Obama: A time for 'resolve'

REUTERS/Carlos Barria

CORAL GABLES, Fla. -- Barack Obama, after huddling for more than hour with some of the Democratic Party's top economic minds, sought today to calm fears about the integrity of the economy. He laid out broad principles he wants to see included in emergency measures pending in Washington, but said it was premature to outline his own specific prescriptions.

"I know these are difficult days, and I know there are a lot of families out there that are feeling anxiety about their jobs, about their homes, and about their retirement savings," he told reporters before a rally at the University of Miami. "But here's what I also know. This is not a time for fear, or for panic. It's a time for resolve. It's a time for leadership."

Obama said the immediate need is to get the capital markets working properly again so the economy can continue to hum. But he resisted offering a detailed blueprint, saying he wanted to let officials at the Treasury Department, the Fed, and in Congress work on a bipartisan solution.

"You don't do it in a day," he said. "We've gotta do it in an intelligent, systemic, thoughtful fashion. I'm much less interested in scoring political points than making sure we have a structure in place that is sound and is actually going to work."

Obama said any plan must target homeowners, not just financial institutions. "For too long this administration has been willing to hit the fast-forward button in helping distressed Wall Street firms while pressing pause when it comes to saving jobs and keeping people in their homes," he said.

He also said he did not want to see assistance for irresponsible CEOs, lenders, and shareholders who "were enjoying the upside when the times were good."

"We don't want bailouts of folks who have been making bad decisions," he said. "But what we also want to make sure of is the economic system as a whole continues and ordinary people are able to wake up on Monday and keep doing what they've been doing."

Obama insisted that, despite economic conditions, he could still make good on his longer-term platform as president, including billions in new spending on health care, education, and middle-class tax cuts.