Voter Political Blog

President-elect Barack Obama, wishing the nation a happy, yet sober New Year, honored the service of the U.S. military and asked Americans to help pull the country out of recession.

Obama, 47, in his weekly radio address, also said the holiday season should be a time to “renew a sense of common purpose and shared citizenship,” which will be a guiding principle of his administration.

“As we count the higher blessings of faith and family, we know that millions of Americans don’t have a job, many more are struggling to pay the bills or stay in their homes,” Obama said in the radio address, scheduled for broadcast Dec. 27 at 11:06 a.m. New York time.

Now, we must all do our part to serve one another; to seek new ideas and new innovation; and to start a new chapter for our great country,â€

Americans are celebrating the holidays during the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. A Commerce Department report yesterday showed the economy shrank in the third quarter at a 0.5 percent annual pace, after a growth rate of 2.8 percent in the previous quarter. Jobless claims rose to a 26-year high, according to a Commerce Department report today, signaling that consumer spending will keep sliding into 2009.

Employers cut 533,000 workers from payrolls in November, the most in three decades, and the unemployment rate jumped to 6.7 percent, the highest level since 1993.

First Priority

Obama has said his first priority as president is an economic recovery plan with goals of job creation and planning for the future with investments in infrastructure and health care. He has asked his economic advisers to draft a proposal, designed to create or save 3 million jobs over two years, by the time he returns from his Hawaii vacation on Jan. 2.

“If the American people come together and put their shoulder to the wheel of history, then I know that we can put our people back to work and point our country in a new direction,” Obama said. “That is how we will see ourselves through this time of crisis and reach the promise of a brighter day.”

Obama also asked Americans to keep the country’s troops, including the 143,000 in Iraq and 31,000 in Afghanistan, and military families in their thoughts and prayers to offer “full support in the weeks and months to come.”

“Many troops are serving their second, third or even fourth tour of duty,” Obama said. “This holiday season, their families celebrate with a joy that is muted knowing that a loved one is absent and sometimes in danger.”

Vacation in Hawaii

Obama, on a 12-day vacation with family and friends, began Christmas Eve with a workout at a Marine Corps Base at Kaneohe Bay on the island of Oahu. Obama greeted a crowd of about 60 people gathered in the parking lot.

Obama wished the group “Mele Kalikimaka,” Hawaiian for “Merry Christmas,” and asked the children in the crowd if they had their Christmas lists ready. He played golf later in the day.

Yesterday Obama honored his maternal grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, who died at age 86 on the eve of last month’s presidential election after a battle with cancer. Obama and his half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, scattered Dunham’s ashes in the ocean following a memorial service.

Source: http://latestobamanews.com/2008/12/25/obama-honors-military-asks-americans-to-help-economy/