Cicilline Praises Obama’s Focus on Investments
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
In an interview with GoLocalProv, newly inaugurated Congressman David Cicilline praised Obama’s emphasis on federal investments in his State of the Union address last night.
“I think it was a very strong speech by the president,” Cicilline said. He said Obama kept his focus on how to put Americans back to work and rebuild the economy. He noted that Obama had called for investments in specifically three areas—education, infrastructure, and innovation-—which he said tied in the themes with his own campaign for Congress.
Obama also captured the mood of the country at the moment by urging Democrats and Republicans in Washington, DC to work together, Cicilline added.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTHe also struck a strong bipartisan theme in remarks his office distributed after the speech: "The message President Obama sent this evening is the same message I have been hearing for the past year from the men and women of Rhode Island – the challenges we face as a nation will not be overcome with Democratic or Republican solutions, but with solutions for America. This work will be demanding and it will test the will of both parties to make difficult choices," Cicilline said.
He told GoLocalProv that one of the most memorable lines of the speech was an analogy Obama used to defend his investment plans from Republican criticism.
“I recognize that some in this chamber have already proposed deeper cuts, and I’m willing to eliminate whatever we can honestly afford to do without. But let’s make sure that we’re not doing it on the backs of our most vulnerable citizens,” Obama said. “And let’s make sure that what we’re cutting is really excess weight. Cutting the deficit by gutting our investments in innovation and education is like lightening an overloaded airplane by removing its engine. It may make you feel like you’re flying high at first, but it won’t take long before you feel the impact.”
“I think that was probably the best line of the speech,” Cicilline said.
