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3:28 a.m. • 2-11-12

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Obama tells mayors to spend stimulus money wisely


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Obama meets with mayors
Obama meets with mayors

Invoking his own name-and-shame policy, President Barack Obama warned the nation's mayors Friday that he will "call them out" if they waste the money from his massive economic stimulus plan.

"We have asked for the unprecedented trust of the American people to deal boldly with the greatest economic crisis we have seen in decades – and the privilege of investing unprecedented amounts of their hard-earned money to address this crisis," Obama told a gathering of mayors at the White House.

"With that comes an unprecedented obligation to do so wisely, free from politics and personal agendas," the president said. "On this I will not compromise or tolerate any shortcut."

Durham Mayor Bill Bell, Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory and Asheville Mayor Terry Bellamy were among the dozens of mayors who attended the event.

The $787 billion economic plan passed by Congress and signed by Obama will inject a sudden boost of cash into infrastructure, education, energy and health care.

Bell has said Durham has $95 million in local projects that are ready to begin as soon as stimulus money is awarded to the city.

Now the political focus shifts to how all that taxpayer money will be spent on meaningful, job-creating projects.

Obama has staked his reputation on it.

He said Friday that legislation will allow the country "to watch the taxpayers' money with more rigor and transparency than ever."

The White House released excerpts of Obama's comments shortly before he spoke in the East Room.

"If a federal agency proposes a project that will waste that money, I will not hesitate to call them out on it, and put a stop to it," Obama said.

"But I want everyone here to be on notice that if a local government does the same - I will call them out on it as well, and use the full power of my office and our administration to stop it," he said.

The president did not specify how, exactly, he would call out one of his administration's own agencies or a local government.

RELATED TOPICS: Barack Obama, White House, Mayor Bill Bell, Durham, Economic Stimulus, Economic Crisis

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If you think this is a good bill.....well, congress must believe it because they sure can't prove it. They didn't even have time to read it!!

Pork? Nah. Look at the Harry Reid Express, and Pelosi's pet projects. Pork......nah.

Now that is calling the kettle black....

"Name-and-shame." Isn't that how Obama makes his cabinet selections? What is the latest count? I think it was 4 tax cheats (so far) and 17 lobbyists. How I miss the days of far more competent and honest government under Bush and Clinton.

In 28 days in office--just one month--Barack Obama signed a bill spending more money than the entire federal government spent from our nation's founding in 1776 until our bicentennial in 1976. Think about that for a moment, and let it sink in.

And now he wants more, for deadbeats that lied on their mortgage applications, who were abusing lax lending laws forced though by Barney Frank and Chris Dodd, on behalf of ACORN, which as everyone knows, is one of the socialist/communist front groups "community organizer" Barack Obama worked with in his meteoric rise from a nobody to a more famous no-nothing.

We have never before had such deadly incompetence in the White House. I merely hope we can all survive the next few years of "hope" and "change."

He tells mayors not to waste money yet the government is wasting it like no tomorrow. This whole thing is unreal. Hurry up and pass 4 years so we can get rid of this clown, if it's not to late by then.

Only someone who has these kool-aid drinking idiots following him around can come out and say he will "call out by name any wasteful spenders", while HE has signed into legislation a Nancy Pelosi pork package which will do little to solve the crisis. Why do you think Wall St. is falling as it is? They know economics, he doesn't.

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