President Obama took his case for his $800 billion economic recovery package to the American people on Monday, as the Senate cleared the way for passage of the bill and the White House prepared for its next major hurdle: selling Congress and the public on a fresh plan to bail out the nation\u2019s banks.<\/p>\n
Warning that a failure to act \u201ccould turn a crisis into a catastrophe,\u201d\u009d Mr. Obama used his presidential platform \u201d\u201d a prime-time news conference, the first of his presidency, in the grand setting of the White House East Room \u201d\u201d to address head on the concerns about his approach, which has by and large failed to win the Republican support he sought.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe plan is not perfect,\u201d\u009d Mr. Obama said in an eight-minute speech before taking reporters\u2019 questions. \u201cNo plan is. I can\u2019t tell you for sure that everything in this plan will work exactly as we hope, but I can tell you with complete confidence that a failure to act will only deepen this crisis.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
The news conference was the centerpiece of an intense and highly orchestrated campaign by the administration to wrest control of the stimulus debate from Republicans and reframe it on Mr. Obama\u2019s terms.<\/p>\n