MEMBERS OF the Obama administration fanned out across the country yesterday to publicise the construction of high-speed railways in at least seven states, including Florida, California and Illinois.
Less than 12 hours after delivering a State of the Union address in which he championed job creation, Mr Obama left for Tampa, Florida, where vice-president Joe Biden was to join him on the site of the future rail link between Tampa, on the west coast, Orlando in central Florida and eventually Miami in the south.
The visit was intended to show Mr Obama’s determination to follow up on the commitments made in Wednesday night’s speech, and will be followed by similar trips in coming weeks.
The White House announced that $8 billion from the $787 billion Recovery Act, also known as the stimulus package, is being used to fund high-speed railway networks across the country, creating jobs in track-laying, manufacturing, engineering, maintenance and operations. “Through the Recovery Act, we are making the largest investment in infrastructure since the interstate highway system was created [under president Dwight D Eisenhower], putting Americans back to work rebuilding our roads, bridges and waterways for the future,” Mr Obama said. The Recovery Act had already saved two million US jobs and could create another 1.5 million by the end of this year.
At present, the US has only one high-speed railway, from Washington to Boston, and there is no domestic high-speed rail industry in the US. Transportation secretary Ray LaHood expects most of the expertise and equipment to be supplied by foreign countries.
The US has fallen far behind Japan, which launched the first high-speed train in 1964, France and other European countries. China is investing $300 billion in a high-speed train network to be completed by 2020. “There’s no reason Europe or China should have the fastest trains,” Mr Obama said.
Figures released by the department of labour seemed to indicate the haemorrhage of US jobs may be ending. New applications for unemployment benefits declined to 470,000 during the week ending January 23rd, from 478,000 the previous week.
True to form, Republicans found nothing positive in the address. Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee, said: “After a year of failed policies and broken promises, President Obama once again demonstrated rhetorical flair in an attempt to sound populist.”
The Grand Old Party chose Robert McDonnell, a religious conservative who wrested the Virginia governor’s office from the Democrats last November but has been in office for only two weeks, to deliver their reaction. “The circumstances of our time demand that we reconsider and restore the proper, limited role of government at every level,” he said in a speech that aped the trappings of Mr Obama’s address, in a smaller chamber on Capitol Hill.
Mr McDonnell called for Democrats to scrap their version of healthcare reform, advocating instead a Republican plan to allow health insurance to be sold across state lines (a measure already in Democratic draft Bills) and a limit on lawsuits against doctors and hospitals.
A CNN poll of Americans who watched Mr Obama’s address found 48 per cent had a very positive reaction. Three in 10 had a somewhat positive response, and 21 per cent reacted negatively.