Obama calls for action on economy

ELKHART, Ind. – Making his case in the most dire terms, President Barack Obama said that if Congress does not quickly pass an economic stimulus package, the nation will slip into a crisis so deep that "we may be unable to reverse" it.

"We can't afford to wait. We can't wait to see and hope for the best," Obama said in Elkhart, Ind., a community reeling in job losses during the recession that has defined his 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 took the Washington debate Monday to a Midwest setting of everyday Americans, sought to build support for a massive infusion of government spending.

The popular president got at least one biting question during a candid question question-and-answer session, when a woman who identified herself as Tara took Obama to task for some of the tax lapses of his high-level nominees.

"You've come to our county and asked us to trust you, but those that you have appointed to your Cabinet are not trustworthy and can't handle their own budget and taxes," she said. Others in the town-hall session booed her, but Obama interjected: "No, no, this is a legitimate question."

Obama said he has taken responsibility for the perception that some people shouldn't have to play by the same rules as everyone else. Two nominees, including Tom Daschle, who was in line to be secretary of Health and Human Services, withdrew from consideration after revelations of delinquent taxes.

But he added that the mistakes were honest ones and said: "If you're not going to appoint anybody who's ever made a mistake in your life, then you're not going to have anybody taking your jobs."