Part of the problem with bad assumptions is that we forget we make them, so we continue down the wrong path long after our assumptions have been disproved.
What better way to honor the legacy of justice left by Cesar Chavez than to extend that opportunity and give immigrant families a meaningful path to citizenship so they can continue to contribute and makeour country as strong as it can be.
So instead we believe we need to act now to set our economy and our public finances on a sustainable path - because doing so will help make the recession shorter and shallower.
And I want every American to know that the path I'm laying out today is our best chance to make sure that the cars of the future are built where they've always been built -- in Detroit and across the Midwest -- to make America's auto industry in the 21st century what it was in the 20th century -- unsurpassed around the world.
All our family acquaintances have followed the same path: their youth spent trying to make the most of their intelligence, squeezing their studies like a lemon to make sure they'd secure a spot among the elite, then their entire lives wondering with a flabbergasted look on their faces why all that hopefulness has led to such a vain existence.
But, how we make these choices is just as important to creating the stability and predictability that can put our nation on a sustainable path to long-term fiscal responsibility and economic prosperity.