The public appearances come as Obama plunges into a difficult challenge early in his leadership, struggling to get a divided Congress to agree on his economic recovery package while pitching a new plan to ease loans to US consumers and businesses.

"We can't afford to wait. We can't wait to see and hope for the best," Obama said in Elkhart, a community reeling from job losses. "We can't posture and bicker and resort to the same failed ideas that got us in into this mess in the first place."

The Senate's $827 billion stimulus legislation seems assured narrow passage by Tuesday. Harder work for Obama and the Democrats comes in the days ahead, when the House and Senate attempt to reconcile differences in their two versions.

Obama and Democratic Party leaders had hoped to have a bill ready for the president's signature by February 16 - a deadline that grows more challenging by the day.

"You know, look, it's not perfect," the president conceded. "But it is the right size, it is the right scope. Broadly speaking, it has the right priorities to create jobs that will jump-start our economy and transform the economy for the 21st century."

At the Treasury Department, Secretary Timothy Geithner delayed the unveiling of a new bailout framework for financial institutions from yesterday to today to let the administration focus on the stimulus legislation.