Somber Obama Voices Concerns

President Obama used his first televised address to the nation to repeat, in the most bleak of tones, that America's economic ills could last years, not months, if his stimulus plan continues to be sidetracked by partisan wrangling.

For the first time Obama invoked in serious tones the image of Japan's economic collapse of the 1990's, called that country's "Lost Decade" where zero economic growth and bank failures stopped virtually all economic gains for the world's third largest economy.

"This is not your ordinary, run-of-the-mill recession," he said.

And if there's anyone out there who still doesn't believe this constitutes a full-blown crisis, I suggest speaking to one of the millions of Americans whose lives have been turned upside down because they don't know where their next paycheck is coming from.

So while Obama continued to hold out hope for a spending plan that meets approval of Democrats and opposition Republicans alike, he clearly will leave straggling GOP lawmakers behind and push his plan once negotiations are, in his view, completed.

Obama, known for bantering with members of the press, was quite subdued in his exchanges with reporters. And its no wonder.

The hour-long press conference provided the viewer with just how many different headaches President Obama has on his plate. While the economy and bank bailout has dominated much of the discussion in his first month in office, he still has to improve relations with Iran as well as develop a cogent war strategy in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But for now, Obama seems to be putting the international problems on the back burner. Earlier in the day, he visited Elkhart Ind., a town that has seen unemployment grow from 4.7 percent to 15.3 percent in the past year.

Obama said the true measure of his effectiveness would be job creation and that he first measuring stick of his stimulus plan would be if it can create and/or save 4 million jobs.

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Paul Shepard blogs the Democrat side of politics for Black Voices. He has been a journalist for 16 years: on the national urban/minority affairs beat for The Cleveland Plain Dealer and for AP in Washington, D.C. He now runs his own public affairs firm, Shepard Strategic Communications.