Barack Obama

It's been a very busy day. A big speech in Springfield, Illinois, was planned to commemorate the birthday of Lincoln.

And having an extra $1,000 during some tight times can really make a difference. So that is a central part of the package.

When they finally pass our plan, I believe it will be a major step forward on our path to economic recovery.

Look around us. Look at this construction site right where we're standing. We're surrounded by unmet needs and unfinished business. In our schools, in our roads, in the systems we employ to treat the sick. And the energy we use to power…

We need somebody who has got the heart, the empathy to recognize what it is like to be a young teen-age mom, the empathy to us understand what it is like to be poor or African American or gay or disabled or old.

If stuff hasn't worked, and people don't feel like I have led the country in the right direction, then you will have a new president.

We have inherited an economic crisis as deep and as dire as any since the Great Depression.

And I know how frustrating it is for taxpayers when they're looking and they're saying, let me get this straight. You've got a guy who was making $20 million a year who ran his bank into the ground. And now we've got to come in and clean…

We've inherited an economic crisis as deep and as dire as any since the Great Depression.

If stuff hasn't worked and people don't feel like I've led the country in the right direction, then you'll have a new President.

If we don't act immediately, then millions more jobs will disappear.

Even with this plan, our economy will likely be measured in years and not weeks or months.

I think it's depressing news on top of what's been a flurry of depressing items when it comes to Major League Baseball.

I didn't expect to have to do an $800 billion stimulus package as my first act when I became president of the United States.

I'm going to create jobs. The credit markets are going to start operating efficiently. and you're going to see signs that the economy is going to stop contracting.

What I've been concerned about is some of the language that's been used suggesting that this is full of pork and this is wasteful government spending.

More than 90 percent of the jobs created by this plan will be in the private sector. They're not going to be make-work jobs, but jobs doing the work that America desperately needs done.

It's a little hard for me to take criticism from folks about this recovery package, after they have presided over a doubling of the national debt. I'm not sure they have a lot of credibility when it comes to fiscal responsibility.

What I have said is what other economists have said across the political spectrum, which is that, if you delay acting on an economy of this severity, then you potentially create a negative spiral that becomes much more difficult for us to…

I can say with complete confidence that endless delay or paralysis in Washington in the face of this crisis will only bring deepening disaster. I can tell you that doing nothing is not an option.

These steps will put more money in the pockets of those Americans who are most likely to spend it.

I know that a new overpass downtown would make a big difference for businesses and families right here in Elkhart.

The key is to -- that inaction would make this crisis worse, so he wants action, even if this bill is not perfect.

It is absolutely true that we can't depend on government alone to create jobs or economic growth.

My view is also that nobody is above the law, and if there are clear instances of wrongdoing that people should be prosecuted just like any ordinary citizen.