Opinion: Obama’s State of the Union address: Payback for bailout gets standing ovation

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President Obama won his first standing ovation of the night when he said it was time to impose a fee on the biggest banks who were saved by the government bailout.

To some laughter and smiles, he said, “I know Wall Street isn’t keen on this idea, but if these firms can afford to hand out big bonuses again, they can afford a modest fee to pay back the taxpayers who rescued them in their time of need.”

In his first State of the Union address, Obama also conceded that the bank bailout was not popular. It was, he said, necessary. That’s a theme he was repeating tonight -- that government intervention was needed to prevent the economy from declining further.

Referring to when he took over, he said, “Our most urgent task upon taking office was to shore up the same banks that helped cause this crisis. It was not easy to do. And if there’s one thing that has unified Democrats and Republicans, it’s that we all hated the bank bailout. I hated it. You hated it. It was about as popular as a root canal.

“But when I ran for president, I promised I wouldn’t just do what was popular -- I would do what was necessary. And if we had allowed the meltdown of the financial system, unemployment might be double what it is today. More businesses would certainly have closed. More homes would have surely been lost.”

He said that $30 billion from the large banks would be used to help smaller banks.

There’s still much more speech to come. Expect more standing ovations, at least from the Democratic side of the aisle.

-- Steve Padilla

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President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2010. Credit: Associated Press