WHITE HOUSE TRANSCRIPTS
President Barack Obama
DNC Event
Private Residence
New York, New York
April 27, 2011
6:05 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: I'm going to use a mic just because we've got two
rooms. Everybody please have a seat. Sit down, sit
down.
I'm among a lot of friends and I, first of all, obviously want to thank
Jon and Sharon for hosting us in this extraordinary venue. These
guys
have been just great friends from the start. Some of you know that Jon
was a big supporter of mine in my first U.S. Senate race when nobody
could pronounce my name. (Laughter.) And I had a chance to
meet
Sharon then and could already see that -- where that was going.
(Laughter.) So it is wonderful to see them together as newly-weds
and
we are just thrilled to be with them.
I also want to thank Orin and Michael for the extraordinary work that
you guys did. I know that you guys worked really hard as co-hosts
to
this event, and I'm very grateful. They have both been long-time
supporters and long-time friends and I really appreciate them. So
give
them a big round of applause. (Applause.)
So today was a fun day. (Laughter.) I wasn’t -- nobody
checked my ID
at the door. (Laughter.) But it was also a serious day
because part
of what happened this morning was me trying to remind the press and
trying to remind both parties that what we do in politics is not a
reality show. It’s serious.
I get, as many of you know, 10 letters a night from citizens all across
the country, and the letters you get, some of them are heartbreaking;
almost all of them are inspiring. And the story these letters
tell are
of people who have done everything right, are looking after their
families, are looking after their communities, are participating in
Little League, are members of their church or their synagogues and
active participants, volunteer, and yet are worried. They’re
worried
about the direction of our country. They’re worried about their
specific circumstances.
Sometimes I get letters from children who are worried about their
parents losing a job. And I get letters from parents describing
what
it’s like to send 16 resumes out and not get a response. I hear
from
families who are worried about losing their homes. I worry about
small
businesses who have put their heart and soul and everything they own
into something that was working and now suddenly credit has been pulled
back and they're not sure if they're going to make it.
And most of all, I think what you find are people who are worried about
the future of the American Dream. Now, everybody here, almost by
definition, has lived out that American Dream. We have been
extraordinarily blessed by a country that historically has provided
more opportunity to more people than any other in history. Many
of us
are children of immigrants. Sharon was just describing what it
was
like for her parents to come here from other countries -- in some
cases, fleeing the Holocaust -- and somehow being able to make a life
for their families and then ultimately see their children and their
grandchildren succeed in ways that they never dreamed before. And
that's the story for most of us.
And the question is, will that same story be told by our children and
our grandchildren and our great grandchildren? And more
importantly,
will it be told by the folks who do all the work here in New York City
and all across the country, washing dishes and maintaining lawns and
working at factories? Are they going to be able to tell that same
story?
That's
what prompted me to run for the United States Senate when Jon first
supported me; that's what prompted me to run for President. I
wanted
to be the advocate for an America that continues to offer opportunity
to everybody, regardless of race and creed and color.
And
I didn't expect that not only I would have the extraordinary honor of
taking this highest office, but also doing so at a time when we were
facing the worst crisis since the Great Depression. Now, we’ve
spent
two years cleaning up after a big mess. And not all the decisions
that
we made were popular. I think most of the decisions we made were
right. Because of the actions that we took swiftly upon coming
into
office, the financial system stabilized, and I think that if you asked
anybody back in March of 2009 whether we were going to see almost all
of the losses on Wall Street recover, the financial system working
again at relatively modest costs to taxpayers, I think most of us would
have taken that scenario.
We have a auto industry that for the first time in a very long time is
turning a profit, and has hired back workers instead of laying them
off. We have been able to take an economy that was shrinking at
about
6 percent per quarter and is now growing. And we’ve added 2 million
jobs over the last 13 months in the private sector alone.
So we’ve made extraordinary process. And along the way we’ve done
a
few other things, like make sure that families aren’t going bankrupt
because they get sick; and making sure that equal pay for equal work is
a reality; and appointing a couple of women to the Supreme Court --
because Lord knows we need more women on that court -- (applause) --
and ending policies like “don’t ask, don’t tell,” that were prohibiting
people who loved each other from being able to serve. (Applause.)
So we’ve made enormous progress, but those letters tell me that we
haven’t made enough. We’ve still got a lot of work to do.
We’ve got a
lot of work to do to continue to lower the unemployment rate and grow
the economy. We’ve got a lot of work to do to make sure that we
get
control over a deficit and debt that is a serious threat to our
long-term future. And we’ve got to do it in a way that ensures
that
we’re making the investments that allow us to be competitive in the
21st century -- investments in education, investments in
infrastructure, investments in basic research and science, which have
always been the hallmark of a dynamic American economy.
We’ve got a lot more work to do to fix an immigration system that’s
broken. And we have a lot more work to do to make sure that we’ve
got
an energy policy that works. So I am not satisfied with the
progress
we’ve made, but we’re on the right track.
One
other area that I’m not satisfied about is the fact that we haven’t
been able to create the kind of politics that I think we’re going to
need to meet all these challenges. Partly because of the stresses
of
the recession over the last couple of years, politics is as polarized
as ever. And I think the hope that I have that we would start
coming
together in a serious way and have a serious debate about how we move
the country forward has been resisted. I won’t say that the
Democrats
have never been at fault in that, but I will say that my administration
and I think Democrats in Congress are serious about trying to solve
these problems and not simply to score political points. And I
think
it can be done.
But
part of what’s going to have to happen is that serious politics will
need to be rewarded. We’re going to have, between now and 2012, a
serious debate about the kind of America we believe in. And it is
my
intention to make sure that as hopeful as 2008 was, I want 2012 to be
an election in which we’re not just talking slogans, we don’t just have
pretty posters, but we are looking soberly at the choices we
face.
Because, ultimately, I think if we had a serious debate, not only will
Democrats win, not only will I win, but I think America will win.
I think the American people have good instincts. They’re busy,
they
are preoccupied with family and work, and so sometimes they’re not
always paying close attention to these debates. But there is a
clarifying moment that is occurring now symbolized by the debate
between the House Republican budget and the budget that I presented in
terms of how we deal with deficit and debt that I think will focus
people’s attention.
And we’ve got the potential, I think, to make some decisions that are
going to have ramifications for the next 50 years. I’m optimistic
we’ll make the right decisions. And I’m optimistic that for the
next
five-and-a-half years I’m going to be able to do my part in leading the
country in a good direction.
But I’m not going to be able to do it alone. I’m going to have to
have
the help of all of you. And, as I said, in 2008, it was -- I had
a lot
less gray hair -- (laughter) -- and it was exciting, partly because it
was so unlikely that I could be elected. And now I’m the
incumbent and
folks have various disappointments and, well, he hasn’t gotten this
done fast enough and we’re still waiting for that to happen.
And
that’s understandable. We’re not going to have the same kind of
campaign entirely that we had in 2008. But the animated spirit
behind
it, the desire to make sure that that American Dream is available for
everybody and that we have -- when we have tough decisions to make, we
have shared sacrifice, no single group or person is bearing that
burden, and that we’re also making sure that we’ve got shared
opportunity and access -- that animating spirit at the core of my
campaign, the belief that there’s a lot more that we have in common
than what drives us apart, that hasn’t changed. And my enthusiasm
for
this job and my optimism about America is not diminished.
So
I hope that all of you guys understand that this is going to be a long,
hard road. In some ways, it’s going to be a little bit harder
than the
first time around. But I’m confident we’re going to
succeed. And I’m
confident America is going to succeed. And, in part, all of you make me
confident about that.
So thank you very much, everybody. (Applause.)
END
6:18 P.M. EDT
President Barack Obama
DNC Event
Waldorf Astoria
New York, New
York
April 27,
2011
9:08 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Hello, hello,
hello! (Applause.) Thank you. Thank you,
everybody. (Applause.) Everybody, have a seat. Thank
you. Thank you. My name is Barack Obama. I was born
in Hawaii. (Laughter and applause.) I'm President of the
United States. (Applause.) And I'm running for
reelection. (Applause.)
Nobody checked my ID on the way in.
(Laughter.) But just in case -- (laughter.)
We've got some wonderful guests here today --
first of all, two of the finest senators that you could ever hope to
have, the senior Senator from the great state of New York, Chuck
Schumer is in the house! (Applause.) And the far more
attractive -- (laughter) -- junior Senator, Kirsten Gillibrand is
here. (Applause.) One of my great friends, somebody who I
always enjoyed being with when I was in the United States Senate, from
the great state of New Jersey, Frank Lautenberg is in the house.
(Applause.)
To all the members of Congress who are here;
to all the New York State and New York City elected officials who are
here -- thank you for the extraordinary work that you do each and every
day. We're very proud of you. (Applause.)
To the Knicks, Jets, Giants, Rangers --
(applause) -- thank you for bringing hope back to New York City.
(Applause.) My Bulls are doing pretty good, though.
(Laughter.) I'm just saying. (Laughter.) Did I hear a
boo there? Come on. (Laughter.)
So, look, I do not have prepared remarks
partly because I’m among friends. And what I do want to talk to
you a little bit about is not just the campaign that's coming up, but
where we’ve been over the last two and a half years, and where we need
to go over the next 20.
When we ran in 2008, I think all of us had a
sense that America was at a crossroads, that for the previous decade
what had happened to families all across America was they were working
just as hard as they’d ever worked; they were fulfilling their
responsibilities to their family, to the communities; volunteering in
their synagogues, churches, places of worship; they remained committed
to achieving the American Dream through hard work, and yet somehow it
felt like that dream was slipping away.
During those 10 years, the income and wages of
the average American actually went down when you factored in
inflation. The economy was growing. A lot of us in this
room were doing very well, but for a lot of folks, their life chances
felt diminished. And when they looked out on the horizon, it looked
like things weren’t going to get better, they were going to get tougher.
And that was all before the worst recession
since the Great Depression. By the time I was sworn in, we had
already lost 4 million jobs in the previous six months. In the
next six months, before our economic policies had a chance to take
effect, we lost another 4 million. The financial system was on
the brink of collapse. We were about to see the liquidation of
the U.S. auto industry.
And yet because of the work, in part, of
people like Chuck and Kirsten and Carolyn and others who worked so hard
in Congress, what we were able to do is right the ship. We had to
take some unpopular decisions. We had to do some things that
people weren’t sure were going to work. But we made those tough
decisions. And as a consequence, an economy that was shrinking is
now growing. An economy that was shedding jobs over the last 13
months, we’ve created 2 million jobs in the private sector.
(Applause.) The stock market is almost fully recovered. The
financial system has stabilized. And people have a sense that
this recovery may finally start building some steam.
And along the way, we did a few other things, like make sure that
families in this country who get sick don’t get bankrupt or lose their
homes because of it -- because we passed health care reform.
(Applause.)
We passed laws to make sure that equal pay for
equal work was a reality here in the United States of America, and my
daughters don’t have to settle for less. (Applause.) We put
a couple more women on the Supreme Court -- lord knows we need them --
including the first Latina on the Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor.
(Applause.)
We changed the financial aid system, the
student loan system. We were giving subsidies to banks
unnecessarily and restricting the amount of help that young people who
wanted to go to college could get. And because of changes that we
made you got millions of young people all across the country who are
now able to go to college and take on less debt and achieve their
dreams.
We brought home 100,000 troops from Iraq, like
we promised, and the rest of them are going to be home by the end of
this year. (Applause.) We signed a peace -- a nuclear
reduction treaty with the Russians. We made sure that anybody who
wants to serve in our military can serve regardless of sexual
orientation. (Applause.)
So we got a lot of work done. That’s
just a partial list. But what I want to talk to you about today
is the fact that what we’ve done isn’t enough. We’ve got more
work to do. I get letters from about 40,000 people every day --
letters or e-mails. And my staff responds to all of them, but I get a
chance to read about 10 of them each night. And these letters are
inspiring, but they can also be heartbreaking -- because you will hear
from a father who writes about what it’s like to send 16 resumes out,
20 resumes out, 30 resumes out, and not get a response -- trying to
figure out how he explains to his children why they’re having to cut
back.
Or you get a letter from a child who says, my parents tell me we may
have to sell our home and, Mr. President, is there something that you
can do? I’ll get letters from the families of service members who
have been killed in action in Afghanistan. And I’ll get letters
from young people who are hoping to go to college but aren’t sure
whether they’re going to be able to afford it.
And when I read these letters I’m reminded of why we started on this
journey together, three, four years ago. I’m reminded that the
only reason for public service is not for the perks of office, it’s not
the title. It’s to be an advocate for all those families, to make
sure that America is as good to the next generation as it’s been to us.
Now, I look around this room and a sizable
percentage of all of you, your parents might have been
immigrants. Your parents might not have had a lot, but they had
hopes and dreams for you. They understood that if they worked hard, if
they were willing to sacrifice, if they were willing to pour all that
blood, sweat, and tears into you, that you might be able to achieve
something they couldn’t imagine achieving.
And the reason I ran for President is because
I want to make sure that’s true for the next generation. I want
to make sure that every family out there feels that way; that if they
do the right thing, if they’re working hard, that they can
achieve. And we know how to do it. We know how to do it.
We believe in free enterprise. We
believe in entrepreneurship. We believe in individual
liberties. We believe in self-help. But we also believe in
community. We also believe in looking out for one another.
We also believe in the American family. We also believe that
America at its best is one that invests in education for everybody, and
invests in science and technology for the future, and invests in
infrastructure so we can move people and services and products all
around the world, and invests in our seniors to make sure that they can
retire with dignity and respect, and looks after the most vulnerable,
looks after that child with autism or that child with a severe
disability. That's who we are. That's what we believe. And
that's the America I want to leave to Malia and Sasha. That's the
America that you want to leave to your kids.
And we can achieve it. We’re part of the
way there, but we’re not all the way there. We’ve still got a lot
of work to do. We still have a lot of work to do. And
that's what this budget debate that has dominated Washington over the
last several months and will dominate Washington over the next year,
year and a half, is all about.
It’s not about numbers. We all agree
that we have to reduce our deficit and get a hold of our debt. We
even agree on roughly the amounts by which the deficit and the debt
have to be reduced. This argument is not about numbers; it is about
values. Because on one side you have folks who believe that we
can slash education funding by 25 percent, or transportation funding by
30 percent, or investments in clean energy by 70 percent, and we can
turn the Medicare system into a voucher program so that we’re shifting
costs onto seniors. It’s a vision of a small America, of a
shrunken America, where those of us who are lucky do great and don’t
have to give anything back, and we can pull up the ladder behind us.
And then there’s another vision that says we
can live within our means as a government, we can act responsibly in
terms of our budget, but we can make sure that the burden is shared,
that the sacrifices are spread around.
And the reason we believe that is not out of charity. The reason
we believe that is we think that our lives are better if when we’re
driving down the street and we see those kids in a well-funded,
well-run school that’s teaching them something, we know that New York
City and New York state and the United States of America are going to
be better places for us. They’re going to be more safe and more
secure.
We do it not just out of charity but because
it makes our lives better. We know that when we see that elderly
couple strolling through Central Park, holding hands, and they know
that they’ve got the security of Medicare and Medicaid and Social
Security, that that makes us better, because we think, you know,
someday I want to be Michelle -- I want it to be me and Michelle
strolling down Central Park. There’s going to be a time where I
can go walking again. And I would want to make sure that I’ve got
some security in those golden years. (Applause.)
We imagine a big America where we’re investing
in the same kind of science that invented the Internet. We want
to invent the next big energy breakthrough that is going to make sure
that we’re no longer dependent on foreign oil, and we can start finally
doing something about climate change, and we’re not vulnerable to huge
spikes in gasoline prices. We want that transformation starting
here in the United States of America.
And we want the best roads and the best airports because we’ve always
had the best stuff. We want the fastest broadband lines.
And we want the highest graduation rates from college. That's who
we are. That's the country we want to pass on to the next
generation, and that's what this budget debate is all about.
Don't let folks fool you, saying this is
somehow about some dry number somewhere. This is about our
values, the kind of country we want to pass on to the next
generation. And I’m confident that vision of a big, generous,
compassionate America, that's the vision that most Americans share.
So we’re going to have some work to do.
This is not going to be easy. In 2008, I didn't have all this
grey hair. (Laughter.) I was kind of fresh and new. I
was like the hip thing. (Laughter.) Everybody had the nice
posters. (Laughter.) You know, so it was cool to back
Obama. (Laughter.) And now I’m older -- (applause.)
Let’s face it. Let’s face it. I’m a little older.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Distinguished!
THE PRESIDENT: Distinguished.
That's the word I’m looking for. (Laughter.)
Distinguished. And we’ve had some setbacks, and some things
haven’t happened as fast as people wanted them to happen. I
know. I know the conversations you guys have.
(Laughter.) Oh, you didn’t get the public option and --
(laughter) -- gosh, I wish that energy bill had passed. I
understand the frustrations. I feel them, too.
But here’s what I know. When I stood in
Grant Park that night, I told all of you this is not going to be
easy. I didn’t say, “change you could have tomorrow.”
(Laughter.) I said, “change we can believe in.”
(Applause.) But it requires faith. It requires us working
hard. It requires staying with it. It requires
persistence.
That’s why I’m going to need you, every single one of you.
And if you join with me in 2012, I guarantee you we’re going to get the
job done.
Thank you, everybody. God bless you. God bless the United
States of America. (Applause.)
END
9:27 P.M. EDT
President Barack Obama
DNC Event
The Town Hall
New York, New
York
April 27,
2011
9:49 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Hello, New York! Thank you. How is
everybody doing
tonight? (Applause.) Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you.
(Applause.) Thank you. All right, everybody -- everybody,
have a
seat, have a seat. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you,
everybody.
Thank you. Thank you, New York. Thank you. Thank you,
everybody.
Thank you. Thank you, everybody. Everybody, have a
seat. Have a
seat, have a seat. Thank you. (Applause.) Thank
you. Thank you.
Are
you fired up? Is that what you’re saying? (Applause.) I’m
fired up,
too. My name is Barack Obama. (Applause.) I was born
in Hawaii.
(Applause.) The 50th state of the United States of America.
(Applause.) No one checked my ID on the way in.
(Laughter.) But just
in case -- (laughter.)
I
was out in Chicago earlier today. I was taping Oprah for one of
her
last shows. I was a little disappointed, though -- when I looked
under
my seat, there was nothing there. (Laughter.)
AUDIENCE MEMBERS: (Inaudible.)
AUDIENCE MEMBERS: Booo!
THE PRESIDENT: See, there’s always something going on in New York
City. (Laughter and applause.) Always.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: We love you!
THE PRESIDENT: I love you back. (Applause.)
So
it is good to get out of D.C. D.C. is a wonderful town, but the
conversation you hear in Washington is just a little different than you
usually hear around the kitchen table or around the water cooler.
And
that's why we recently decided that our reelection campaign will be the
first one in modern history to be based outside of Washington,
D.C.
We’re going back to Chicago -- (applause) -- because I don't want a
campaign where I’m just hearing from lobbyists and pundits and
powerbrokers. I want our campaign to be hearing from the people
who
helped me to get to the Oval Office. I want to be hearing from
you.
(Applause.)
We’re
making sure we’re putting the campaign in your hands -- the same
organizers, the same volunteers, the same people who proved that we
could do --
AUDIENCE MEMBER: (Inaudible.)
THE PRESIDENT: Okay, okay, thank you. All right, so let me
just say
-- no, they can stay. I think they made their point.
They’re all
right. That's all right. But if any of the rest of you have
something
to say -- (laughter) -- let’s just knock it out right now.
(Laughter
and applause.)
All right, where was I? (Laughter.) I was talking about
ordinary
people doing extraordinary things. (Applause.) And by the
way, I just
want you to know that Jim Messina, who has been by my side since this
campaign began, he is going to do a great job. He is going to be
doing
a great job on our behalf. We’re very proud of him.
Which reminds me, by the way, I know the reason you guys are all fired
up, is because the Roots were playing. (Laughter.) So give
the Roots
a big round of applause. (Applause.)
So that's what this campaign is still
about. It’s your campaign. It’s not my campaign, it’s your
campaign.
Now, a few things have changed since
2008. I’m a little grayer. (Laughter.)
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Looking good!
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. (Laughter.) Thank
you. (Applause.)
Michelle thinks so also. (Laughter.) You know, I’ve got a
few dents,
a few dings in the fender. But all of us can still remember that
night
in Grant Park -- the excitement, the sense of possibility. And I
hope
you also remember what I said back then. I said, this wasn’t the
end,
this was the beginning; that our climb was going to be steep to the
summit where we wanted to get to.
Now,
it turns out the climb was a little steeper than we expected.
(Laughter.) We took office during the worst recession since the
Great
Depression, one that left millions of Americans without jobs, hundreds
of thousands of people without homes. It was a recession that was
so
bad that we still see the lingering effects, people still grappling
with the aftershocks.
So we had to make some tough decisions, and some of those decisions
weren’t always popular. But two and a half years later, an
economy
that was shrinking by 6 percent is now growing. Over the last four
months we’ve seen the largest drop in unemployment since 1984.
(Applause.) Over the last year we’ve added nearly 2 million jobs
to
the private sector. (Applause.)
Some
of those things that folks said wouldn’t work, they work.
(Applause.)
Remember, we were about to see the U.S. auto industry liquidate.
Now,
GM has hired back all its workers and the Big Three are making a profit
again. (Applause.) But we’ve still got work to do.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Oh, yes, we do.
(Laughter and applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: (Laughter.) We do. She’s just -- she’s
just speaking
the truth. We still got work to do. When I decided to run
-- and some
of you were on this journey three years ago, four years ago, when folks
couldn’t pronounce my name. (Laughter.) What we understood was
that
even before the recession, folks all across the country were feeling
that that American Dream was starting to slip out of their grasp.
I look out and one of the things I love about coming to New York is, it
is so representative of what America has always been -- people coming
from all corners of the world. (Applause.) Immigrants,
people
traveling in search of opportunity, and saying to themselves, you know,
if I work hard, if I take care of my responsibilities, if I pour all
that blood, sweat and tears into a future for my children and
grandchildren, there’s nothing they can’t achieve. That’s the
idea of
America. That’s the idea of New York City.
And all across this country, there are people who still believe in
that. They’re working so hard every day. They’re looking
after their
families. They’re looking after their communities. They’re
in their
churches and synagogues and mosques. They’re volunteering.
They’re
mentoring. They’re coaching Little League. And yet they’ve
been
feeling even before the recession hit that maybe this American Dream,
this idea of America was starting to slip away.
They had seen 10 years in which the average income, average wage of
Americans had fallen; a country that was becoming more unequal; a
country where even if you worked hard you might not be able to retire
with the kind of security that you used to expect; a country where the
cost of college tuition was skyrocketing; where getting sick might mean
that you lose everything you had.
And so we understood America was at a crossroads and that we were going
to have to make some serious changes to ensure that the kind of America
we believed in was going to be there in the future. That’s what
we
were fighting for -- where every child in America can live that life of
opportunity; where every family feels like that dream is theirs.
It’s
an idea of America where we’re looking out for one another, where folks
who are poor or disabled or infirm or in their golden years, that they
know they’ve got a community.
We believe in free markets. We believe in entrepreneurship. We
believe
in personal responsibility and self-help, but we also believe that
we’re a family. (Applause.) And we also believe in an
America that's
growing, and the next generation does better than this one, more
prosperous than it was before. And that prosperity is
shared. It’s
not just for a few, but it’s for everybody. (Applause.)
That's the
summit we wanted to reach.
And, look, for all the things we’ve gotten done, we’re not there
yet.
My biggest adversaries aren’t my political opponents. My biggest
adversary is the cynicism that can be so corrosive when people stop
believing in this idea of America. And what we’ve always been
about is
understanding that there’s nothing we can’t achieve if we’re working
together. (Applause.) And it’s going to take a couple more
years to
get there. It might take more than one term to get there.
(Applause.) But I’m reminded every night when I read letters from
families all across America that we have no choice but to get there.
Some of you know that I read 10 letters a night out of the 40,000 or so
that we get. And these letters are inspiring, but they are also
sometimes heartbreaking. You read a letter from a father who’s
sent
out 20, 30, 40 resumes and hasn’t gotten a response back; or a child
writes and says, my parents are about to lose their home, is there
something that you can do? You hear from parents of those who’ve
fallen in Afghanistan, or you hear about a young person who is not sure
whether they're going to be able to afford to go to college -- and
you’re reminded of why we did this, the commitment we made to each
other.
Those
are the Americans I’m thinking about every day when I wake up. I
think
about them when I go to bed at night. They are the reason you
elected
me President. You didn’t elect me so that I’d have a fancy title
or a
nice place to live. My house in Chicago was just fine.
(Laughter.)
You elected me to make a real difference in the lives of people across
this country, to make sure they were getting a fair shot.
And
we’ve been able to make great progress over the last few years.
But
that progress shouldn’t make us complacent. It should remind us
that
change is possible. And it should inspire us to finish what we
started.
Because of you, we were able to prevent a second Great
Depression. But
in the next few years, we’ve got to make sure that the new jobs and
industries of our time are started right here in the United States of
America. In the next few years, we have to make sure that America
is
prepared to win the future.
Because of you, we ended wasteful taxpayer subsidies that were going to
banks and instead used those savings to provide millions of students
more affordable student loans and grants. (Applause.)
Because of you, we’ve raised standards for teaching and learning in
schools across the country through what we call Race to the Top.
(Applause.) But now we’ve got to finish reform and make sure
every
child is graduating and ready for college and ready for a career, and
that we’re prepared to out-educate and out-compete every other nation
in the world. That’s how America will succeed. (Applause.)
Because of you, we made the largest investment in clean energy in our
history. (Applause.) And that’s already changing how jobs
and
businesses across the country are thinking about energy. We’re
creating new businesses, advanced battery manufacturing, and plants
building wind turbines and solar panels. But at a time when gas
prices
are --
AUDIENCE MEMBER: $4.00.
(Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT: -- just killing folks --
tough. A lot of truth tellers here. (Laughter.)
We’ve got a lot more work to do to have an energy policy that
works.
We’re going to have to keep on making those investments. And by
the
way, we can afford them. You know, for $4 billion, we could do an
awful lot. And you know where we could get $4 billion is by
ending
taxpayer subsidies we give to oil companies and gas companies.
(Applause.) That’s profits coming from your pocket into their
pocket.
They’re making enough profit. We should be investing in the
energy of
the future, not yesterday’s energy.
Because of you, we’ve put hundreds of thousands of people back to work
rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, our roads, our bridges.
You
know, part of America has always been building stuff, having the best
stuff -- trains and roads and ports and airports; and now in the 21st
century, high-speed rail and the best wireless and the best broadband,
to make sure that we’re pulling this economy together.
But you know what, we’ve fallen behind. Today South Korea has
faster
high-speed Internet than we do. We created the Internet.
(Laughter.)
We should be leading. We shouldn’t be second or third or fifth or
16th
place when it comes to technology, innovation, investing in basic
science and research.
Because of you, we did what we said we were going to do -- what we
tried to do for almost a century -- and that is we said health care
should no longer be a privilege, it should be a right in a country this
wealthy. (Applause.) We said you should never go bankrupt
because you
get sick. (Applause.) Your child should be able to get
health care
even if they’ve got a preexisting condition. That’s because of
you.
(Applause.)
Because of you, we passed Wall Street reform that makes sure that the
financial system doesn’t go through what it went through again and,
along the way, that you as a consumer aren’t getting cheated when it
comes to applying for a credit card or a mortgage.
(Applause.)
Because
of you, we passed laws that make sure that an equal day’s pay is an
equal day’s work. Because I don’t want Sasha and Malia being
treated
second-class. (Applause.) That’s one of the reasons we put
two women
on the Supreme Court. (Applause.)
Because of you, we overturned “don't ask, don't tell,” because we want
everybody to be able to serve their country, regardless of who they
love. (Applause.)
Because of you, we removed 100,000 troops from
Iraq, like we said we were going to do. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Thank you!
THE PRESIDENT: That's because of
you. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE MEMBER: And you!
(Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: Now we’ve got to protect the changes we’ve
made. And
we’ve got to keep on moving forward to get done the things we didn’t
get done. We’ve still got to get comprehensive immigration reform
passed, because we can be a nation of law and a nation of
immigrants.
(Applause.)
We
need to finally break the cycle of one energy crisis after another, and
start getting on the path of real -- (applause) -- a real energy policy
that frees ourselves from dependence on foreign oil and cleans up the
planet in the process. (Applause.) We’ve got to leave
America better
than we found it, and we’re not done yet.
So, New York, that's what this debate that we’re having in Washington
right now is about. Folks talk about budgets and numbers and
deficits
and debt. And deficits and debt are serious, and we’ve got to do
something about it. But this is also a debate about values.
(Applause.) This is also a debate about what kind of country we
believe in.
Yes, we believe in a government that lives within its means. And I just
want to remind people that when I walked into office, we had a
trillion-dollar deficit. (Applause.) And some of the same
folks who
are now talking about deficits voted for two wars that weren’t paid
for, tax cuts that weren’t paid for -- (applause) -- a prescription
drug policy that was not paid for, but that’s somehow all forgotten
now. (Laughter.) A little amnesia there.
But
now this is our responsibility. We’ve got to be serious about
cutting
spending in Washington. We’ve got to make cuts in domestic
spending,
but we also have to make cuts in defense spending.
(Applause.) We
also have to make cuts in all the loopholes in our tax code.
Those
also have to be cut. (Applause.)
We’ve got to eliminate every dime of waste, and if we’re serious about
taking responsibility for the debt that we owe, then we’re going to
have to make some tough decisions. We’ve got to decide what we
can
afford to do without.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Guantanamo!
THE
PRESIDENT: Case in point. And we’ve got to make sure that
the burdens
and the sacrifices of getting a handle on our debt and our deficit,
that they’re shared. But we also have to remind ourselves of the
kind
of America that we believe in, the kind of America that allowed us to
live out our American Dream.
We’re
not going to pull up the ladder behind us. I’m not going to
reduce our
deficit by sacrificing the things that always made up great as a
people. (Applause.) I’m not going to sacrifice investments
in
education. I’m not going to make scholarships harder to get and
more
expensive for young people. I’m not going to sacrifice the safety
of
our highways or our airports. I’m not going to sacrifice clean
air and
clean water. (Applause.) I’m not going to sacrifice clean energy
at a
time when we need to free ourselves from dependence on foreign oil, and
folks are getting killed at the pump. I’m not going to sacrifice
America’s future. (Applause.)
There’s
more than one way to mortgage America’s future. We mortgage that
future if we don’t get a handle on our deficit and debt, but we also
mortgage it if we’re not investing in those things that will assure the
promise of the American Dream for the next generation.
And
so part of this budget debate has to be about ending tax cuts for the
wealthiest 2 percent of Americans in this country.
(Applause.) I say
that -- (applause) -- look, I say that not because I want to punish
success. It’s because if we’re going to ask all Americans to
sacrifice
a little bit, we can’t just say to millionaires and billionaires, you
guys go ahead, don't worry about it. (Laughter.) Just keep
on
counting your money. (Laughter.)
I’m talking about myself. Look, I don't want a $200,000 tax cut
that's
paid for by asking 33 seniors each to pay $6,000 more in Medicare
costs. I don't want that. (Applause.) I don't want a
tax cut that's
paid for by slashing Head Start slots for young people here in New York
City -- (applause) -- or eliminating health insurance for millions of
people currently on Medicaid, seniors in nursing homes and poor kids
and families with children with autism or other disabilities.
That's
not a tradeoff I’m willing to make. (Applause.) That's not
a tradeoff
most Americans are willing to make. That's not who we are.
We are
better than that. That's what this debate is about.
(Applause.) We’re
better than that. (Applause.)
What makes America great isn’t just our skyscrapers. It’s not our
military might. It’s not the size of our GDP. All those
things are
things that we are rightly proud of. But at our core, what makes
us
great is our character. We are individualists. We believe
in free
markets. We are entrepreneurs. We believe that each of us
is endowed
by our Creator with certain inalienable rights and liberties. We
don’t
like folks telling us what to do. (Laughter.) That’s part of what
makes us American.
But what also makes us American is the idea that we’re all in this
together, that I am my brother’s keeper, I am my sister’s keeper, and
that when I look out for somebody else I’m not doing it out of
charity. If I’m driving through Harlem and I see a
well-constructed
school and young people that I know are being taught what they need to
learn, my life is better. (Applause.) I know I’ll be safer,
and I
know that as a country we’ll be aligned. We’ll be moving together
forward hand-in-hand, and this country will be less divided. My
life
will be better.
If I’m driving by Central Park and I see an elderly couple strolling,
holding hand-in-hand, and I think to myself someday Michelle and me,
we’re going to be strolling hand-in-hand. (Applause.) And
I’ll be
able to take a walk in Central Park again, and nobody will recognize
me. (Laughter and applause.) But it makes me to feel good
to know
that that couple, they’ve got Social Security, they’ve got Medicare,
that they’ve got a sense of dignity and security in their golden
years. (Applause.)
It’s
not charity -- it makes my life better. No man is an
island. We’re
not here by ourselves. That’s our vision of America. It’s
not a
vision of a small America. It’s a vision of a big America that is
compassionate and generous and bold and optimistic.
I
don’t want a cramped idea of America. I don’t want an idea of
America
that says, “no, we can’t” -- and we can’t afford to look after folks
who need help, and we can’t afford to make sure that the ladders of
opportunity are available for the next generation, and our seniors have
to fend for ourselves, and we can’t afford to rebuild our
infrastructure, and we can’t afford to invest in science and basic
research. That’s not the America I know.
I
want a confident America where, yes, everybody makes sacrifices, but
nobody bears all the burden, and we live up to the idea that no matter
who we are, no matter what we look like, no matter whether our
ancestors landed on Ellis Island or came here on a slave ship or
crossed the Rio Grande, we are all connected to one another. We
rise
and fall together. (Applause.)
That’s
the idea at the heart of America. That’s the idea at the heart of
America. That’s the idea at the heart of our campaign.
That’s why I’m
running again. That’s why I need your help more than ever.
We are
still at the early stages, but we’ve got to get out of the gate
strong. (Applause.)
I
know there are times where some of you felt frustrated, where we
haven’t gotten everything done that we wanted to get done. I know
you
guys. (Laughter.) Why did health care take so long?
And we didn’t
get our public option -- (laughter) -- you know, it’s like, you know,
what are we doing about this energy thing? It’s not happening
fast
enough. And, look, small business -- you know.
(Laughter.)
I know all of you -- I’ve got a couple thousand political consultants
here. (Laughter.) And sometimes -- how come Obama is not
communicating properly? And it’s like we’re -- and their
narrative,
and we have to -- you know, I see your comments.
(Laughter.) And you
look wistfully at the poster -- (laughter) -- remember that day
in
Iowa? (Laughter.) I know. (Laughter.) Then your
friends come and
talk to you and, oh, Obama has changed. (Laughter.)
AUDIENCE MEMBER: I love you, Mr.
President! (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: But what I’m saying -- we know this wasn’t going
to be
easy, though. A journey like this one, we knew there were going
to be
setbacks and detours and times when we stumbled. People act like --
sometimes I read folks talking about, wow, his campaign was so
brilliant and so smooth. These people weren’t on the
campaign.
(Laughter.) I remember us screwing up all the time during the
campaign. (Laughter.)
But as is true in the campaign, so has it been true for America -- that
each and every juncture in our history, when our future was on the
line, when we hit that fork in the road, we came together. We
solved
our problems. We transformed ourselves from an agricultural
economy to
an industrial economy to an information economy. We absorbed new
waves
of immigrants. We made sure that we finally eradicated the stain
of
slavery, and made sure that women were full participants in our
democracy. (Applause.) We managed to move forward not as
Republicans
or Democrats, but as Americans; as one people, and as one nation.
So when you hear people saying, well, our problems are insoluble, when
you confront the cynicism of others or sometimes your own, I just want
you to think about all the progress we’ve already made.
(Applause.) I
want you to think about all of the business that we’ve got ahead of
us. I want you to remember those words that summed up what we’ve
been
about, and the commitment we made to each other: Yes, we
can.
(Applause.)
Thank you, everybody. God bless
you. (Applause.) Thank you. Thank you.
(Applause.)
END
10:24 P.M. EDT