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In his first speech before a joint session of Congress, on Feb. 24, 2009, President Obama outlined an agenda to revive the “massive debt” he’d inherited “to build a new foundation for lasting prosperity.” Technically, it wasn’t a State of the Union address because Obama’s presidency was only a month old. He announced a new lending fund to provide college, automobile and small-business loans and a housing plan to help struggling homeowners refinance their mortgages and said that Wall Street would be held accountable for its spending. He also began the push for his health care reform plan. The unemployment rate nationally was 8.1 percent, while the African-American jobless rate was 13.4 percent.
(Photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais-Pool/Getty Images)
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