat bus with Obama posters, Reuters reported. “We have to celebrate our own." 

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Obama still confident on healthcare

President Obama said today he still hopes that Congress can vote on a healthcare overhaul bill before its August recess, despite a series of setbacks this week for his top domestic priority.
House leaders hoped to unveil their bill today, but have put that off until at least Monday while they try to bring conservative Democrats, known as the Blue Dog Coalition, back into the fold. Democrats in both the House and Senate are scrambling to come up with a way to pay the estimated $1 trillion cost over the next decade.
UPDATE: In the latest approach to financing the overhaul, House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel told reporters this afternoon that the House bill to be unveiled on Monday would raise $540 billion over the next decade by imposing a 1 percent surtax on Americans with an annual income of more than $350,000. A higher surtax is proposed for people earning $500,000 and $1 million, he said.
Combined with savings promised by hospitals and pharmaceutical companies, including cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, the tax revenue is designed to be enough to pay for a bill costing about $1 trillion.
"Our team is working with members of Congress every day on this issue, and it is my highest legislative priority over the next month," Obama told reporters at the close of the G-8 summit in Italy.

He insisted that Washington is closer "at any time in recent history" to "achieving serious health care reform that cuts costs, provides coverage to American families, allows them to keep their doctors and plans that are working for them."

As both parties and both chambers work through the legislation, the president said, his job is to set "clear parameters" -- cutting costs, emphasizing prevention, covering the nearly 50 million uninsured, and doing it in a way that does not add to the federal deficit.

"There are going to be some tough negotiations in the days and weeks to come, but I'm confident that we're going to get it done," Obama added. "What I'm trying to keep focused on are the people out in states all across the country that are getting hammered by rising premiums. They're losing their jobs and suddenly losing their healthcare."
His full answer at the news conference is below:
Q. I'd like to return to domestic issues, Mr. President -- health care. The momentum seems to have slowed a bit. The Senate Finance Committee is still wrestling with the cost issue. The Blue Dog Democrats, members of your own party, yesterday said they had strong reservations about what's developing so far. I was just wondering, when are you going to be jumping in really full force with this? Do you have any sweeteners planned? What is your push before the August recess?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, we jumped in with both feet. Our team is working with members of Congress every day on this issue, and it is my highest legislative priority over the next month.

So I think it's important just to recognize we are closer to achieving serious health care reform that cuts costs, provides coverage to American families, allows them to keep their doctors and plans that are working for them.

We're closer to that significant reform than at any time in recent history. That doesn't make it easy. It's hard. And we are having a whole series of constant negotiations. This is not simply a Democratic versus Republican issue. This is a House versus Senate issue; this is different committees that have different priorities.

My job is to make sure that I've set some clear parameters in terms of what I want to achieve. We have to bend the cost curve on health care, and there are some very specific ways of doing that -- game changers that incentivize quality as opposed to quantity, that emphasize prevention.
There are a whole host of things that I've put on the table that I want to see included. I've said that it's got to be budget neutral, it's got to be deficit neutral, and so whatever bill is produced has to be paid for, and that creates some difficulties because people would like to get the good stuff without paying for it.

And so there are going to be some tough negotiations in the days and weeks to come, but I'm confident that we're going to get it done. And I think that, appropriately, all of you as reporters are reporting on the game. What I'm trying to keep focused on are the people out in states all across the country that are getting hammered by rising premiums. They're losing their jobs and suddenly losing their health care. They are going into debt. Some are going into bankruptcy -- small businesses and large businesses that are feeling enormous pressure. And I'm also looking at the federal budget.

There's been a lot of talk about the deficit and the debt and, from my Republican colleagues, you know, why isn't Obama doing something about this, ignoring the fact that we got into the worst recession since the Great Depression with a $1.3 billion deficit. Fair enough. This is occurring my watch.

What cannot be denied is that the only way to get a handle on our medium- and long-term budget deficits is if we corral and contain health care costs. Nobody denies this. And so my hope is, is that everybody who is talking about deficit reduction gets serious about reducing the cost of health care and puts some serious proposals on the table. And I think it's going to get done.

It is going to be hard, though, because as I said I think in one of the town hall meetings that I had, as dissatisfied as Americans may be with the health care system, as concerned as they are about the prospects that they may lose their job or their premiums may keep on rising, they're also afraid of the unknown. And we have a long history in America of scaring people that they're going to lose their doctor, they're going to lose their health care plans, they're going to be stuck with some bureaucratic government system that's not responsive to their needs. And overcoming that fear -- fear that is often actively promoted by special interests who profit from the existing system -- is a challenge. And so my biggest job, even as my staff is working on the day-to-day negotiations with the House and Senate staffs, my biggest job is to explain to the American people why this is so important and give them confidence that we can do better than we're doing right now.

Q Is it pretty much a do-or-die by the August recess?

THE PRESIDENT: I never believe anything is do-or-die. But I really want to get it done by the August recess.

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New AIG bonus request will test Obama

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Deep in his gut, you knew President Obama knew this would happen, that American International Group Inc., particularly the troublesome financial products unit, would ask for more in the way of bonuses.

How he responds now, will define just how he stands on the issue of paying the devil to minimize the damage.

Reuters
President Obama.

AIG /quotes/comstock/13*!aig/quotes/nls/aig (AIG 13.06, +0.06, +0.46%) reportedly has asked the administration to pay $235 million in retention bonuses to the ill-fated unit responsible for the company's collapse.

The pay question is before Kenneth Feinberg, the recently appointed special master for compensation. See full story.
But make no mistake, though Feinberg will make the decision, it ultimately will fall at the feet of Obama, who expressed "outrage" in March when the first of a series of payments was made public. The president went so far as to order that the government take all legal measures possible to block the payments.
This time, however, the president will not have the luxury of claiming ignorance. He not only have been on the job for six months, he is fully versed in the pressures facing AIG and the government as it seeks to recoup the $173 billion commitment it's made to the insurer.
Without qualified traders who know AIG's trading book, it's unlikely the FP unit will be able to unwind its bets without significant losses.
The president may embrace that reality and sell it to the American public at risk of losing some of his popularity, or he can do what's politically expedient and send the AIG guys packing. In doing so, he will incur more costs to taxpayers.
Should he choose to kick the executives to the curb, the smug satisfaction that comes with short-term gains will be no better than arrogant bad bets that brought AIG down in the first place.

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G-8 Countries Pledge Food Aid for Poor

L'AQUILA, Italy, July 10 -- Wrapping up a three-day summit, leaders of the world's major economies pledged Friday to raise $20 billion to fund food and agricultural aid for the world's poorest countries over the next three years, and President Obama said that despite steps forward on economic, environmental and security issues, much work remains to be done.

"While our markets are improving and we appear to have averted global collapse, we know that too many people are still struggling," Obama said, speaking at a news conference after a three-day meeting of the Group of Eight highly industrialized nations.
The expanded commitment to food security -- up from a $15 billion pledge that Obama secured in the spring during a meeting with world leaders -- comes as the global recession and still-high commodity prices have pushed food costs 40 percent above historical levels and have left as many as 100 million people at risk of abject poverty, according to the White House.
White House aides said that during the discussions on hunger this week, Obama personalized the appeal for more aid, pointing out to other world leaders in the room that he still has relatives in Kenya who live in villages mired in poverty.
"You could have heard a pin drop," said a U.S. official who briefed reporters about the meeting.

Obama said after the summit that he had talked about his father's journey from Kenya to the United States in search of better educational opportunities. At that time, he said, the per-capita incomes in Kenya and South Korea were comparable. South Korea has since become highly industrialized and prosperous, he said; Kenya and many other developing nations still struggle. 

The question I asked at the meeting was, 'Why is that?' " Obama said. "The point I was making is: My father traveled to the United States a mere 50 years ago, and yet now I have family members who live in villages -- they themselves are not going hungry -- but live in villages where hunger is real. And so this is something that I understand in very personal terms."
Wealthy countries share a moral obligation to help those in extreme poverty, he said, but the recipients of aid have "an obligation to use the assistance that's available in a way that is transparent, accountable, and that builds on rule of law and other institutional reforms."
Obama said the next leg of his overseas trip, to Ghana, is intended in part to showcase an African country whose economy and government transparency have improved. During a one-day visit to Ghana's capital, Accra, on Saturday, he is expected to meet with President John Atta Mills, visit a hospital, outline his Africa policy in a speech before parliament and tour a coastal fort once used as a warehouse for African slaves destined for the Americas.

Obama called the agreement on food aid among the most significant achievements of the summit. He also singled out actions to combat nuclear proliferation and global warming, efforts to stabilize the global economy and a statement condemning Iran's crackdown on protesters disputing the reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last month.

"We remain seriously concerned about the appalling events surrounding the presidential election," Obama said. "And we're deeply troubled by the proliferation risks Iran's nuclear program poses to the world."
The Group of Eight leaders made modest progress toward an agreement to curb climate change by setting long-term targets for reducing carbon emissions while helping poorer nations cut outputs.
In addition, they agreed that it is too early to back away from economic stimulus actions taken by individual countries this year at the height of world financial crisis, actions that Obama said had prevented a global financial collapse.

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• G-8 Countries Pledge Food Aid for Poor
• Nigeria Smells a Snub From U.S.
• Obama Meets With World Leaders
• Ghana Welcomes Obama
• Transcript: President Obama Delivers Remarks at G8 on Climate, Global Economy

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"We agree that full recovery is still a ways off -- that it would be premature to begin winding down our stimulus plans," Obama said.
Kanayo F. Nwanze, president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development, applauded the G-8's commitment on food aid.
"In the past, food security was a mere bullet point at the G-8," he said. "This time, world leaders have endorsed a concrete and wide-ranging initiative. They have recognized that food security has two dimensions: food aid for critical situations and sustained investment in agriculture to break the poverty cycle."

Others have continued to criticize the international body, saying its format, established 30 years ago, is no longer effective because economic powers including China, India and Brazil are not part of its core.

In his remarks in L'Aquila, Obama agreed that the body should be open to change. "There is no doubt that we have to update and refresh and renew the international institutions that were set up in a different time and place," he said. "What, exactly, is the right format is a question that I think will be debated."
At the summit's conclusion, Obama went to Vatican City, where he, first lady Michelle Obama and their two daughters had an audience with Pope Benedict XVI.
Afterward, Obama gave the pope a letter from Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and asked the pontiff to pray for him, White House national security aide Denis McDonough said. Kennedy, a Catholic, was diagnosed a year ago with terminal brain cancer.

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President Obama Delivers Remarks at G8 Summit

PRESIDENT OBAMA: ... the people of Italy have shown us during this stay. We are very grateful to all of you.

I also want to thank the 17 other leaders who participated. We had a candid and open discussion about the growing threat of climate change and what our nations must do, both individually and collectively, to address it. And while we don't expect to solve this problem in one meeting or one summit, I believe we've made some important strides forward as we move towards Copenhagen.

I don't think I have to emphasize that climate change is one of the defining challenges of our time. The science is clear and conclusive, and the impacts can no longer be ignored.

Ice sheets are melting. Sea levels are rising. Our oceans are becoming more acidic, and we've already seen its effects on weather patterns, our food and water sources, our health and our habitats. 

So every nation on this planet is at risk. And just as no one nation is responsible for climate change, no one nation can address it alone. And that's why, back in April, I convened this forum of the world's major economies who are responsible for more than three- quarters of the world's carbon pollution, and it's why we've gathered again here today.

Each of our nations comes to the table with different needs, different priorities, different levels of development. And developing nations have real and understandable concerns about the role they will play in these efforts. They want to make sure that they do not have to sacrifice their aspirations for development and higher living standards. Yet, with most of the growth in projected emissions coming from these countries, their active participation is a prerequisite for a solution.

We also agree that developed countries, like my own, have a historic responsibility to take the lead. We have the much larger carbon footprint per capita. And I know that in the past the United States has sometimes fallen short of meeting our responsibilities. So let me be clear: Those days are over.

One of my highest priorities as president is to drive a clean- energy transformation of our economy. And over the past six months, the United States has taken steps towards this goal.

We've made historic investments in the billions of dollars in developing clean-energy technologies. We're on track to create thousands of new jobs across America on solar initiatives, and wind projects, and biofuel projects, trying to show that there is no contradiction between environmentally sustainable growth and robust economic growth.

We've also for the first time created a national policy raising our fuel-efficiency standards that will result in savings of 1.8 billion barrels of oil over the lifetime of vehicles sold in the next five years alone. And we just passed in our House of Representatives the first climate change legislation that would cut carbon pollution by more than 80 percent by 2050.

These are very significant steps in the United States. They're not as far as some countries have gone, but they are further than others. And I think that, as I wrestle with these issues politically in my own country, I've come to see that it is going to be absolutely critical that all of us go beyond what's expected if we're going to achieve our goals.

During the course of our three days in L'Aquila, we've taken also a number of significant steps forward; I want to briefly highlight them.

This week, the G-8 nations came to a historic consensus on concrete goals for reducing carbon emissions. We all agreed that, by 2050, developed nations will reduce their emissions by 80 percent and that we will work with all nations to cut global emissions in half.

This ambitious effort is consistent with limiting global warming to no more than two degrees Celsius, which, as our declaration explicitly acknowledged for the first time, is what the mainstream of the scientific community has called for.

Today, at the Major Economies Forum, developed and developing nations made further and unprecedented commitments to take strong and prompt action. Developed nations committed to reducing their emissions in absolute terms. And for the first time, developing nations also acknowledged the significance of the two-degree Celsius metric and agreed to take action to meaningfully lower their emissions relative to business as usual in the midterm, in the next decade or so. And they agreed that, between now and Copenhagen, they will negotiate concrete goals to reduce their emissions by 2050.

We also agreed that the actions we take to achieve our reductions must be measurable, reportable, and verifiable. And we agreed to establish at the earliest possible date a peak year after which overall global emissions will start falling. And these are all very significant steps forward in addressing this challenge.

In addition, we agreed to substantially increase financial resources to help developing nations create low-carbon growth plans and deploy clean-energy technologies. We also recognize that climate change is already happening, and so we're going to have to help those affected countries adapt, particularly those who are least able to deal with its consequences because of a lack of resources.

So we are looking at providing significant financial assistance to help these countries. And I want to particularly commend President Calderon of Mexico and Gordon Brown of the United Kingdom for coming up with some creative proposals that all of us are going to be exploring as to how we might finance this.

We've asked the G-20 finance ministers to take up the climate financing issues and report back to us at the G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh in the fall.

Finally, we've agreed to create a new global partnership to drive the development of transformational clean-energy technologies around the world. Our goal is to double the research and development investments. We need to bring these technologies to market and to achieve our long-term energy and emissions goals. A number of countries have already agreed to take the lead on developing particular technologies, including solar and smart grids, advanced vehicles, bioenergy, and more. Australia, for example, is creating a new center, which Kevin will be introducing shortly, and I think points to the ability for us to pool our resources in order to see the technological breakthroughs that are going to be necessary in order for us to solve this problem.

So let me just summarize: We've made a good start, but I'm the first one to acknowledge that progress on this issue will not be easy. And I think that one of the things we're going to have to do is fight the temptation towards cynicism, to feel that the problem is so immense that somehow we cannot make significant strides.

It is no small task for 17 leaders to bridge their differences on an issue like climate change. We each have our national priorities and politics to contend with, and any steps we agree to here are intended to support and not replace the main U.N. negotiations with more than 190 countries.

It's even more difficult in the context of a global recession, which I think adds to the fears that somehow addressing this issue will contradict the possibilities of robust global economic growth.

But, ultimately, we have a choice. We can either shape our future, or we can let events shape it for us. We can fall back on the stale debates and old divisions, or we can decide to move forward and meet this challenge together.

I think it's clear from our progress today which path is preferable and which path we have chosen. We know that the problems we face are made by human beings; that means it's within our capacity to solve them.

The question is whether we will have the will to do so, whether we'll summon the courage and exercise the leadership to chart a new course. That's the responsibility of our generation. That must be our legacy for generations to come. And I am looking forward to being a strong partner in this effort.

With that, let me turn it over to Kevin Rudd, who I think has a significant... 

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