Colorado: Joe Biden

The president arrives in Denver today to whip the economy into shape. So is Colorado the "before" picture, or the "after" picture?

President Barack Obama will sign the $787 billion stimulus package at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science at a time when Colorado represents a little of both.

Home prices have shrunk and unemployment bumped up; Colorado-based companies have seen their stock prices plummet, and declining sales-tax revenues plague local governments. Conversation on the street or in the typical coffeehouse tends to turn to joblessness, fears of salary cuts, investment losses and health care costs.

But Obama will make his grand national gesture in a state where two of his pet industries of the future are thriving

Obama in Denver

on new ideas and ambition, and which are ready to spend money as soon as he caps his pen.

Denver's historic Union Station. (Photo/Bettinche, Flickr)

Local rail and public transit enthusiasts are in for a cold slap of reality after the historic signing of the $787 billion economic recovery plan.

Denver's historic Union Station. (Photo/Bettinche, Flickr)

During Tuesday’s visit to Denver with President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden said the federal stimulus bill will be a big boost to mass transit in the United States, with funding impacts for commuter rail projects from Colorado to Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor.

“We should have the best transportation system in the world, and we don’t,” said Biden.

But many mass transit advocates are disappointed with the funding disparity between the money pegged for bridge and road repairs ($29 billion) and the funds for passenger rail and other mass-transit improvements ($17.

Signing of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

Denver, Colorado

February 17, 2009

It is great to be in Denver. I was here last summer to accept the nomination of my party and to make a promise to people of all parties – that I would do all I could to give every American the chance to make of their lives what they will and see their children climb higher than they did. I am back today to say that we have begun the difficult work of keeping that promise. We have begun the essential work of keeping the American dream alive in our time.

From the governor’s office, here are the remarks as prepared for delivery by Gov. Bill Ritter, who introduced Vice President Joe Biden before President Barack Obama took the stage Tuesday afternoon at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science:

Good afternoon. I’m Bill Ritter, Governor of the great state of Colorado.

It’s my distinct honor and privilege to welcome the President and the Vice President of the United States to Denver, Colorado, for this historic bill-signing.

Two months ago, I joined governors from all across America at a meeting in Philadelphia with then-President-elect Obama and Vice President-elect Biden. They wanted to hear from us about how the economy was hurting people in our states … how families were struggling, how children had been impacted by the downturn.