Obama calls for swift action on economy-WEB ONLY

“We can’t afford to wait. We can’t wait to see and hope for the best,” Obama said in Elkhart, a community reeling from job losses during the recession that has defined Obama’s young presidency. “We can’t posture and bicker and resort to the same failed ideas that got us in into this mess in the first place.”

Obama, taking the Washington, D.C., debate to a Midwest setting of everyday Americans, sought to build support for a massive infusion of government spending.

He acknowledged that the bill currently circulating in Congress is not beyond criticism, even poking fun at its authors at one point. Said Obama: “It’s coming out of Washington. It’s going through Congress.”

“You know, look, it’s not perfect,” the president conceded. “But it is the right size, it is the right scope. Broadly speaking, it has the right priorities to create jobs that will jump-start our economy and transform the economy for the 21st century.”

The $827 billion Senate version of the plan is expected to pass the Senate tomorrow. However, it remained to be seen how much GOP support it will draw. And it must be reconciled with the House version, which totaled $820 billion in spending and tax cuts.

Senate and House negotiators were already preparing to deal, with the goal of a bill on Obama’s desk by the end of this week or beginning of next.

Obama went so far as to say he could not assure that every item in the stimulus plan would work as hoped. But he said he has no doubts that “delay or paralysis” in Washington will deepen the country’s crisis.

Obama chose Elkhart County for his speech for good reason. The unemployment rate soared to 15.3 percent there in December, up a whopping 10.6 percentage points from December 2007. The region has been hammered by layoffs in the recreational vehicle industry.

“Doing nothing is not an option,” Obama said. “We’ve had a good debate. Now it’s time to act.”